From College Faculty and Staff

"One of the best parts about your program was your availability to speak in classrooms

around campus for the entire day. Being a community college with a large non-traditional

population, I think that your willingness to reach out to our students outside of the

traditional "one main lecture" program resulted in so many more of our students being

able to learn extremely important information about their financial future. One of our main

goals in the student activities program is always to increase our faculty involvement and

toimprove our relationship with the faculty, and this was such a great way to achieve that

goal.The attendance in the classrooms you visited easily quadrupled the number of

students whoattended the main lecture. It was really easy for me to set up, I simply

added a note to faculty at the bottom of the email I sent out advertising your program

and the response was tremendous. After your lectures, all of the faculty involved

contacted me to express their gratitude at your coming to their classrooms and how

much their students enjoyed your lecture and how much they learned from it. Anyone

who doesn't take you up on this offer is truly missing out on a great opportunity to

reach out to students who might not attend more traditional style programs!

Thank you again, and I know that I will be in touch to have you return next year!"

~Lindsey Dedow Gubin, Coordinator Center for Civic Education and Student Leadership

Central Florida Community College, Ocala, FL

"You were one of the most effective speakers we have had in our seminar."

~Anthony n. Quinn, Chair. Dept of Business Admin. Colby Sawyer College; New London, NH

 "Peter has a unique connection to the students. I try to have him back every semester."

~Connie G, Adjunct Faculty; Boston College; Boston, MA

 "Your presentations were the best attended co-curricular events on campus this year. It would be a privilege to have you back on campus again in the future."

~Amanda Marble, Resident Director, Eastern Nazarene College; Quincy, MA

 "You were able to make everyone feel comfortable enough to ask those sometimes embarrassing credit questions. I have had many students approach me with accolades for your ability to converse with students on a level they are comfortable with. I would highly recommend you to anyone looking for a financial presenter who is not afraid to answer any question thrown his way."

~Jennifer Blackwell, Director Of Student Activities Wesley College; Dover DE

"I have heard nothing but rave reviews for your talk."

~Heather Lynn Flohr, Director Of Student Activities; University of Dubuque, Dubuque IA

"Our decision to use Peter was the result of feedback from students that lectures on this topic in the past (from bankers and credit counselors) were dry and boring.

Peter was far from this. His lively presentation engaged students and impressed faculty and staff with its content. The evaluations from students were glowing. Peter was also very easy to work with. Almost uniquely among external speakers, he makes himself available for activities other than his major presentations. Peter guest lectured in three Introduction to Business Classes, held office hours in our Student Union (working with students individually), had lunch with groups of faculty and staff, and did an interview for our campus radio station. Perhaps the best endorsement for Peter Bielagus is that we plan to bring him back to campus this coming fall."

~Chris Caplinger, Ph.D Interim Director, Georgia Southern University

"I was in the financial advising/investment field for over 40 years and the one thing I heard from every single one of my clients was, "I wish I started earlier." Peter's generation is lucky to have him out there, teaching the financial tools that other generations never had. There's no doubt in my mind, his message is a must."

~Ernie Faminghetti, Former Manager of the billion-dollar New England Trust Fund

"It takes a special gift to motivate students, but that is exactly what Peter is able to do as he "works" the crowd. His flexible style is suited to any audience and he knows how to engage them with the simplest questions."

~Ellie G. Cochran, Senior Foundation Officer, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

From Students:

"Hey Peter,

My name is John, I saw your presentation last night and I thought it was great. I just wanted to tell you a little story real quick. Well last night before you spoke, my friends and I were only going to go because our teacher told us if we write a paper on what you talked about we could receive extra credit. Although after your talk I didn't even care about the extra credit any more because I came away with so much information. I had no idea what a Fico score was. I just wanted to thank you for taking time to talk to all of us. I also can't wait to read your book. Thank you again."

~John B. Wesley College; Dover, Delaware

 "I don't have to deal with them (the collection agency) any further. Thank you so much for your help."

~Jacqueline N. Georgia Southern University; Statesboro, Georgia

 "The energy and style with which you present is definitely appealing to a college audience! Your presentation was surely an eye-opening one. My "aha moment" was the entire presentation. Due to the fact that my father is also a financial advisor, I've always had him deal with the investing side of my finances, and thus far it has served me well. However, your presentation last night made me "wake up and smell the coffee" so to speak. I now realize the importance of managing my own finances and maybe reading my statements and reports a little closer. After all, it is my money and ultimately my life.

~KellyMarie D. Wesley College; Dover, Delaware

 "It [the program] definitely shed some light on the question I ask myself everyday (Why am I so broke?). I think you did a great job and everyone in college needs to hear you lecture. Thanks again."

~Ronnell P. Wesley College; Dover, Delaware

"I want you to know that the first time I ever understood what a money market account was, or a mutual fund, or a bond, or a stock, was when I learned it from you."

~Maggie G; A nursing student University of Maine; Portland, ME

"Hello Peter,

I was at your University of Dubuque evening session a week ago. I am sorry that it has taken me this long to get this e-mail to you. Things have been crazy!!

I loved your whole program. I really wish that you could have had a longer time to speak. You had a lot of valuable information that has and will help me out considerably."

~Nicole J. University of Dubuque; Dubuque IA

"Dear Peter,

I'm replying in regards to the speech you gave last night at UD. I was greatly impressed and, although I don't usually attend motivational speeches of any kind, I must admit that this one truly gave me the AHA!! moment you mention at the end of it when you indicated that we buy things to impress others and in the end they are expensive and lonely, and coincidentally most of the stuff that I have purchased had a hidden intention to attract the attention of others in one way or another, but not anymore. Your speech also opened my eyes to new financial perspectives that otherwise I would have never considered due to my own narrow-mindedness and ignorance about the subject itself.

Thanks again"

~Paulo M. University Of Delaware

"Peter,

Thanks a lot for your inspirational talk on Thursday at UD. I had a hard time getting out of my warm apartment to go walk out in the cold to see your talk but I'm very glad I did."

~Elizabeth L. University of Delaware;

"Hi Peter,

I was at you talk last night I really enjoyed it. I found a lot of things you talked about very important. I've been badgering my mom about credit cards to start building up credit, but now that I have a web site to help me I can do it today. I would have to say the overall, my, "ah ha" moment was when you were talking about starting to get involved in the Stock market and building credit as soon as possible. It really motivated me to get started on all of these important things. I already checked my credit report, yeah no problems, but I need to start building it up now. Thanks again for the useful info."

~Allison Z University of Delaware;

"Peter,

Thank you very much for your incredible insight. It is a lot easier to listen to someone who has been there and overcome a poor credit score like you have. Today's "aha!" moment for me was the little keys to how to avoid decreasing your score and what you can do to increase it while in college. This is going to be a huge help to me, and I have already called my father and asked him if we could sit down and talk about some of these options to boost my score at an early age."

~Ryan L. Eastern Nazarene College; Quincy, MA

"Hey Peter,

Thanks so much! That was really helpful and did answer most of the questions I'd had on stock investing. Any that weren't answered by that were answered by my parents - I forwarded the whole email on to them - and they are really impressed with what you had to say as well. Thanks a lot once again! Have to run to do homework before my next class now. God bless, and thanks for coming to the college. You actually got me interested in my finances, which takes some doing."

~Nate H. Eastern Nazarene College; Quincy, MA

"Peter,

I attended the lecture you gave to the freshman seminar class yesterday. I am a little embarrassed to say that the majority of the information you shared with them was something I was not aware of myself and I'm several years older than them! So, the whole lecture was very helpful to me. (aha!)"

~Melissa C. Eastern Nazarene College

"Hi Peter,

My name is Colleen and I attended your talk today at Suffolk University. I was the one wearing all black that asked about APR rates. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your lecture and found it very relevant - establishing good credit has been on my to-do list for months, but I didn't know where to start as far as getting a credit card. Now I know where to look; thank you."

~Colleen F. Suffolk University; Boston, MA

"Dear Mr. Bielagus,

My name is Lea and I am a student at Suffolk University. I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed your speech. For me I feel like it will help me in the future. I am a serial spender and after hearing your speech I hope to control my purchases in the future and start to build good credit.

~Lea F. Suffolk University; Boston, MA

"Hi,

My name is Nathan and I really liked your lecture because you showed us that it is more important to love what you do than to seek the big bucks. I think that is really important in life. I also thought it was great how you illustrated that if we just give up a little time now, we can prevent larger and more serious problems in the future.
Thanks again for all the great information. I plan on using it in life, and I wish you the best.

~Nathan J. Souhegan High School; Amherst, NH

"Dear Peter,

As a senior at Souhegan High School, I was able to attend your lecture about personal finance a little over a month ago. I was very impressed with your presentation and found that I, like many of my peers, enjoyed it very much. I think that the presentation was such a success because you were able to break down the concepts of personal finance into simple, practical steps. Throughout the lecture you concisely told us what we ought to do and why we should do that. I found this sort of break-down very helpful in understanding the concepts.

~Shaun G. Souhegan High School; Amherst, NH

"Hi Peter!

It's BJ, the guy you met yesterday at the 12:00 lecture.
I truly have a lot of good things to say about the lecture, and my AHA
moment was with the Upromise.com thing. I wouldn't call it a loophole
either, but I like it nonetheless.

Thanks"

~B.J. W. Brevard College; Brevard, NC

About Peter's book, Getting Loaded: A Complete Personal Finance Guide For Students and Young Professionals

"I read this book in one day because it was that good. I could not put it down. I am hoping Bielagus writes more books."

~Carla C. A reader from Gloucester, MA

"Getting Loaded is one of the best books ever written about money and managing it."

~Gregg H. a reader from Amherst, NH

"Getting Loaded is ideal for college students who want to take control of their financial lives but do not know where to begin."

~Lindsay Curran CPA, MBA from Boston, MA

See more book reviews on Amazon.com www.amazon.com or on Barnes and Noble.com www.barnesandnoble.com