In a time of economic downturn, families trying to make ends meet, husbands and wives trying to figure out how to make the money that they DO make work for them, this book comes as a breath of fresh air…sort of.

The “breath of fresh air” part is the way the book, If I’m So Smart Where Did All My Money Go? is written…it’s not written in your typical instructional format…but it does teach you…it’s written like a story. A story for our time, this time when the American Dream is being challenged, and we have to learn to get back to basics, back to planning, back on track financially.

The author, Doug Warshauer, is the CEO of a private equity investment firm and venture capitalist. In fictional story style that keeps you reading, Doug shares:

• How much YOU need to save for your Home, College, and Retirement
• Ways to prioritize YOUR savings goals
• How much YOU can afford to spend on all the important things in your life, including your house, your car, food, clothing, and entertainment
• Which debt YOU should pay off and which you should keep
• Whether YOU should buy or rent a home
• When YOU should – or shouldn’t invest in stocks, and choose safer forms of investment.

You’ll notice I also said it was a breath of fresh air, “sort of”…the “sort of” part refers to the place I find myself as a reader. As a wife who has raised two children, and whose husband has changed jobs 3 times in the past 5 years after working for the same company for 30 years, it has been hard to read in some ways….because if we had done some of the things suggested, we would have been prepared for the situation we find ourselves in now. But it’s not too late to learn, and as you can see from the list above, a partial list of the things you’ll learn, there’s still LOTS of hope, and practical things all of us can learn to improve our financial situations.

IMPORTANT!  As if the book alone wasn’t a good and helpful read, the author provides you with worksheets, forms and tables both in his book, and free to download at his website, www.DougWarshauer.com.

More about the author, Doug Warshauer:

“Doug Warshauer is the founder of Kessler Warshauer Ventures, a highly successful private equity investment firm. He developed the techniques presented in this book by modeling the prospects of hundreds of businesses.  Here, for the first time ever, he makes these techniques available to families to help them better manage their money. Doug holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, an MA from New York University, and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.  He lives in the Chicago area.”