If you want a no-nonsense approach to family finances, look no further than straight-talking American Alvin Hall.

He was on Breakfast yesterday - and he returned this morning, to answer some of your questions.

Click here to watch Alvin answering some of your email questions.

Background

Alvin Hall has made a career from offering "user friendly" financial advice.

He was born into a farming family in America's deep South and worked for a time as a college professor (teaching literature) before switching to investment.

As long as you invest no more money than you can afford to lose, you'll have few sleepless nights.

Alvin Hall

His ability to translate complex concepts into simple English then helped him become director of course development for Leo Fleur, Inc., the company responsible for creating Wall Street examination preparation training.

In 1986 Alvin became Director of Marketing for the Chicago-based Longman Financial Services Institute, where he created and implemented marketing campaigns for training programmes and sales enhancement products. Total sales: $40 million.

He then became the Executive Director of the New York Institute of Finance, where he furthered his experience in developing training programmes.

Now, as President of Alvin D Hall Associates, Inc. (NYC), Alvin is widely respected and courted as a financial trainer.

According to Alvin there are three keys to successful investing: "choosing a company that has a unique product or market position which is hard to copy, has good growth potential, and strong management."

He says "as long as you invest no more money than you can afford to lose, you'll have few sleepless nights."

click here to e-mail your questions to Alvin Hall

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Your Money or Your Life is on Tuesdays on BBC Two at 7.30pm

A book to accompany the series (also called Your Money or Your Life) is published by Hodder and Stoughton at �10. ISBN 0-340-82319-4