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Sunday
October 9, 2005

Charles Givens by Luke Setzer

The complex world of personal finance can often overwhelm the average person. Mortgages, insurance, taxes, investments, real estate, employment, and business carry with them a host of rules, regulations, and pitfalls that seem designed to transfer wealth from the ignorant to the informed. A variety of magazines and books has offered instructions on how to control expenditures and build personal wealth. Some of the all-time best-selling books on personal finance have come from one man: Charles J. Givens. The story of his rise to fame, fall from grace, and final demise provide lessons for all of us. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (7 messages)

Post 0

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 1:11am

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Thanks for the entertaining read, Luke. I laughed out loud when I read this part: "In his usual unfazed brazenness, he reported to the court a personal net worth of less than $800." I could just picture all the freeloading litigants and their scum lawyers trying to carve out some piece of Givens's pie, and running up against a labyrinthian tangle of offshore accounts, holding corporations, and tax shelters. It put a grin on my face.

Post 1

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 9:13am

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Thank you for this wonderful profile of an American hero, Luke. I found this article especially timely as I just finished arguing, right before I logged onto SOLO this morning, with one of my daughters regarding term life vs. whole life. My opinion mirrors Givens' opinion but my daughter unfortunately disagrees. She's following the advice of her paid financial advisor who recommends whole life. Oh, well, she has to live and learn for herself that, among other things, father usually knows best.

Post 2

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 11:29am

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What is with the hair? Why do these business gurus always have pompadoured do's from the 70's? Ziglar, Peters, Givens...TRUMP...maybe it's a reaction to boot camp...;)

Post 3

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 7:24pm

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Wonderful article, Luke.

I knew precious little about Givens before. Your nutshell bio and comments stimulated my interest in learning more.

bonk

Michael

Post 4

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 7:52pm

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Thanks for the information, Luke. I liked what I saw earlier in the synopsis of the book, some of the things are known to me, but some areas I am unfamiliar with and I think would be valuable to know. I decided to buy a copy of the book and I will let you know what I think.

Post 5

Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 10:50pm

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Thanks Luke, an interesting tale, and one I will now follow up on.

Post 6

Monday, October 10, 2005 - 3:23am

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Thanks for all the compliments, folks.

I should mention one aspect of Givens as a cautionary note. Back in the 1970s, when he was struggling to get some of his business ventures rolling, he was heavily involved in promoting some of the more "far out" New Age ideas of the time via the seminar business. Back in 2004, someone who attended one of those Givens 1970s weekend retreats sent me copies of the audio tapes he had personally recorded from that seminar. I have an outline and critique of their content here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CharlesGivens/message/292

Thankfully, Givens left that racket later in life and I never saw any hint of his adherence to those notions by the time he published his first bestseller, Wealth without Risk -- my first exposure to Givens -- in 1988. I suppose it is possible that his "life blueprint" concept that forms the theme for his last book, SuperSelf, has unmentioned assumptions by the author that still fall in the "New Age" category of mysticism. But the principles and strategies explicitly named in all of his published books fall in line quite comfortably with Objectivism.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 10/10, 3:29am)