The Little Red Book of Financial Happiness: Life After Prison

By Raymar Rodriguez

Personal finances are part of life and need to be properly understood and controlled. Peoples personal finances are in disarray because they were never taught a better way. Many people find themselves struggling financially even though they have been working their entire lives. They live paycheck to paycheck and feel abandoned by the greater financial system.

The Little Red Book of Financial Happiness is based on a class that the author has taught for more than a decade. It provides a simple way of looking at personal finances. Everything we need or want is measured in terms of money. Money and material life in general place many pressures on all members of society. Why? We tend to measure everything, even our sense of happiness, in dollars. The ability to understand and manage a personal budget gives one a fighting chance at obtaining financial happiness. This book will guide the readers on their road to a better life by learning how to control their money and not allowing money to control them.

This book offers readers a step-by-step process. Forms and exercises allow readers to fine-tune their budgets. A checklist guides your steps along this journey. A progress tracker records your improvements.

The Little Red Book of Financial Happiness will simply change the way you see your money.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491812075

Raymar Rodriguez

Raymar Rodriguez has been immersed in “everything money” since 1984. He was a banker at a large financial institution for twelve years. During that period, he had the pleasure of reviewing thousands of personal financial records, statements, profiles, and budgets. This training gave him the uncanny ability to quickly detect and address problems in his clients’ budgets. He developed the Financial Survival Workshop, later called Financial Happiness Workshop, to address financial problems being experience by many in his community. The class is still being taught after ten years at his local church and through a career transition support network. Raymar is passionate about all things money, education, international trade, and fishing. He holds a master’s degree in finance and is currently an adjunct finance professor at Miami Dade College in his hometown of Miami, Florida. He is married and has three children.

Book preview

THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF

FINANCIAL

HAPPINESS

Life After Prison

Raymar Rodriguez

39594.png

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013 Raymar Rodriguez. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Major financial decisions should be consulted with an appropriate attorney or tax advisor. This book is not intended to give the reader tax or legal advice.

Published by AuthorHouse 8/27/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1209-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1208-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1207-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013915267

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Life After Prison

Chapter 1   Financial Happiness Explained

Chapter 2   What Is The Importance Of A Budget?

Chapter 3   The Basics

Chapter 4   Let’s Talk Saving

Chapter 5   Shopping

Chapter 6   Ways To Save

Chapter 7   Be Frugal When Shopping

Chapter 8   Sick Budgets, Dead Budgets

Chapter 9   Frugality

Chapter 10   Material Things

Chapter 11   The Checklist

Chapter 12   The Class That Morphed Into This Book

Chapter 13   Creating Wealth

Chapter 14   A Few Simplified Scenarios

Chapter 15   The Story Behind This Book

Chapter 16   What Happened To Our Economy?

Chapter 17   Are You Broke? You Still Have Options

Chapter 18   Debt

Chapter 19   Closing

About The Author

THANK YOU PAGE.

I deeply appreciate all the assistance and support from my family and friends. They have helped me during the book writing process and have been extremely supportive of my project. All were involved in the reviewing and revising multiple steps of my first book. I especially appreciate the patience and thoughtfulness that went into everyone’s review and constructive criticism.

My deepest gratitude is to my wife who not only assisted in the entire process, but put up with my eternal questioning of every step of this book.

This book is dedicated to my three children whom have and will continue to assist me. My deepest wish is that they learn from the book writing process, the promotion of the book and all the different aspects that making a successful book entails. Hopefully they will gain the truest sense of FINANCIAL HAPPINESS in the process.

A SPECIAL RECOGNITION

I needed to say more than thank you for your invitation and inspiration. I honestly believe that a single word or phrase at the correct time and place can create magic. Powerful synergies are created when people with different talents, skills, and resources share ideas, attempt to solve problems and execute projects for the greater good.

Kathryn Jo Wollheim invited me to teach a class based on my book for a group of women that were in the process of returning to society after spending time in prison. I was so excited that someone would want to hear about my book that I automatically said yes. In my preparation for the class for the returning ladies, I started to look for relevant information on the internet. My research showed that they would not only benefit from my class but they also needed additional items to be covered in the class. I was absolutely amazed by the sheer numbers and statistics of how many people were incarcerated. At that point, I knew that I had to create a book for this underserved part of our population. That was the inspiration for creating The Little Red Book of Financial Happiness- Life After Prison.

Kathryn Jo Wollheim is the Lead Naturalist, The Environmental Center, Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus. The same college at which I am an adjunct professor.

She is involved in a very powerful yet seldom mentioned organization - Soroptomist Club International- an organization of women whom share their time, talent and treasure to better our world. Her involvement in that organization was the linchpin for her connecting my book of personal finance and budgeting and people who might need it the most.

You may find information on their different project at: soroptimistinternational.org

FOREWORD

Be the change you wish to see in the world.—Mahatma Gandhi

Often, any member of society who falls into a life of crime is then avoided by society.

The criminals become like falling knives that crash on the floor before these people receive help. My wish for this book is for it to act as a buffer. If a single crime can be avoided, a single life made whole again, or even happiness restored to an individual who has lost his way, then all the efforts put into this book are worth it.

A person I knew very well had fallen into a life of crime. Drugs and hopelessness had deeply sunk their claws in him. I wondered if I could have been responsible for some of the pain. I wanted to help him but was stopped cold when the person’s mother said I and countless others had been trying to help him for decades, but her child always refused help.

I still wanted that something that would bring joy and hope to their lives again. This book was written with the idea that those people might not have fallen if someone had extended a loving or helping hand, or offered a simple word of advice. Anyone can change someone else’s life with just one sentence at the right time and place.

A life of crime sometimes grows from a sense of