Charles J. Givens
Encyclopedia
Charles J. Givens was a bestselling author of two books on Financial literacy
.
. His father, a construction
company owner, deserted the family and left them poor. This situation made things tough around the house, and it affected the Givens mentally. In a 1989 interview, Givens said he once considered himself a "loser", and at 16 wrote a suicide note
. According to some sources, he wrote the 1960s hit song Hang on Sloopy
.
Givens slowly built a multimillion-dollar empire in the late 1980s, writing such books as the best-selling Wealth Without Risk and Financial Self-Defense. He became a best selling author, with two books in the Bestsellers list during 1990s. Also during his financial peak, he owned the Charles J. Givens organization, which counted at more than 450,000 members. The company provided financial education, and brought in $104 million of revenue.
Over his career, Givens was the target of dozens of lawsuits and two court cases for defrauding customers, one in California and one in Florida. The California fraud case found that he had misled his customers by claiming that he had made his money using his financial strategies, rather than by selling his financial strategies, and he was ordered to refund $14.1 million to his customers. Givens settled the Florida fraud case. Givens was also sued for advocating dropping insurance to save money by a woman whose husband was killed by an uninsured driver. Givens settled the insurance suit in 1993.
He died July 12, 1998 resulting from prostate cancer
.
Financial literacy
Financial literacy is the ability to understand finance. More specifically, it refers to the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions through their understanding of finances...
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Personal history
Givens was born and raised in Decatur, IllinoisDecatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
. His father, a construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
company owner, deserted the family and left them poor. This situation made things tough around the house, and it affected the Givens mentally. In a 1989 interview, Givens said he once considered himself a "loser", and at 16 wrote a suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
. According to some sources, he wrote the 1960s hit song Hang on Sloopy
Hang on Sloopy
"Hang on Sloopy" is a song by the pop group The McCoys which was #1 in America in October 1965 and is the official rock song of the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University...
.
Givens slowly built a multimillion-dollar empire in the late 1980s, writing such books as the best-selling Wealth Without Risk and Financial Self-Defense. He became a best selling author, with two books in the Bestsellers list during 1990s. Also during his financial peak, he owned the Charles J. Givens organization, which counted at more than 450,000 members. The company provided financial education, and brought in $104 million of revenue.
Over his career, Givens was the target of dozens of lawsuits and two court cases for defrauding customers, one in California and one in Florida. The California fraud case found that he had misled his customers by claiming that he had made his money using his financial strategies, rather than by selling his financial strategies, and he was ordered to refund $14.1 million to his customers. Givens settled the Florida fraud case. Givens was also sued for advocating dropping insurance to save money by a woman whose husband was killed by an uninsured driver. Givens settled the insurance suit in 1993.
He died July 12, 1998 resulting from prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
.
Books published
- Wealth Without Risk, 1988, Simon and Schuster, NY
- Financial Self Defense, 1990, Simon and Schuster, NY
- Wealth Without Risk for Canadians, 1992, Stoddart, Canada (ghosted)
- Superself — Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness, 1993, Simon and Schuster, NY
- More Wealth Without Risk, 1995, Simon and Schuster, NY