Learning to Live Financially Free: Hard-Earned Wisdom for Saving Your Marriage & Your Money

by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, Curt Whalen

In this timely new book based on their own financial challenges, Marybeth Whalen and Curt Whalen offer hard-earned wisdom and hope to families who struggle with debt and the consequences of financial mistakes. The Whalens draw from their own experiences of their first ten years of marriage to create a resource that provides both a helpful hand and a hopeful word for couples who need to get and keep their finances in order and nurture their marriage at the same time.

Genres: Finance

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2009

About the author

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of When We Were Worthy, The Things We Wish Were True and five previous novels. She speaks to women's groups around the US. She is the co-founder of the popular women's fiction site, She Reads www.shereads.org. Marybeth and her husband Curt have been married for 26 years and are the parents of six children. The family lives in North Carolina. Marybeth spends most of her time in the grocery store but occasionally escapes long enough to scribble some words. She is always at work on her next novel. You can find her at www.marybethwhalen.com.

Reviews

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Must-Have Financial Recovery Book

Marybeth Whalen and Curt Whalen have produced a book that I believe every family, Christian and non, must read. They take from their experience with overspending and mountain loads of debt and show us how to stay out of the hole they landed it, and how to get out of the hole that you are currently in.

I have been looking for a true-to-life budget planning book; one with practical ideas that could be implemented in both the budgeting side, but also the money-saving side. Marybeth and Curt provide very simple and effective ways to get your finances under control and keep them there.

The main crux of this book is you can’t live on credit. We live in a world of financial crisis because people have succumbed to the temptation of purchasing things on credit instead of saving for those items. We live in a world of “we must have it now” and having it now has led to trillion dollar bailouts of banks because people have stretched themselves too thin so even the slightest fluctuation in interest rates can mean bankruptcy for families. A major thing like the loss of a job can mean homelessness.

People everywhere need to use this situation as a wake up call to stop spending money they don’t have. To start taking a closer look at their financial priorities and living within their means. After all what good is having the biggest house, the fastest car, the latest electronic gadget if it means you’re living pay check to pay check just to keep a roof over your head.

They also emphasize the importance of placing God first ahead of everything else—especially with our money—and once we do that everything else falls into place. That’s not to say we become rich, although some might. But when our focus is on God, the rest of the world and all the things in it don’t seem quite so important any more.

I thank Marybeth and Curt every morning for this book.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reading this as a book to hopefully recommend to people in my church for additional help with personal finance. My initial observation is that it's focused on the marriage relationship first and getting on the same page. Then it seems to shift into the actual techniques. Stronger foundations first.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book. Unlike many financial books, it's written from a been-there-done-that point of view that really does put hope in sight.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information