Want An Easy Way To Incorporate Personal Finance Into The Classroom?

Use The Free Teaching Tools Through the Adopt an Author Program

Hey Teachers, wouldn't it be great if your students could talk with the authors of the books they were reading in class? Now they can with the "Adopt-An-Author Program."

What is the Adopt-An-Author Program?

Adopt-An-Author was founded by New York Times best-selling author Steve Alten. After becoming a best-selling author, Steve began receiving emails from teachers around the country who were using his books in the classroom to promote English and Science. The sheer amount of positive feedback prompted Steve to start the Adopt An Author Program, which now has over 2500 registered teachers.

Here's how the program works. Teachers simply log onto www.adoptanauthor.com and register. Shortly after, they receive a package of fun educational materials including posters and a free curriculum. What's more, teachers will receive the personal contact information of the author of the book they select, which they may contact at any time. Students can order the books from Barnes and Noble for a 20% discount. Students and teachers can email questions directly to the author. Best of all, the program is totally free.

Please visit the website and register for the Adopt-An-Author program. Think about the last book you and your students read together. Were you able to speak directly with the author who wrote it? Now you can.

To learn more go to the Adopt-An-Author website www.adoptanauthor.com

Why teach personal finance?

Here are the facts:

• Each year, over 1 million personal bankruptcies are filed. About 100,000 of those are by people under the age of 25.
• Very few schools require courses on personal finance. This lack of education makes students a prime target for financial companies. That's why credit card companies have flooded every college campus. Often a person's first lesson on financial education is provided by a salesperson.
• Because of compound interest, for every day someone under the age of 30 waits to invest they must work an extra week before retiring.
• The financial world is getting more and more complicated and woe to those who don't keep up. 30 years ago, one could not borrow more than 80% of a home's value to borrow it. Now lenders will loan you over 100% of the value of a home. Credit reports once enjoyed the fairness of human evaluation. Now credit reports are all electronic and the computers don't care about your personal problems. In short, it's tougher now to have good credit. What's worse, credit reports are being pulled by the most unlikely people-most notably employers, using them as a character judgment tool.

Why use Getting Loaded and the Adopt-An-Author Program?

Getting Loaded: A Complete Personal Finance Guide For Students and Young Professionals has many virtues that make it a great classroom text:

• It's free. There is no cost to the teacher beyond the cost to buy the books.
• The book is written by a young author. Peter wrote Getting Loaded between the 19-24th years of his life. He is as close to his audience as a financial author can get. The book references pop culture movies, books and songs. Peter makes it fun.
• The book is written for a young audience. The majority of investment books available today are targeted toward baby boomers, the demographic group that is widely believed to be the most concerned about personal finance. Getting Loaded is written specifically for young people in their late teens and twenties by a young person in that same age range.
• The book follows a non-linear format. Rather than 12 or 15 long chapters, the book is chopped into 50 short chapters. The 50 short chapters make it easy for teachers to skip around and customize the curriculum for their own classrooms.
• The book is well organized. Each chapter explains the theory behind the concept at hand, as well as suggesting certain action steps on how students can improve their financial lives. What's more, each chapter is summarized in a handy section at the end of each chapter called "In a Nutshell."
• Author interaction. As a member of the Adopt-An-Author Program, Peter is available to students and teachers who use the program in their classroom. He's also available for classroom conference calls.
• Immediate results. While students will learn a good deal of theory as they go through the book, it's primary focus is action for immediate results. Students will be looking up stocks, preparing their own budgets, and more as they go through the book.

Why not choose a classroom text that comes with the full support of the author? Go to www.adoptanauthor.com

If you are interested in teaching personal finance and using Peter's book, Getting Loaded, as the classroom text please email Peter at for a FREE curriculum.