SHARON

Native hits jackpot with book

Lavine and his wife, Gail Liberman, who now live in Florida, had their book, "Rags to Riches: Motivating Stories of How Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Wealth!", featured on Oprah Winfrey’s show April 28.

By May 8, their book was No. 8 on the UPI best seller trade paperback list, ranking with "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison and "The God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney.

When the 1966 Sharon High School graduate learned his book was going on Oprah’s show, he and his wife were "all excited. Once it hits Oprah, it gets big. It gets huge."

Part of the writing process for the book included personal interviews. "We talked to people who grew up very poor and how they overcame poverty," Lavine said.

He noticed the same elements were in almost every interviewee’s story, including making small goals; receiving a strong encouragement from at least one family member or family friend; and experiencing a rough childhood.

Lavine has also written and co-written with his wife nearly a dozen books, including "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Money with Mutual Funds," "Improving your Credit and Reducing Your Debt" and "Love, Marriage and Money.

The couple will be featured on CBS’ "Early Morning Show with Bryant Gumbel" on June 27, and have been on many national radio programs, but haven’t made any major changes in their lifestyles.

"We’re still doing a lot of publicity for the book. We keep going forward. I guess we’ll notice it when we get our royalty checks," Lavine said with a laugh.

The couple plan to do a sequel to this book and possibly a book on real estate.

Lavine also credits his experiences from working at his parents’ former store, Helfman Produce Co., Sharon, which was on Railroad Street, as part of his book’s inspiration..

"It made me want to be able to show that people in that kind of situation can improve their lives. Maybe not become millionaires, but can have better lives," he said.

For more information, check out www.moneycouple.com; or call (877) 242-4941.