Local Dollars, Local Sense

How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity Michael Shuman
$17.95 US Paperback Original ISBN 9781603583435 6 x 9 288 pages Pub Date: March 2012

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A clear map that Americans can followas individuals, as communities, and as entrepreneursfor simultaneously revitalizing their communities and their personal bottom lines. from the foreword by Peter Buffett

Put Your Money Where Your Town Is, and Prosper Thousands of people across the nation are taking to the streets to say theyre fed up with the reckless behavior of Wall Street. But the vast majority of Americans still have their money tied up theredespite the fact that they might despise some of the corporate deeds their investments support. That doesnt have to be the case, though, says Local Dollars, Local Sense author Michael Shuman. If Americans transferred just a fraction of the $26 trillion they invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and life insurance funds to local small businesses in search of funding, average return on investments would improve, communities would strengthen, and jobs would increase dramatically. All evidence supports this. So, whats stopping us? For one thing, SEC regulations prohibit nearly 99 percent of Americans from investing directly in local businesses. People, though, are developing creative ways to get around those rules. And Shumanan economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur at the forefront of building local economiesdelivers the most thorough overview available of how to invest locally, explaining the options and obstacles and profiling the investors who have paved the way. He describes in detail how people can engage, at all levels, in institutional lending, investment clubs and networks, local investment funds, community ownership, direct public offerings, crowdfunding, local stock exchanges and more. He also guides readers through the lucrative opportunities to invest locally in their homes, energy efficiency, and themselves. The book is part of Post Carbon Institutes series on community resilience.

Michael Shuman is director of research for Cutting Edge Capital, director of research and economic development at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and a fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. He holds an AB with distinction in economics and international relations from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. He has led community-based economic-development efforts across the country, and has authored or edited seven previous books, including The Small-Mart Revolution and Going Local. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Parade, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. He lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.

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