George Kinder - The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life

A vital, seminal breakthrough work, The Seven Stages of Money Maturity brings insights and clarity to an area generally fraught with mystery and dysfunction. Kinder penetrates moneys enigmas and mythologies with the artists delicate touch, the critics discriminating eye and the insightful sensitivity of a good human being. This book is a gift.

Richard Wagner, former chairman,
Institute of Certified Financial Planners

With a sure and gentle touch, George Kinder shows us the human meaning of the whole of our life with money and helps us ponder at every point the close interdependence between our personal and financial maturity. A wonderfully clear and wise book of guidance.

Jacob Needleman, author of Money and the Meaning of Life

I love this book! Its what people really need to know about money, including practical advice on budgeting and investing. But it focuses on the real core of financial planninggoals and choices. The advice is easily accessible and translated into usable advice, as well as enriched by the fascinating life stories sprinkled throughout. You can read this book for pleasure, for emotional guidance, for financial common senseor for all three.

Peg Downey, former president,
National Association of Personal Financial Advisors

Quite wonderful Anyone who reads this seriously should find his or her life enhanced in most significant ways. I intend to recommend the book to my friends and colleagues, aware of how this can enrich their lives.

John Levy, former executive director,
C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco

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Historical Returns chart courtesy of Dimensional Fund Advisors, Inc. Data courtesy of Standard & Poors, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, and CRSP, Center for Research in Security Prices, The University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

What Are the Odds? table courtesy of Newsweek, November 10, 1997 issue. 1997 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Theravada: The Path of Insight by Digha Nikaya, translated by Gil Fronsdal, from The Complete Guide to Buddhist America, edited by Don Morreale, 1988, 1998. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

The Question by Rumi, reprinted courtesy of Threshold Books. Originally published by Threshold Books, 221 Dusty Ridge Rd., Putney, VT 05346.

Excerpts from Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: A New English Version, with Foreword and Notes by Stephen Mitchell, reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Translation copyright 1988 by Stephen Mitchell.

Inset Art Private Collection/Bonnie Kwan Huo/Superstock

Copyright 1999 by George Kinder

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press,
New York, New York.

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Ebook ISBN: 9780307814074

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The three charactersMahealani Sapolu, Derrick King, and Susanna Swartzwhose financial lives are followed in this book are composites built from various people I have worked with over the years. Likewise, the names and other personal details of clients and friends cited as examples in the text have been changed to protect their privacy.

Midway in our lifes journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.

Dante Alighieri

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Henry David Thoreau

I understand what youre saying, he said, even though I hate admitting it to myself.

The statement took me by surprise. I had known this man in a passing way for years, and I both admired and disliked him. My admiration came from his success as a financial planner, the same profession I practice. He was known far and wide for creating one of the largest, most multifaceted planning firms in America. But I disliked him because he stood publicly for a point of view I rejectthat making money, lots of money, is an end in itself. So I was taken aback when he came up after my presentation on Money Maturity to a national meeting of financial planners and asked me if I wanted to have coffee. I could tell there was something on his mind.

He came right to the point. I know how to make money, he said. Ive poured all my savings into the stock market for years. Now Ive got more than enough to live on for the rest of my life. My problem isnt making more money.

Then what is it? I asked.

The moneys not enough, he answered. His tone shifted from confident to plaintive. I have wealth, but something is missing. I dont know what it is. All I know is Im not happy. Thats why I wanted to talk to you. After hearing what you had to say, I think you may be able to tell me what to do next.

I may be a financial advisor by profession, but I often find myself working more like a priest in the confessional than a money manager. His was an admission I had heard many times before.

During the morning I had spoken on integrating money goals with personal objectives, a topic I have been presenting to my colleagues for years now. Financial professionals have discovered that if they dont understand what their clients are truly seeking, all their good advice goes for nought. In my presentation that afternoon, I had gone back to basics. Money, I explained, can be seen as the place where our internal selves engage the external world. If either sideinternal or external, self or moneyis slighted, the whole of life suffers.

Now, talking to my colleague over the coffee cups, I picked up on that theme in his life. That distress you feel inside, that painits there to wake you up, I said.

His face screwed up quizzically. What do you mean? he asked.

Its a signal, an alarm. Its telling you, in no uncertain terms, that its time to find out who you really are in relation to money.

But whats that got to do with anything? he snapped. His expression changed from quizzical to protective, as if I were getting altogether too close for comfort.

Look at it this way. You could put all your financial statements from the past few years in front of me, and I still wouldnt know what I really need to understand in order to even begin to help you decide what to do next, I answered. How can I work with you if I dont know who you are? Think about it. Its your own discomfort with yourself that is keeping you from seeing your way ahead.