The Beatty Boys

"Pulling Weeds" is a time-honored way for entrepreneurial boys to make some pocket money. More than that, pulling weeds taught the Beatty brothers (David, 16, Devin, 14, and Deric, 8) lessons about service-based jobs. From these nitty-gritty lessons in personal finances, they moved on to reading books, asking questions, listening to others, and putting what they learned about personal finances into practice. Setting goals, cutting expenses, avoiding debt, writing business plans, and investing their savings in the stock market have become a way of life for them.

"Picking Stocks" and investing in the stock market is an uncommon way for even the most enterprising of boys and girls to make money. The Beatty brothers are an exception to the rule. Sometime ago, Dad Beatty gave his boys $1,000 in make-believe money to invest in the stock market. He pointed the boys to Yahoo! Finance and the boys took it from there. First, they learned to look up stock tickers and read about companies. Then they advanced to comparing businesses and ranking industries. Step-by-step they picked up the jargon of Wall Street, a language not taught in their public schools.

"Pulling Weeds to Picking Stocks" is a small book filled with plain and simple lessons for life. Credit cards? Don't use them. In debt? Get out of it. Got income? Account for it. Spending money? Document it. Got a surplus? Invest it.

The Beatty brothers offer practical, sound advice for success in life. Live your life like you were running a business. Write a personal business plan for your life. Set goals. Believe in yourself.

Unexpectedly, this is a book with an unassailable lesson on tithing -- not just tithing your money, but tithing your time -- giving of yourself to help others. Helping begins at home, assisting Mom and Dad with the household chores. Then it expands to helping others. Peers may laugh at you but older people will appreciate you. The habit of tithing your time to help others will enrich your life, so say the Beatty brothers from their exemplary personal experiences.

My Favorite Beatty Quotes: (Dad Beatty) "Help others without looking for praise." (Mom Beatty) "You have a brain, use it!" (Beatty boys) "Give without being caught."

Bottom Line: This is a book about learning -- learning about businesses, learning about industries, learning about finances, learning about markets, learning about investing, and learning from mistakes. But chiefly, this is a book about learning self-reliance.

There is nothing in this book that I don't already know as an investor and as an informed senior citizen. But the lessons came much later in life for me. My interest in the stock market germinated in my twenties, not in my teens. My investments in the stock market commenced in my late thirties, not at pubescence. All I can say about the Beatty brothers is, "Wow!"

Do you know a youngster or two in middle school or junior high? I believe this book would make a significant gift that just might empower them for life.… (meer)