This is a “re-visit” book. Re-visit books are books that you learn so much from, but feel you missed something the first time around. So a year or so later, you “re-visit” it. Overcoming Underearning is one of those. Barbara Stanny took her popular workshop and put it into book form. Through excercises and a few testimonials, the reader has the opportunity to discover why/what holds them back from their earning potential.
The best feature is the resource list at the end of the book. Yes, I’m starting with the end first. 
Not hokus-pokus self-help, but financial planning and career planning are included. I also use some of the affirmations when going through my own “tunnels of crap”.
Stanny concentrates on the connection between family & money. Particularly how our parents, siblings, and friends influence our attitude toward wealth. What most people fail to understand is that wealth is not just monetary; it’s how we use money in our life. Money/wealth is a tool, according to Stanny. A six-figure income, with poor health, long days, and weak personal relationships means the tool of money is not being used properly.
Overcoming Underearning is not a dense book. The language is straightforward, the testimonials are inspriring. However, to really get the most out of the book, you should do the exercises. A few may be uncomfortable, but worth it. When I first read the book almost 2 years ago, I wrote some goals from an excercise at the beginning of the book:
What are your goals? Just write them down, no matter how crazy they seem.
I wrote:
Need new career
Start my own business
Go back to NYU
Visit London.
Almost 2 years later, I’ve started my own business, about to head back to NYU, and while I didn’t visit London, I did make it to Germany. So there’s something to this book.
Use that gift card and pick up a copy, or be fiscally fit and borrow it from the library.
