Neal over at Wealth Pilgrim has been a regular guest contributor to Frugal Dad.  He came out with an unusual e-product yesterday.  I found it interesting and wanted to learn more.  In the following post, I asked him several questions about his new project.

Neal, what is Money School for Couples?

It’s a series of 10 videos, exercises, downloads and white papers to help couples make money a non-issue in their relationship.

Why did you create it?

Over the last 25 years advising clients, I’ve seen so many people worry and fight about money when they really didn’t have to.  That’s a real shame if you ask me.

You had it pretty rough financially and emotionally growing up.  Did that have any impact on this project?

Probably….but not consciously.  I grew up in total financial fear. Both my parents passed away when I was in high school and I was homeless for a short time.  Even when I started having financial success, I stayed stuck in fear.  I made myself, my wife and my children absolutely miserable. In my case, having money didn’t solve any of my problems….it just changed them.

Those experiences remind me to be grateful for all the great gifts I have in my life. Do I need money?  Yes.  But I have to stay balanced.  Working for money has a cost too.  So if I spend and work wisely, I can have a great life.  It’s not just about spending.  It’s not just about making lots of money either.

I think it’s easy to lose sight of our gifts and sometimes, money really gets in the way of having a full and happy life.  At least that’s been my experience.  It’s about balance.

Why do couples argue about money?

One third of the problem is caused by not really understanding how money works.  How to budget, spend, get out of debt, save etc.  This is simply an issue of understanding. When one or both people fail to understand how money works it often leads to huge mistakes and arguments.

Another third of the problem is caused by not being on the same page with each other. This is a communication issue.

The final third is caused by not taking action.  Lots of people know what to do but for some reason they just don’t do it.

Neal, with all due respect, there are plenty of books that address each of these issues.  What makes Money School different?

I think there are three main differences.  First, I present the material in several 5 to 10 minute videos that are designed to be watched by the couple together.  It’s one thing to throw a book at your husband and tell him to read it.  It’s quite another to sit down together and go through the material.  In fact, the very first video has the couple give each other a signed commitment to work through all the exercises together.  What book does that?

The second difference is that each module has exercises which are designed to get the couple into action and on the right path moving forward.

The last difference is that Money School for Couples recognizes that folks often know what to do and still don’t get it done.  The program offers solutions for those problems too.

In short, it’s the only program I know of which deals with all three obstacles – and you have to deal with all three if you want to really make progress.

Can you give me an example of a couple who might benefit?

Sure.  In fact, I wrote about this couple on Wealth Pilgrim not long ago.  They are in their 30’s.  The husband is very tight-fisted and his wife is miserable. He wants to save everything he can for retirement. His wife also wants to save for the future but wants to enjoy life today too.  What they need is balance.  They can fight all they want…they’ll never convince the other who is right and who is wrong.

Money School will show them how much they need to save to achieve their goals and how much they can comfortably spend.  The program will allow them to learn together and come to joint decisions.  This is a perfect example of who this program is designed for.

I read in your blog yesterday that you had some real ambivalence about introducing this product to your readers…why?

Right.  I was really concerned about sending a marketing e-mail to my subscribers.  They never signed up for that so I just couldn’t send them one.  That’s why I’ve opened up the pre-launch program for anyone this week. I wrote about the product on my blog and anyone who is interested can take advantage of the pre-launch price this week. That goes or Frugal Dad readers too.

It’s also a bit weird for me to sell anything on my blog or through the internet.  I’ve never done that before and I just had no idea how people would react to it.  In the end, I just decided to do it but be as transparent as possible.  We’ll see what happens.

Thanks Neal.  Good luck with Money School for Couples!

With Financial Literacy month coming to a close, I thought it would be a great time to share with readers a nifty little personal finance education product by Nuru.  These personal finance cards simulate a portable finance book broken down into various categories, such as:

• Investing
• Budgeting
  
• Loans
  
• Insurance
  
• Retirement
  

I think this is a great product, particularly for someone in need of an introductory lesson on a broad range of financial concepts.  If you just read and absorbed one single concept a day for one month you’d be exposed to 30 different personal finance terms and products.

When I was in my early 20’s I knew very little about personal finance concepts, such as mutual fund investing, bonds, etc.  I spent a lot of time pouring over personal finance books trying to get a basic grounding in these concepts.

Too bad Nuru’s personal finance cards weren’t around back then!  I could have tossed them in my book bag and reviewed them during breaks in between classes.  The cards even come with a key ring, and the cards are punched so they can be loaded and transported together on the ring.

At $10 per deck, they are not necessarily cheap.  However, try buying a personal finance book (or books) that covers the range of subjects these compact decks cover for less.  They make a great gift for yourself, someone else, and as a bonus for fellow bloggers, these make an excellent reference when drafting posts on a particular subject.

I don’t do many product reviews here at Frugal Dad, in fact this may be my first one outside of books. However, I felt so strongly about this product that I wanted to share it with my readers, especially those with children. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Money Mammals creator, John Lanza. We exchanged ideas on the subject of kids and money, and John shared with me a link to his creation. He suggested my kids give it a whirl and let him know their feedback. Well, I did just that and what I found was an incredibly fun, insipirational way to reinforce solid principles of money management for children. I was blown away with the creativity and quality of their production. John was nice enough to send us a copy of the award winning Money Mammals DVD, which was equally entertaining and held my kid’s attention for the duration of the DVD. It even sparked some good questions from my daughter about the concept of sharing.

Money Mammals, the Baby Einstein of Financial Entertainment for Kids

Very few companies have tapped into the children’s financial education market, which is a bit surprising considering how desperately our children need a proper financial education. Perhaps it is because many still consider financial education a bit boring. I remember suffering through my share of borning finance classes in college, and can imagine the subject of money is even less interesting to a child. However, Money Mammals present their message in such an entertaining way that I suspect kids don’t even realize they are learning. The music, artwork and puppetry is masterfully done in a quality comparable to the popular Baby Einstein DVD series. I even found myself singing the theme song the day after…”We Share and Save and Spend Smart Too. We Share and Save and Spend Smart Too.” Trust me, it’s an addictive little tune!

The Money Mammals Website

The Money Mammals website offers a wealth of resources for both kids and their parents, including links to their online store, Club Money Mammals (which features several games for kids, all centered around the concept of money management), and video presentations. If you have kids of your own, or are a grandparent, aunt or uncle, I strongly recommend you check out Money Mammals today. This is just the kind of thing young kids need today. It would also make a great birthday present to help a little one become a frugal “money mammal!”

Additional Resources:

• Purchase the Money Mammals DVD at Amazon.com
• Club Money Mammals (customized for Rogue Federal Credit Union)
• Sarah Harden, financial consultant for Money Mammals, reviews the concept of sharing
• Product Reviews and Testimonials