Grace W. Weinstein

Grace W. Weinstein, a journalist and author who demystified the how-to of personal finance and explored the psychology of managing money, died of breast cancer Wednesday at her home in Virginia Beach, Va.

Mrs. Weinstein, a Bergen County resident until April, was 76.

"Most people spend much more time thinking about their summer vacation than they spend planning their finances," the Queens native told an interviewer in 1984.

For those people, Mrs. Weinstein offered a bookshelf full of plain-spoken counsel, including the 658-page "The Lifetime Book of Money Management," a Book of the Month Club selection in 1984.

"What Gail Sheehy did for social psychology with 'Passages,' this book aims to do for money management," The New York Times said in reviewing "The Lifetime Book," in which Mrs. Weinstein tailored her advice, on everything from paying for education to retirement planning, to six age groups: 13-17, 18-24, 25-40, 41-54, 55-64 and 65-plus.

Her other dozen titles ranged from "Children and Money: A Parents' Guide" (1985) to "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tax-Free Investing" (2000) to "Financial Savvy for the Self-Employed" (1995).

She also penned a syndicated newspaper column and the "Your Money" column for Good Housekeeping magazine, and articles for Kiplinger's Personal Finance and Money magazines.

Mrs. Weinstein's expertise earned her a three-year term on the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Advisory Council.

The former Grace Wohlner received a degree in English from Cornell University and married Stephen Weinstein soon after her 1957 graduation.

"After the children were born, she got bored very quickly sitting on the park bench," her husband, a retired architect, recalled on Wednesday.

So Mrs. Weinstein, who had earlier worked as a writer for a life insurance company, placed a position-wanted ad in The New York Times. That led to a writing gig with a public relations newsletter. The PR contacts she made helped launch her personal finance journalism career.

Only once did she write under a nom de plume, and that was for Playgirl, which is better known for pictures of nude men than for wisdom on rolling over a 401k401(k). "My mother was absolutely chagrined," Stephen Weinstein said of one family member's reaction.

The Weinsteins moved to Teaneck from Manhattan in 1969 and then to Englewood in 1988.

Mrs. Weinstein "a tough broad," according to her husband was diagnosed with breast cancer 26 years ago. She did not let the treatments keep her from her work.

"Some people let everyone pamper them, Stephen Weinstein said, "but Grace worked every day, and she did have about 17 years of being cancer-free."

Mrs. Weinstein also is survived by her children, Lawrence Weinstein and Janet Mercadante, both of Virginia Beach; a brother, Ellis Wohlner, of Sweden, and four grandchildren.

The funeral service and burial will be Friday in Virginia Beach. Arrangements are by H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments, Virginia Beach.

Email: levin@northjersey.com