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eBooks by Jerry Staker
Jerry Staker has dedicated more than 40 years of service to three distinct groups: Consumers, small business, and financial institutions. Finding financial wellness, and the best repayment solutions during times of a serious economic downturn is the subject of these six series
Understand the root causes of today’s debt crisis by exploring the fragile economic frameworks that enabled it. This guide breaks down inflation, fiscal recklessness, and institutional drift so readers can see how we got here and what’s next.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• A thorough explanation of the fiscal and monetary origins of America’s exploding debt - and why it can’t be fixed with surface-level reforms
• The staggering rise of national debt ($37 trillion and counting), unfunded liabilities ($105 trillion+), and why most of it will never be repaid
• A breakdown of the Debt-to-GDP shell game, and why using only “debt held by the public” is dangerously misleading
• The hidden costs of deficit spending addiction and the economic illusions propped up by printing trillions in artificial capital
Tomorrow’s economy is already taking shape. This book connects the dots between aging populations, rising debt, labor shifts, and disruptive technology to help readers prepare for major structural change.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• A breakdown of how aging populations, exploding entitlements, and shrinking workforces are undermining long-term economic sustainability
• How technology and labor dislocation are fueling productivity gaps and inflating future liabilities
• Why the culture of borrowing and political avoidance has created a fragile financial foundation with limited options left
• A clear explanation of how geopolitical uncertainty, weakening alliances, and rising global tensions are reshaping economic assumptions
• A challenge to the moral and behavioral decline weakening national resolve in times that require sober thinking and strong institutions
Tomorrow’s economy is already taking shape. This book connects the dots between aging populations, rising debt, labor shifts, and disruptive technology to help readers prepare for major structural change.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• A breakdown of how aging populations, exploding entitlements, and shrinking workforces are undermining long-term economic sustainability
• How technology and labor dislocation are fueling productivity gaps and inflating future liabilities
• Why the culture of borrowing and political avoidance has created a fragile financial foundation with limited options left
• A clear explanation of how geopolitical uncertainty, weakening alliances, and rising global tensions are reshaping economic assumptions
• A challenge to the moral and behavioral decline weakening national resolve in times that require sober thinking and strong institutions
Addiction, inequality, climate shocks, and public health failures are rewriting the debt equation. This book reveals the deep links between social breakdown and fiscal instability, offering tools to recognize the warning signs.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• How economic inequality undermines long-term productivity and weakens a nation’s fiscal base
• Why climate disasters, wildfires, and rising sea levels are driving unsustainable relief spending and infrastructure losses
• The long-term fiscal fallout of pandemics, health disparities, and public health underinvestment
• How social unrest, displacement, and community fragility raise the cost of borrowing and reduce national creditworthiness
• From COVID to Katrina, from social revolts to climate emergencies, the evidence is mounting: social and environmental stressors are no longer separate from fiscal policy - they are shaping its limits.
Crisis rarely starts with one event—it builds. This guide shows how interest rate spikes, asset bubbles, job loss, and fiscal missteps converge to trigger collapse and what borrowers and institutions must watch for.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• How speculative asset values, artificial interest rate environments, and weak capital buffers quietly erode system stability
• Why shadow banking, off-balance-sheet risk, and excessive leverage create explosive conditions beneath the surface
• How financial contagion spreads across institutions, sectors, and nations once a critical stress point is breached
• Why liquidity mismatches and policy blind spots make today’s systems especially vulnerable to sudden shocks
• Where early warning signs are most likely to appear - and how individuals, institutions, and policymakers can build smarter risk frameworks
In this urgent and practical guide, Jerry Staker, former Federal Reserve Bank Supervisor & Commercial Banker, equips credit professionals, lenders, and underwriters with essential tools to confront the realities of a serious downturn.
This book delivers a no-nonsense roadmap for mastering commercial credit risk under extreme pressure, including:
• Recognizing early borrower distress before default strikes
• Applying dynamic credit risk ratings during a recession
• Conducting meaningful loan reviews and portfolio diagnostics
• Implementing effective workout strategies to recover value
• Aligning credit practices with regulatory expectations
Whether you work for a bank, credit union, or lending agency, this book helps you do the one thing that matters most: protect your institution without abandoning your borrowers. Clear, proven, and battle-tested—this is the definitive guide for today’s high-stakes credit environment.
The most powerful budget worksheet plan in the world - YOURS!! Clarity begins with a pencil and one page. This practical workbook helps individuals and families map income, spending, and debt in a simple, honest format that restores control, hope, and peace of mind.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• Understand the “WHAT” – Learn exactly what the Tunabudget Worksheet Plan is, how it works, and why it's different from other budgeting tools.
• Embrace the “WHY” – Discover the emotional and psychological transformation that happens when financial anxiety is replaced with structure, hope, and purpose.
• Master the “HOW” – Follow a step-by-step process to build your own worksheet: list every bill, prioritize spending, and create a repayment plan you can stick to.
• Deal with creditors the smart way – Get straightforward advice on how to face creditors with confidence, negotiate fairly, and protect your financial dignity.
Addiction’s impact isn’t just personal—it’s financial. This candid guide explores how dependency, denial, and emotional pain drive debt, damage families, and stress the broader economy. This isn’t rehab talk. It’s real talk.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• The staggering economic consequences of addiction—from lost productivity to generational poverty and rising public debt
• Why gambling, screen obsession, and behavioral addictions are destroying financial discipline across all income levels
• How drug normalization, policy cowardice, and cultural appeasement are making recovery harder—and collapse faster
• The dangerous myth that addiction is “just personal,” when its costs are deeply social, financial, and institutional
• A candid framework for families, professionals, and policymakers to interrupt the cycle, reintroduce accountability, and rebuild from the inside out
Your financial future starts with your mindset. This powerful guide reveals how attitudes, habits, and unconscious beliefs quietly shape your money behavior and how to reset your thinking for long-term wellness. This is a mirror, not a manual.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• How daily attitudes - like entitlement, fear, or gratitude - compound into long-term financial direction
• The small decisions that build either quiet strength or silent collapse
• Why your beliefs about struggle, success, and worth matter more than any investment strategy
• The hidden role of self-honesty and personal restraint in breaking cycles of failure
• A no-nonsense call to parents, mentors, and leaders: model what you expect, or watch the next generation repeat what you’ve allowed
Every household needs a plan. This book helps families confront tough money issues like caregiving, adult dependency, emotional spending, and uneven roles so they can create shared goals and sustainable financial clarity.
Inside, readers will uncover:
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How to establish clear, collaborative financial expectations - without shame, secrecy, or guilt
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Why adult children dependency, eldercare burdens, and emotional overreach are draining families financially and emotionally
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How to confront overspending, avoidance, and silent resentment with truth and structure
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A family-tested approach to budgeting, planning, and building resilience that honors everyone’s dignity -but requires accountability
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Why restoring financial leadership in the home may be the most important decision you’ll ever make
Forget the fluff - this is financial truth, unfiltered. From daily spending to deep debt cycles, this guide gives overwhelmed individuals the clarity and discipline to reclaim control and rebuild their financial lives.
Inside, readers will uncover:
Personal Debt Crisis / The Crushing Burden of Heavy Debt - Face the truth about what debt really is—and why it’s not just a number, but a symptom.
Student Debt / Wise Up - A reality check on college costs, personal responsibility, and the myths we tell ourselves about “investment.”
Bankruptcy / Your Promise to Pay - What it really means to break your financial word,and how to restore your integrity and direction.
Employment / Skills and Passion to Increase Income - Why income follows value—and how to stop waiting for a raise and start becoming worth more.
Hectic Life / The Great Rat Race - The hidden cost of drifting through noisy days, and how daily disorder drains your wallet, your energy, and your future.
Money is emotional, especially in marriage. This book helps couples align on values, reduce conflict, and build shared financial goals
Inside, readers will uncover:
• Candid Conversation Memo / Divorce – Taking responsibility; short/long term effects on the children and the parents
• Candid Conversation Memo / Put Your Wife First: Avoid the ‘Divorce Cliff’ - Learn why genuine joy begins with serving her happiness—before your own. Includes over 20 practical (and mostly free) ways to show love, build trust, and create daily “nuclear-fusion happiness.”
• Candid Conversation Memo / She Should Decide the Major Money Decisions - Discover why the biggest mistake in most marriages is who controls the discretionary spending—and how your marriage, family, and finances improve when you step out of the spending lane.
Step-by-step advice on rebuilding your Tunabudget Worksheet Plan around her voice, her dreams, and your shared future; help avoid divorce.
This collection of fearless dispatches exposes the hidden truths behind America’s growing debt crisis, budgetary deception, and political silence. Jerry Staker delivers sharp, unfiltered commentary on the systemic risks our leaders refuse to face - making this a must-read for anyone demanding truth over illusion. America is on the brink - and no one is sounding the alarm.
Inside, readers will uncover:
Fiscal hawk and independent thinker, Staker exposes the concealed truths behind America’s spiraling debt, systemic deception, and the political silence enabling economic collapse.
Through a series of powerful, candid dispatches, Staker dives deep into hidden liabilities, budgetary illusions, and policy failures - laying bare the real story behind Washington’s empty reassurances. With storm clouds gathering and time running out, this collection delivers unflinching clarity for citizens, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers who refuse to be lied to any longer.
If you value truth over spin, clarity over confusion, and fiscal reality over reckless promises - this book is for you.
When crisis hits, debtors must lead. This practical guide gives small business owners a clear path to design, document, and propose their own loan repayment strategies before the lender forces their hand.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• Why debt crises lead to a flood of loan defaults, and what that means for your business
• How to construct your own repayment proposals before the lender comes calling
• What creditors see when asset quality deteriorates, and loans are classified
• How to understand and navigate risk ratings, loan covenants, and restructuring policies
• When and how to negotiate, in good faith, with stressed or overextended lenders
• How respect, professionalism, and preparation change the conversation with your bank
Learn how lenders evaluate your business using tools like cash flow projections, credit risk ratings, and loan monitoring systems. Become empowered to speak the same language as creditors - and negotiate from strength.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• Pro Forma Cash Flow Statements: How forward-looking projections reveal your ability to repay - and why they’re your bridge to building lender trust.
• Credit Risk Rating Systems: What those internal “grades” mean, how they’re assigned, and why they can impact your borrowing terms.
• Commercial and Industrial (C&I), Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending Criteria: Learn the detailed benchmarks and warning signs that banks use when evaluating your operations, shifting priorities, valuation risks, cash flow expectations
• Credit Risk (Asset Quality) Monitoring: Get inside the ongoing surveillance tools banks use to spot trouble early - and how you can stay ahead of the curve.
• Loan Modifications and Workouts: What qualifies as a “prudent” loan workout, and how to present your request to improve your odds.
This insider guide shows small business owners how lenders shift into protection mode during serious economic downturns. Learn what your Loan Agreement really says - learn how banks think and act once things go south.
Inside, readers will uncover:
Written by Jerry Staker - former Federal Reserve Bank Supervisor and commercial banker - this insider’s guide reveals what lenders won’t say out loud: what they look for, what they fear, and how they protect themselves during hard times.
You’ll learn:
• What covenants, collateral, and clauses really mean for your business
• How lenders restructure deals to protect their interests - not yours
• Which early moves help you stay in control (and out of default)
• How to build a credible plan before the lender imposes one
This is the blueprint for any business owner who wants to protect their assets and take charge of their loan obligations when the economy turns. Don’t wait. Act now.
Understand your financials the way your banker does. This book reveals how lenders interpret your reports, track red flags, and evaluate repayment risk—so you can stay ahead and maintain trust.
Ever wonder what your banker sees when they look at your financial statements? In this eye-opening guide, small business owners gain the rare opportunity to see through the creditor’s lens - so they can prepare, respond, and survive a downturn.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• The “red flags” lenders quietly track
• What your statements reveal about repayment risk
• How to pre-empt bank scrutiny with strong transparency
• The power of positioning your business for flexibility and trust
Whether you’re trying to avoid a workout or build the case for loan relief, this guide gives you the upper hand—before the conversation even starts.
Decode the dangerous loan terms buried in your Loan Agreement - from balloon payments to personal guarantees. This guide gives business owners clarity, leverage, and strategy to renegotiate or restructure before it’s too late.
Your commercial Loan Agreement wasn’t designed to protect you - it was designed to protect your lender. In this practical and powerful guide, Jerry Staker helps small business owners decode what’s buried in the fine print: the covenants, clauses, interest traps, balloon terms, and personal guarantees that put you at risk in a downturn.
Inside, readers will uncover:
• Dangerous loan terms hiding in plain sight
• Why your bank structured the deal the way they did
• What happens when you default - and how to prevent it
• Negotiation strategies that put you in the driver’s seat
Don’t sign blindly. Don’t walk into a crisis unprepared. This book arms you with clarity, leverage, and control - exactly when you need it most.
If your business is struggling or falling behind, this book provides a step-by-step plan to regain control. Learn how to talk to your lender, build a credible workout plan, and protect your business through tough times.
It is your action plan for dealing with late payments, declining revenue, looming defaults, and frustrated bankers. Instead of waiting for the lender to take control, you'll learn how to stabilize your business and propose your own solution - on your terms.
Inside, you’ll discover:
• How to spot the earliest signs of trouble
• What to say (and what not to say) to your bank
• How to build a workout proposal that protects your assets
• Checklists and sample strategies that creditors respect
This is not about theory. It’s a field-tested roadmap built by someone who’s been on the other side of the table. When the economy hits hard, you’ll be ready.
Pull back the curtain on how lenders assess your risk during a downturn. Discover how banks really evaluate your leadership, financials, and loan position - so you can shape the conversation before they do.
Inside, you’ll discover:
• How to present a pro forma cash flow that builds trust and avoids disaster
• How creditors view your management, financials, and industry risk - before you even walk into the room
• What really happens in a bank’s “Credit Approval Memo” (and how to influence it)
• Why YOU must create your own repayment plan before the lender does it for you
• Why “Abundance of Caution” collateral can work in your favor—if you understand it
• When bankruptcy is inevitable—and when it’s not
In seasons of default, delay, or debt modification, this book is your lifeline.
A practical guide to over 18 types of commercial loans, helping you understand structures, risks, and negotiation strategies. Ideal for borrowers seeking clarity and confidence in uncertain financial conditions.
Inside, you’ll discover:
• How lenders evaluate and monitor different loan structures
• Which credit terms create flexibility - or risk - for borrowers
• How to align financing options with business needs
• What to expect (and how to respond) when economic conditions change
• When and how to renegotiate loan terms in a downturn
Whether you're entering your first commercial loan or preparing to restructure existing debt, this book will help you bring clarity and confidence to your borrowing decisions. It’s a reliable reference that empowers you to make smarter financing moves when it matters most.