The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance

September 18, 2012
The authors are pleased to announce a new title with important updates will be released this fall!  Stay tuned for the official launch and announcement of our new title.

November 28, 2009

The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance is the #1 best seller in Amazon's finance category.

November 27, 2009 by the Associated Press

The approach of a new decade means a chance for a fresh start with your financial habits. Maybe your loved ones could use a nudge in that direction, too.

Either way, it's time to cast out any idea that books about money have to be boring. There's an abundance of well-written, even entertaining books on the market that could make savvy holiday gifts for either the personal finance nerd in your life or that special someone who could benefit from good information.

What follows is a sampler of books for all ages to whet your per-fi appetite. Titles featuring The Berenstain Bears and Christian money guru Dave Ramsey target the young and those looking for faith-based guidance, respectively, while others focus on teens, recent college grads and value investors. And if you don't want to give them as gifts, grab one for yourself.

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TITLE: The Teens Guide to Personal Finance (2008)

AUTHOR: Joshua Holmberg, David Bruzzese

PRICE: $12.95 (paperback)

SUMMARY: Designed for young adults taking the first step to learn about money management, "The Teens Guide to Personal Finance" lays out the basics concepts of saving, borrowing, investing and maximizing tax advantages. It's all explained in a way that's easy to understand with graphics, work sheets and action plans.

QUOTE: "Financial independence means freedom: freedom to do what you want with your money and freedom from the bonds of bad debt, creditors, employers, the government, and others who are more than happy to use your dependence on money to control or at least significantly influence your life. Financial independence is not something that only can be achieved late in life. You can achieve financial independence now or in the near future, if you're up to the task."

PUBLISHER: iUniverse Inc.

_ David Pitt

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Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

August 24, 2009

Associated Press writer, AJ Connely, writes about The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance.

Article is run in various newspapers around the country, including:

• Baltimore Sun
• News Chief - South Florida
• The Advertisor - Lousianna
• The Patriot News - Pennsylvania
• The Oregonian - Oregon
• The Post Standard - New York
• Michigan Live - various newspapers in Michigan

February 6, 2009 (reprint on February 11, 2009)

Alumnus an expert on personal finance for youth

by Doug McPherson in DU Today

Joshua Holmberg (MBA '98) is doing his part to help tomorrow's generation avoid the financial problems plaguing today's adults.

How?

He wrote The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance: Basic concepts in personal finance every teen should know (iUniverse, 2008). Within the first three months of its release, it became a bestseller in its category on Amazon.com.

"The ultimate goal is to help the next generation of Americans avoid the financial hardships that many others faced by learning the hard way," says Holmberg, whose day job is serving as a regional vice president of sales for a software company. "The book is an effort to help young people take advantage of the most important financial tool available to them — time."

Holmberg says the time value of money is one of the most important aspects of personal finance, "And young people are best equipped to take advantage of it."

The book grew from personal experience. Holmberg explains that he and his co-author, David Bruzzese, grew up together and held various after-school and summer jobs since they were 14 years old.

"Like most teens, we spent our money on socializing with friends and buying things," Holmberg says. "But at college, we realized we weren't prepared for the financial realities of young adults. Without basic knowledge of personal finance, we quickly found ourselves in financial trouble."

In fact, Holmberg admits he had to finance "a large portion" of his undergraduate tuition and expenses on a credit card.

And after college, he says, it became clear that teenagers needed more lessons on the topic. "This is a societal problem that needs to be addressed. We're doing our part to help."

So, another book? Holmberg says "probably."

"We've already been asked to write similar books for parents, educators and retirees, but right now we're continuing on our campaign to educate as many teens as possible," he says.

November 10, 2008
The Four-corners Business Journal featured The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance in its weekly edition.  The article topped the charts as 'most viewed' and 'most e-mailed' article during the duration of availability.

The popular website and resource for parents of teenagers, Parenting Teens Online, has accepted The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance as a valuable resource for teaching kids about money, particularly during the economic downturn.

October 24, 2008
Joshua Holmberg, co-author, was featured on both KOB-TV Channel 4 (NBC affiliate) and KOAT Channel 7 (ABC affiliate) primetime newscasts in Albuquerque, NM discussing financial literacy for teens.

October 19, 2008
The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance was featured on the front page of the Business section for the popular Sunday version of the Durango Herald.

Click here to see the full article.

October 13, 2008

The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance has landed on the best seller list of iUniverse, the book's publisher.  Based on the popularity of the book, the title has risen to #14 on the best seller list in less than 10 weeks on the market.

October 5, 2008

Josh Holmberg featured on KWGN morning news in Denver.

Click to see the video.

September 15, 2008

The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance highlighted on Denver's primetime news broadcast.  Material also added to KWGN's Consumer Resources.

Click to see the video.

August 1, 2008

The book was accepted into the National Coalition for Financial Literacy's library.  The Coalition's direct objective is to encourage curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience.

According to Jump$tart, "the average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs.  Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing.  Many young people fail in the management of their first consumer credit experience, establish bad financial management habits, and stumble through their lives learning by trial and error."

The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance can help change the financial direction of young people's lives.

July 30, 2008
Teens Read Too, a popular online experience for teenage readers, has adopted The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance to their list of recommended reading.

http://www.teensreadtoo.com

Fall 2008
The Panorama magazine from New Mexico State University announces the release of The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance.

NMSU Aggie Panorama