If you’re looking for a “get this paper” kind of book, Hill Harper’s “The Wealth Cure: Putting Money In Its Place” is probably not the book for you. But if you’re looking for a way to increase wealth in all aspects of your life, it’s probably worth picking up. Harper, already the author of three best-selling books – “The Conversation,” “Letters to a Young Sister” and “Letters to a Young Brother” – says that it’s time to reevaluate the way we feel about money.
After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Harper had an epiphany, realizing that working his way back to physical health was not entirely dissimilar from working one’s way to financial health. Cancer changed his entire perspective, and that perspective is what inspired “The Wealth Cure.”
“True wealth is a balance of financial health and the spiritual aspects of life,” Harper says. “You have to tap into that to find your spiritual health.”
He maintains that despite the recession and the resultant financial issues that many people – even those who considered themselves successful – are dealing with, it still makes sense to make smart financial decisions. He says that we need to think of money in a different way, using it for what we need and want instead of allowing it to use us.
By sharing his experiences and the people he met while traveling around the country, Harper makes the case for viewing wealth as something that we already have instead of something that we need to acquire. But there is also practical information on insurance, wills and emergency funds that can help individuals and families create a stronger financial future.
Harper shared one of the common money mistakes that people make with AccessAtlanta.com.
“The number-one biggest financial mistake people make is carrying any type of credit card debt,” Harper says. “It is a crippling type of debt. It locks you up in ways that are catastrophic. Sometimes it gets to a point where you can’t get yourself out from under it, and you pay the minimum from month to month. Credit cards were invented for convenience, and then they became a profit tool once we started spending money we didn’t have and started carrying a balance. The folks who gave you that card want you to pay the minimum. They don’t have the incentive to help you get out from under that debt.”
Though thyroid cancer is largely curable, Harper’s was a more difficult to treat version. But says that his health is stable right now and that early detection and being proactive helped him manage his diagnosis.
