Erlend Peterson

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Erlend Peterson sold his graphics business and retired with his family to a 3.5-acre estate in Pasadena, California, complete with a swimming pool and tennis court when he was 40. Four years later, he had spent all his money and had to go back to work.

He decided he needed to learn how to manage and invest his money, so he went into the personal money management and investment business -- financial planning -- in 1973. He became a certified financial planner in 1983.

He has 32 years' experience helping people with their money, writing financial analyses, and he has given hundreds of seminars, most at major corporations. He has also served on the boards of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners and the International Association for Financial Practitioners. Recently they have merged and formed the Financial Planning Association, the FPA.

He advises people on how to manage their income and invest their money; when they need insurance and how much to buy; how to reduce their taxes; how to plan their retirement, and finally how to get the whole family involved so that when they pass on, their money is not wasted. This is Peterson's first book, and is the definitive book for middle-income readers. His second book, Money Changes Everything is for low income people who are just getting started. His third book, The Challenge of Wealth, gives the same kind of financial advice to readers with high income and high net worth. Each of his books reads almost as if you were sitting in his office.