Creating a Budget Makes Good Common Cents
Money Management Guru Tackles
Personal Budgets in a Cashless Society

(Chicago, IL) – How many times have you heard family, friends, or even yourself promise to create and stick to a budget? Money management guru, Judy Lawrence can help with her no-nonsense approach to budgeting in her best-selling book The Budget Kit: The Common Cents Money Management Workbook, 4th Edition ($18.95, Dearborn Trade, March 2004).

Our society is deep in the throes of the age of the Internet and financial software programs, and many people don’t have the time, knowledge or organizational skills to effectively manage money. Now in its fourth edition, The Budget Kit, helps make money management easy, understandable and accessible. The Budget Kit has been completely updated and revised to help consumers face the unique challenges faced in today’s “cashless” society.

“The increase in debit card use and online bill pay systems have really gotten us out of touch with our money,” said Lawrence. “But just because we don’t touch and feel our money as much as we did 10 years ago, we still have to be very aware of how much money we have, how much we’re saving, and how much we’re spending.”

In the fourth edition of The Budget Kit, Lawrence helps to make getting on the road to financial freedom easier by teaching readers how to:

• Organize and maintain daily and monthly records of financial information
• Use the Internet wisely
• Plan and manage finances, even with irregular paychecks
• Reduce debt by using the debt-reduction calculator
• Anticipate monthly and yearly expenses, avoiding unpleasant surprises
• Gain confidence and financial peace of mind

Included in the fourth edition of The Budget Kit is a trial copy of In2M’s Mvelopes Personal software to help automate the principles taught in the book.

Judy Lawrence, MS Ed., is a popular speaker on basic money management. Her master’s degree in guidance and counseling serves to enhance an already passionate interest in helping people manage their money. A “natural” as a personal financial counselor, Judy has been a frequent guest on TV and radio and has been interviewed or featured in a number of national newspapers and magazines.

The Budget Kit: The Common Cents Money Management Workbook, Fourth Edition ($18.95, 240 pages, 8 1/2 x 11, paperback, ISBN: 0-7931-4128-1) is available at neighborhood and online booksellers or by calling 877-242-4941. Dearborn, a Kaplan Professional Company, is the nation’s premier trainer and information provider for business and financial leaders committed to profiting from breakthrough ideas.