High School Seniors Receive the Gift of Financial Responsibility

Online, June 7, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. - Brett Handler, founder of Dreamstar Custom Homes and author of "Dear Graduate," recently gave more than 2,000 Palm Beach County high school seniors the gift of financial responsibility. Teamed with a host of local banks and businesses that are sponsoring the program, Handler gave the graduating students a copy of his audio book, "Dear Graduate," which he published last May as a paperback book as well. The program was set up in cooperation with the Palm Beach County School District.

Every graduating senior at Jupiter Community High School, Palm Beach Gardens High School and William T. Dwyer High School received the "Dear Graduate" audio book. In addition to Dreamstar Custom Homes, the sponsoring businesses are Floridian Community Bank, Stone Gate Bank, and Jeff Lichtenstein of Illustrated Properties. As part of the program, the banks also are offering each graduating senior a free checking account.

"We decided to sponsor this program because the book was easy to comprehend and provided some very sound fundamentals for every graduate to build a financial future," said Kris Barnhart, market president of North Palm Beach Stonegate Bank. "Many children and adults enter their adult life without a basic understanding of personal finance."

Realtor® Jeff Lichtenstein, another program sponsor, said, "I have a six year old daughter and an 11 year old son. We work hard to teach them financial responsibility on a daily basis. With college kids, there are so many distractions. What Brett is doing is giving them a life reminder before they go off. I think it's great!"

"Floridian Community Bank is proud to be a sponsor of the Dear Graduate program," said Lee Frankhouser, executive vice president of Floridian Community Bank in Palm Beach County. "As a community bank, Floridian is always interested in identifying ways to support the youth in our communities. This program is a unique opportunity to provide students with a basic foundation for their personal financial health. New graduates are very busy planning for the future and we believe solid financial responsibility will make those futures even brighter."

While Handler normally spends his days building "green" or environmentally friendly homes, he realized the need for graduates to have an easy to understand financial reference at their fingertips after spending the past 10 years volunteering for Junior Achievement and putting two kids of his own through the educational system. As a result, he wrote "Dear Graduate," a product that's available both as a greeting card that includes an audio book on CD for $9.99; the book version for $11.99; or the greeting card with audio CD and the book for $17.99 (plus shipping on all orders). Orders may be placed online at www.deargraduate.com or by phone, 561-799-7777, ext. 0#.

"I have worked with Junior Achievement for the past 10 years and I see how unprepared many of our students are when it comes to finances," said Handler. "It's no surprise because many of their parents and adults in general are ill equipped to properly handle their money. What separates this book from others on this topic is its simplicity. It's written in a way that's easy to understand.

"We decided to give the audio CD to the seniors rather than the book because many of them won't take the time to read it but I'm hopeful they'll put it in their car's CD player and listen and apply the information."

For more information, go online to http://www.deargraduate.com.
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