Money Habitudes Named Personal Finance Book of the Month by The Washington Post

Wilmington, NC, December 31, 2011 --(PR.com)-- LifeWise Strategies announces that its Money Habitudes tool has been named the featured selection for December by Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post. Cited as being “simple but extraordinarily insightful,” it marks the first selection of a non-book as the Color of Money Book Club choice of the month. In making her selection, Singletary wrote, “What I like about this money game is that there’s no judgment … The point of the game isn’t to label some habits bad and others good.”

“It’s an honor to have Michelle select Money Habitudes. She again reinforced that managing money successfully is not just about budgets and financial plans. When people become aware of the psychological influences that affect their financial decisions they can develop the strategies to help them stick to their plan,” says Syble Solomon, the creator of the innovative deck of cards that functions as both a self-assessment and conversation starter.

Money Habitudes is a hands-on activity that looks and feels like playing cards. It helps people think about money and talk about it in a fun, nonjudgmental and constructive way. Money is often described as one of the most taboo conversation topics and studies find that it is habitually the issue that sparks the most fights – and eventual divorce – among couples.

Solomon won the 2009 Smart Marriages Impact Award from the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education for her role in fostering healthy relationships around money. She was also named Educator of the Year by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education and now serves on AFCPE's national board of directors. The cards are endorsed by the Institute of Consumer Financial Education and included in the national Jump$tart Clearinghouse.

Singletary’s award-winning column, “The Color of Money,” is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Tampa Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer. The Color of Money Book Club has featured some of the top thinkers in personal finance. Other previous selections include:

-Pay It Down! From Debt to Wealth on $10 a Day by Jean Chatzky
-How to Care for Your Parents' Money While Caring for Your Parents by Sharon -Burns and Raymond E. Forgue
-The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers & Fathers Are Going Broke by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi
-What You Need to Do Now: An 8-Point Action Plan to Secure Your Financial Independence by Ric Edelman
-Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert B. Reich
-The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge by Ted and Brad Klontz and Rick Kahler

Money Habitudes cards are available in multiple versions for: Adults (English and Spanish), Young Adults (18-25), and Teens. The behavioral finance tool is easy and effective enough for individuals and couples to use on their own. However, it is also used professionally by a range of practitioners including therapists, financial planners, financial educators, career coaches and life planners. It is used by groups like Cooperative Extension, the military, banks and credit unions, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees, and asset building and microenterprise organizations. Singletary discovered the tool at a training for social workers on the psychology of money, sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Social Work's Financial Social Work Initiative and the Maryland CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) Campaign, a statewide network of organizations that promote financial stability for working families.

As a follow up to the book club selection, Singletary will host a live web chat with Solomon at noon Eastern on Jan. 12 at washingtonpost.com/conversations.

###