Book review: Your New Money Mindset by Brad Hewitt and James Moline

The ninth book I read in 2017 was Your New Money Mindset: Create a Healthy Relationship with Money by Brad Hewitt and James Moline.  In a world that already contains Dave Ramsey and Crown Financial Ministries, one might well wonder why anyone needs another Christian money-management ministry, but for an introductory offer to receive the book for $5, plus shipping and handling, I was willing to find out.

Hewitt and Moline divide unhealthy attitudes toward money into four categories: equating wealth with security, using it for independence, inability to stop craving more, and seeing it as a measure of success.  Over and against these four attitudes are their opposites: living without financial fear, using wealth to build community, contentment, and locating success in living one's individual divine calling.  An online assessment is included for the reader to assess his or her attitudes toward money in these four areas.

As a veteran of The Total Money Makeover, I didn't find anything particularly new between these covers (and I scored well on the assessment).  This book differs from Ramsey's in that it doesn't attempt to provide a framework to take practical steps toward financial health; it's more a touchy-feely book to reorient one's thinking and produce, as advertised, a "new mindset" on money.  There's some of that in Ramsey's approach, too: overcoming fatalism and opening one's mind to new possibilities, but I prefer Dave's more practical approach.  It's the old faith vs. works dichotomy. Granted, taking the "baby steps" without changing one's financial practices will end in relapse, but mental assent to Hewitt and Moline's assertions is also possible without translating said assertions into action.  Turning belief into action is the goal ... but action without belief at least accomplishes something.