BRANSON, MO (PRWEB) DECEMBER 16, 2015

When it comes to financial matters, Prof. Rodney Ballance, Jr., combines the affability of a country sheriff with the toughness of a coach seeking a national championship. He challenges consumers over their lack of knowledge as much as he does financial advisors for their predatory practices. Ballance speaks to that and more in a new video at http://www.icontrolmymoney.org.

Prof. Ballance has the street credibility and savvy to take on an industry rife with what he calls “scams, schemes and scoundrels.” Conversely, he has the gentleness and patience to encourage and educate young people, newlyweds, young families and retirees. Here’s how they react:

“I wish someone had told me this years ago.”

“If I could go back and tell my younger self this, what mistakes I could have avoided.”

“Why didn’t someone share this with me sooner?”

Ballance understands the regrets: “What we want to do is help people realize how to avoid the mistake in the first place,” he said, adding that, “In many cases, we can give people a second chance for a complete do-over—a re-start.”

Why is it so difficult for consumers to learn the truth about money?

“There are millions of financial professionals in the world today,” the professor said. “Almost everyone of them has one thing in mind: Sell the products they have available so they can make a commission or earn a fee.”

Sadly, even some so-called consumer advocates are actually subsidized by the very industry intent on taking people’s money, Prof. Ballance warned.

A nationally known personal finance expert with decades of experience, Ballance is the author of “The 7 Indisputable Laws of Financial Leadership” and “The Love of Money.” His third book, “I Control my Money,” is due out next year.

“I gave up a high six-figure income to become an advocate,” Ballance says of his mission, which ultimately led him to launch the International Financial Leadership Association (IFLA), a non-profit organization dedicated to financial education.

“IFLA is the only Consumer Advocacy organization that focuses 100 percent on financial issues and products,” he said. “Our specialty is helping victims of unscrupulous sales people recover money from mutual funds, variable annuities and variable life insurance products.”

Ballance is known for saying, “People who have access to and control over their money will always prevail during challenging economic times.” To him it’s a fundamental principle, one that permeates his life: He’s a board member at the American Leadership and Policy Foundation, a contributor to CBN News, and a former adjunct professor at Mid-Atlantic Christian University where he wrote the Personal Finance 101 curriculum. Balance offers this three-step process:

STEP 1: “Identify for whom your money is working.”

STEP 2: “Decide to make a change.”

Step 3: “Accept help from a certified professional.”

“When you give access to and control over your money to anyone else, you are giving away forever the complete benefit of ever using that money to work for you,” Ballance said. “We teach consumers who wants to take their money, why they want it, and how they trick the average citizen into giving it to them.”

The professor said it’s time to break the cycle, time to teach the next generation how to build wealth instead of just how to survive. That means stop being manipulated by a system designed to keep people from becoming wealthy by imposing a one-size-fits-all, money-management approach to finances.

“It’s time to put the money back into the hands of the people who earned it, with a money leadership approach,” Ballance said. For more information or to schedule an interview, call 1-888-779-8972 or visit http://www.icontrolmymoney.org orhttps://youtu.be/vzFsZXTBBkc

ABOUT: Rodney Ballance, Jr., is a board member and senior fellow at the American Leadership and Policy Foundation. He has been a regular contributor to CBN News and the American Family Association radio network. He served as an adjunct Professor at Mid-Atlantic Christian University where he wrote the curriculum for Personal Finance 101. Ballance is President of the International Financial Leadership Association (IFLA).