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George Kinders idea behind the book is that people need to understand theirrelationship with money to be at peace. In his words Money can be seen as the placewhere our internal selves engage the external world. If either side-internal or external, selfor money is slighted, the whole life suffers. When we think about money, we alwaysthink in terms of how much, but the truly important question is what does money haveto do with who I am? The author has extensively used literature, Buddhism and theconcept of Chakras in developing the seven stages of money maturity.

The book provides. There is

extensive usage of examples to show the reality. He has developed three fictitiouscharacters from a cross section of clients that he worked with. Their financial lives arefollowed in the book. Though the examples are from the American continent, theemotions behind them resonate across the world. After each chapter, he has providedquestions to be answered before moving on to the next phase. These questions andexercises help in applying the reading to your own life.

The book has been divided into three major parts namely childhood, adulthood andawakening.

.The author says that we receive consciousand sub-conscious influences in childhood from parents, family and environment. It is ininnocence that we hold these beliefs and thoughts dear, in spite of many of them beinguntrue. These beliefs affect all our decisions made about money as grown-ups. Pain hesays is the result of living in innocence. Live for today, who knows what tomorrow maybring, is an innocent belief. You may end up not saving and when the money is neededfor childrens education or for retirement, it is just not there.

That is when you get pulled into get rich quick schemes in the innocent belief that itonce worked for someone and it will work for you too.

In childhoodwe make painful discoveries about money-some people are richer than us and we arericher than some people and that we will need to work for money for the things wewant. In adulthood these lessons are re-learnt. The pain that these lessons bring shouldideally be a warning signal to correct things that are wrong with our lives.

The author has described. He says that although practical part of knowledge is the process of financial

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planning, the essence is integrity. Without integrity both economic systems andrelationships will fall apart. Guarding ones integrity one can translate the desire forfreedom into concrete goals and follow the financial planning process. This will includebudgeting, investments, taxation etc. This is one of the most difficult stages for anyone tolearn.

The second stage of adulthood is described as understanding. It is necessary to be awareand understands that life will not always be fair. There will be situations which you wishto alter but they will be beyond your control.

Accepting and resolving these emotions will make us act effectively in ways whichearlier were incomprehensible.

Once knowledge and understanding is in place, we need vigor to discover our purpose inlife and put full energy into it to achieve that purpose.

Vigor means strength, energy or forcerequired to achieve something.

The stage of awakening consists of vision and aloha.

. It need not be grand. It can be a smallthing which will make life better in your society and will make a difference to the peoplearound you. This will be envisioned by you and accomplished. At this stage you will findno obstacle between what you want to accomplish and what you do.

. It is an effortless flow of kindnessfrom one human being to another without reference to any childhood messages ofgenerosity and it transcends economic differences. That brings out the natural generosityin us as humans. This is possible only when we have developed sufficient knowledge,understanding and vigor to support it.

What the author says is very relevant not only to the lay person who grapples to come toterms with his financial life , but also to financial planners who hand hold their clients inthe maze of money.

He also gives examples where his client lefthim even though he always had integrity worked for the clients benefit. This makes usunderstand that inspite of best intentions things can go wrong and that is okay. Thework of money maturity is never over; we always keep on learning through ourexperiences.

To summarize the seven stages of money maturity are;

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1. Innocence-The childhood state we are born in, devoid of any concept of money2. Pain-The discovery that we have more money than some and less than others, and

that work is necessary to make a living

3. Knowledge-The intellectual task of learning financial techniques such as saving,

budgeting, and investing4. Understanding-The emotional work done in coming to terms with feelings around

money, such as greed, envy, and resentment (which are rooted in Pain)5. Vigor-The energy (physical, emotional, and spiritual) that must be expended to reach

financial goals

6. Vision-The direction of Vigor outward toward the health and welfare of communities,

with or without profit motive7. Aloha-The compassionate goodwill that allows one to use money to perform acts of

kindness without expecting anything in return