The author is a wealthy Catholic layman. At 33 years of age, he had made enough money to sustain him without having to work for the rest of his life. Then Hanna asked himself, "what am I to do with the rest of my life and with the money that I made?" In the Foreword of the book, he writes:

     "I have always liked what Socrates said about the unexamined life--that it was not worth living--and so I resolved that I would not spend my money and my energy and my time in an unexamined manner. But that meant I would have to spend a lot of time examining--money, my own life with money, and the lives and thoughts of others who had dealt with the concept of money. This book is the result of that examination.

     In the end, money is an integral part of the world in which we live, and the failure to think about it clearly can easily lead to hazardous results. Conversely, the proper understanding and use of money can help us lead far more fulfilling lives than we might otherwise expect. In fact, a better understanding of our money can even help us achieve a richer and deeper appreciation of those things that money can't buy."

The following is the Table of Contents of the book.

Chapter 1  Money demands answers

Chapter 2  The meaning of your money and mine

Chapter 3  How much is enough?

Chapter 4  The fundamentals and non-essential wealth

Chapter 5  Non-essential wealth threatens those we love

Chapter 6  Non-essential wealth threatens us, too

Chapter 7  Money is good

Chapter9  Virtue: the first vocation of those with money

Chapter 10 Wealth creation: the second vocation of             those with money

Chapter 11 Giving: the third vocation of those with          money

Chapter 12  The best ways to give

Chapter 13  Let giving now be a school of virtue

Chapter 14  Begin today!

The next step: Tips for wise and effective giving

Ten rules of thumb for donors

Questions to ask

Quotes to reflect on

In his book, Hanna has many quotes from well-known and not so well-known people. The following are a sample of the quotes.

     "It is not he who has many possessions that you should call blessed: he more rightly deserves that name who knows how to use God's gifts wisely." 

Horace 65 B.C.

     "Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many amid great affluence are utterly miserable."                         Tacitus 100 A.D.

     "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."                         Winston Churchill

     "Some men are born to own, and can animate all their possessions. Others cannot: their owning is not graceful; seems to be a compromise of their character: they seem to steal their own dividends. They should own who can administer; not they who hoard and conceal; not they who, the greater proprietors they are, are only the greater beggars, but they whose work carves out work for more, opens a path for all."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

     "This then is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent on him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which in his judgment is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community--the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they could or would do for themselves."                                                 Andrew Carnegie

After the above quote, Hanna states:

     "To ensure that I continue to live in accordance with this high call enunciated by Carnegie, I strive always to awaken and keep alive in my soul the virtues of public-spiritedness, honesty, humility, fairness, and temperance. I strive always to remind myself, even in the midst of the most intense business deals when millions of dollars are at stake that I am simply a steward and that I have my wealth so I may use it to meet genuine human needs fairly and efficiently."

     "Giving money to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to a teenage boy."

P.J. O'Rourke,  1947

     "Many older wealthy families have learned to instill a sense of public service in their offspring. But newly affluent middle-class parents have not acquired this skill. We are using our children as symbols of leisure-class standing without building in safeguards against an overweening sense of entitlement--a sense of entitlement that may incline some young people more toward the good life than toward the hard work that, for most of us, makes the good life possible."

David Elkind, Psychologist

     "Non-essential wealth, particularly in the hands of the young, strangles humility and gratitude, and keeps charity and wisdom from ever blossoming in these souls. It can lead them to lives of profligacy, lawlessness, or even worse. No one would want to give those he loves the means to bring on themselves such consequences."                                                    Frank Hanna

     "The surest way to ruin a person who doesn't know how to handle money is to give him some."

George Bernard Shaw

     "You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."

William Henry Boetcker (1873-1962)

Nine quotes of the author

The following are some of the words of the author that spoke to me.

1. "We need to find out what it means that you and I have money, and others do not.

     Can it be that God or Providence or Chance merely intends to bestow on me the means to have greater ease and pleasure?

     Have I been singled out by the universe to take it easy?

     If so, why?

     What have I done to deserve to be pampered while others, not far from here, fall asleep hungry, or die destitute in the streets of Bangladesh?

     Can that be the meaning of my money: that I have a good time while others suffer?"

2.   "Understood correctly and chosen as an act of service, wealth creation can be as much a vocation as teaching or being a doctor."

3. "It's a privilege to be called to the noble work of the wealthy but it's also a heavy responsibility not easily fulfilled."

4. "That we have non-essential wealth is no accident: it was given to us--or we were allowed to earn it--for a reason: so that, as good stewards, we can use it for others."

5."But to keep your attitude toward your possessions from becoming grasping, you need to loosen your grip on some of it on a regular basis, and to do so cheerfully. You don't have to believe in God to grasp the fundamental truth in the psalm: "Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble."

6."Unfortunately, none of us are exempt from the tendency to view the things around us as simply ours, rather than as goods over which we serve only as trustees, charged with the duty to use them to provide our own fundamentals and the fundamentals of others. We have to fight this natural tendency to claim as absolutely our own the things we have.

     I pray that I won't succumb to this tendency, but I've also found that prayer is not sufficient; I've got to fight it daily. I've found that one of the best ways to do so is regularly to give some of my money away.

 7.  "I think that those of us who are creating wealth now need regularly to practice giving now, so that later we'll have the strength of character and the virtue of generosity it will take to give away the greater amounts that our wealth creation will bring us."

8.  "Because non-essential wealth has been placed in our hands, we are responsible for ensuring that it is used now and after our death to bring about the universal destination of goods."

     Daughters of inherited wealth, or accumulated labor! The wide door of philanthropy is open peculiarly to you! Your life-work lies beyond your threshold: your wealth has placed you above the sorrowful struggle for daily bread which takes up the whole time of so many of your brothers and sisters. You are the almoners of God. A double accountability is yours."

Caveat: Even though I recommend the book, I did not necessarily agree with everything  - especially with all the items he included as fundamental for a decent life.