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Lazy Week Reading List

Terry Savage

Get Jim Cramer's picks for 2006.

This will be a slow week in the financial markets, and in your personal life. Who has the energy for big undertakings after that shopping spree and all that holiday food?

You could take these lazy days and organize your files to get everything read for tax time in April. You could review your investments. You could look over your estate plan, or check to make sure you have adequate life insurance. But you know you won't do those things.

This week is the time to relax. So while you're relaxing, I have two books for you to read. Neither will directly affect the state of your personal finances, but each could have a powerful impact on your future, and on your life. And since you don't want to do anything particularly useful in the next few days, curling up with two very short, enjoyable, and fascinating books might be just the right activity to get you ready for the new year.

The first book is Success Through a Postive Mental Attitude, by W. Clement Stone. You can buy a copy of this legendary motivational bestseller for $7.99 in paperback. It costs much less than a movie, and will keep you entertained far longer. It might even change your life.

W. Clement Stone is the quintessential American success story. When he died at age 100 in 2002, he had created a billion-dollar fortune, starting as a 6 year old selling newspapers on a street corner to help support his widowed mother. He built the Combined Insurance Company, which later merged with Ryan Insurance to form Aon Corp.(AOC Quote).

But Stone's financial success is only part of the legend. He developed a system for creating success, which he used to encourage those who sold his insurance policies. It was a methodology that spread far beyond product sales.

His motto: "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve with PMA." PMA stands for positive mental attitude. And if you read his book, you'll learn how to create your own positive approach to life. Then, good fortune seems to find you.

Another legendary billionaire, Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell, said almost the same thing to me last week. I asked about his outlook for 2006 and he responded with a wide grin: "I'm very optimistic, very positive." When I pointed out that there are many global and economic worries that threaten America, he calmly explained that none of that mattered as long as "America remains the only country where you can succeed based on your own talents. And where you can fail, and be allowed to start over." He notes that other countries rarely give the second chances that Americans take as their birthright. It is this entrepreneurial encouragement that draws people from around the world to create businesses here.

For the year ahead, Zell says American government should concentrate its efforts on the global protection of intellectual property. As long as people can expect to create new enterprises, and receive the rewards of their intellectual capital, Zell predicts America will flourish.

It was a strange coincidence to be writing this column and hear Zell's words of optimism. He and Stone are two self-made American billionaires who are living proof that optimism -- and brains -- can work wonders.

The other book for your holiday week reading list is Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart, by Gordon Livingston.

America is full of books that purport to guide you to a life well-lived. I think this is one of the best. Subtitled "Thirty Things You Need to Know Now," it is direct and almost shockingly pertinent to so many aspects of your life. The $18 cost, plus the time you spend to read -- and re-read -- it is worth many expensive hours in a psychiatrist's chair.

This book is a national bestseller, and certainly doesn't need my endorsement. But I frequently receive emails about personal finance problems and recognize that money isn't really the issue. It's just a symptom of what is wrong in many relationships between adults, or parents and children, or just the problems of individuals alone.

Money is often synonymous with control. Unfortunately, it's the only scorecard many people use to measure their own worth, reward themselves, express their feelings to others, or try to force others to respect them. America has a special fascination with the power of money. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to get it, and envying those who have it. And usually, it doesn't make us happier.

The few simple, but potent, lessons of this book will change your life far more than adding zeros on your financial balance sheet. And that's The Savage Truth.

Get Jim Cramer's picks for 2006.