Many excellent books teach God's principles of finance. Perhaps one or more of them has helped you lay a strong biblical foundation for carrying out your money management responsibilities. But as you try to apply those principles to making real-life investing decisions, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the jargon and the sheer number of investment possibilities.
Investment adviser Austin Pryor has carefully created the "next step" guide that helps you put Godly principles of finance into motion. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced investor, you'll benefit from stepping across this bridge between "theory" and "action". Each user-friendly lesson is written in everday English and filled with helpful visual aids. In this revised and updated edition of The Sound Mind Investing Handbook, you'll learn
- What investing is and why it's actually quite simple
- Six characteristics of investing that glorifies God
- What important steps to take to prepare yourself financially before invest
- What mutual funds are and why they make investing easier than ever before
- How to use your personal investing "temperament" and present "season of life" to make decisions and limit your risk
- How to implement an investment strategy that's guaranteed to help you keep pace with the markets
- Tax-wise ways to invest for college, including the state-sponsored 529 savings plans
- The pros and cons of investing internationally
- The rules governing IRAs and 401(k)s and which should have the priority
- How to make the calculations needed to make sure your retirement countdown is on schedule
College professors have even used this book in their finance classes because of its easy to understand format. So, whether you invest a little or a lot, these biblical principles apply to you. In short, he's made learning about investing as painless as it's going to get.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1: Getting Debt-Free
Section 2: Saving for Future Needs
Section 3: Investing Your Surplus
Section 4: Diversifying for Safety
Section 5: Retirement Countdown
Section 6: Investing That Glorifies God
Austin Pryor is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from the University of Kentucky where he received a B.S. degree in Banking and Finance in 1967.
Pryor founded his own investment management firm, Forum Investment Counselors, in 1978 where he saw his average client account more than triple in value during its first five years of operations.
In October 1989, Austin Pryor was having lunch with long-time friend Larry Burkett and his ministry associate in charge of counseling activities, Steve Humphrey. As they discussed the financial challenges facing the average Christian family, they commented that a newsletter was needed. Larry thought of it as "a kind of Consumer's Report for Christians in the area of finances."
Austin's initial response? "You're right. Too bad nobody's doing anything like that!"
In 1990, Pryor launched Sound Mind Investing, a monthly financial newsletter targeted to today s Christian family. The publication has garnered over 42,000 subscribers since its inception in 1990 having grown to become America's best-selling financial newsletter written from a biblical perspective. The publication s website membership has grown to over 14,000 users since it launched in 2000 and is America s best-selling Christian financial newsletter
Pryor s book The Sound Mind Investing Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Managing Your Money from a Biblical Perspective was a finalist for the Gold Medallion Book Award in Christian publishing and enjoys the endorsements of numerous respected Christian teachers, including Larry Burkett, Ron Blue, Dr. Bill Bright, Dr. Charles Stanley, Adrian Rogers, and D. James Kennedy.
Austin C. Pryor, Jr. is an American financial writer, speaker, and radio personality whose work focuses on investment counseling from an evangelical Christian point of view.
Pryor s written articles have appeared in Moody Magazine and the publications of such Christian organizations as Focus on the Family and the Christian Business Men s Committee. His work currently appears on the Crosswalk, Christian Broadcasting Network, and Crown Financial Ministries websites. Pryor has been a frequent guest on Crown Financial Ministry's Money Matters program for since 1992.
Additionally, Pryor has been the featured speaker at various mayor and governor prayer breakfasts, and many functions of the Christian Business Men s Committee and Christian Women s Clubs. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Pro Athletes Outreach, a Christian training ministry to pro athletes of all sports, and The Christian Embassy, an outreach ministry to government and diplomatic officials and their families in Washington, D.C.
Pryor has been married to his wife, Susie, for 43 years; they have three grown children and nine grandchildren. Pryor and his wife reside in Louisville, Kentucky.
