Pocket Change by Dr. Heidi Beckman Named as 2014 Adult Book of the Year

Madison, Wisconsin

Pocket Change: Using the Science of Personal Change to Improve Financial Habits (Effertrux Publishing) was named winner of the 2014 Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Adult Book of the Year award from the Institute for Financial Literacy. The author, Dr. Heidi Beckman, teaches readers how to use well-tested techniques from the field of behavioral science to build and sustain positive money habits.

The basic ingredients of healthy financial behavior include motivation, persistence, and impulse control as well as a basic knowledge of personal finance. While there is an abundance of books on the market that teach readers the fundamentals of personal finance, there are very few books that help readers strengthen their self-discipline, focus, and motivation. In a society where impulse control problems are becoming more and more common, Dr. Beckman felt that this was an important book to write.

As a clinical psychologist and Certified Educator in Personal Finance, Dr. Beckman is well-versed in topics that range from goal-setting and self-monitoring to personal efficacy and self-discipline. She offers a self-help guide filled with tools to tackle the motivational challenges that many Americans face when it comes to personal finance. She also suggests how to design the social, emotional, and environmental context in which good money habits will thrive.

Getting better with money and achieving your financial goals do not happen through passive waiting, wishing for life to be different, or gimmicky quick-fixes that promise instant wealth. Living a healthy financial life requires real personal change (or a pocket change, you might say!) Thankfully, behavioral scientists have uncovered the secrets of habit modification which have the power to convert good intentions into real action. These secrets are covered in detail in this book.

Through practical lessons, relevant examples, reflection questions, and "homework" tasks, Dr. Beckman encourages readers to:

-Understand their stage of readiness for change, and choose the most powerful strategies

-Set up their environment to make the right behaviors easier and the wrong behaviors harder

-Manage obstacles that arise, such as excuses, distressing thoughts, and difficult emotions

-Maintain enthusiasm by practicing one small change at a time

"Motivation is the fuel that people need to propel themselves toward better money management," says Beckman. "Although basic personal finance skills are an essential first step, motivation will ensure that they persist with good habits when faced with temptations in the future."

Dr. Beckman is a licensed clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. She is passionate about understanding what helps people change so that they can lead lives that are physically, emotionally, and financially healthy. Over the past fifteen years, she has delivered numerous presentations on willpower and personal change to medical patients, members of the community, and professional audiences.

Pocket Change: Using the Science of Personal Change to Improve Financial Habits ($19.99 print version, $9.99 electronic version; 194 pages, 5.9 X 8.9, paperback, ISBN's: 978-0985842789 and 978-1499362428; copyright 2013 by Heidi T. Beckman; Effertrux Publishing) is available through Amazon and other online booksellers.