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helaineolen.com

Live from New York City!  We welcome Helaine Olen, journalist, author, former financial columnist and contributing editor, Pacific Standard, to talk about her book, Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry. Don’t miss her talks at Toronto Reference Library, March 31, in the Beeton Auditorium (7 pm) and at City Hall on April 1, 1 pm.

Pound Foolish is a great read by a lively and engaged writer who has taken on some of the sacred cows of the financial industry. Above all, Olen busts open the myth that the victims of economic catastrophes are to blame for their misfortunes. For millions of people, economic reality means lousy or no pension plans, precarious employment, massive housing costs and prohibitive costs of college education (and the attendant massive debt load for many young adults).

Yet in the face of such financial catastrophes, some financial gurus still propagate the myth that if only you had fewer lattes, shopped more frugally or planned better, were a more disciplined investor, you would have been better off.

She also takes on the myth that women are supposedly financially ignorant and would be lost without their spouses or financial advisors. Not true. As she points out in Pound Foolish, women and men are equally bad at handling finances. Don’t miss this lively and provocative speaker who might well change the way you think about money.