They completed the program at the end of last year. It took them about six months, and they estimate about 100 hours, to get through the book. They also had several meetings with Lemon along the way.

"This is a comprehensive program that allows us to know where we stand," Kathy Derry says. "This really felt very much like going back to night school for a three or four semester class. It was that level of work activity."

Among the changes the Derry's made by the time they were done was the reconfiguration of their portfolio from one chiefly made up of single stocks to one with a mix of stocks, index funds and bonds. They set up a family budget that they review monthly. They also decided to pay off their mortgage. "One of the things the book encouraged us to look at was risk versus return," Brian Derry says, adding that getting rid of the mortgage was a "zero-risk" way of increasing monthly income.

Susan Bradley, a partner at Bradley and Young Wealth Management in West Palm Beach, Fla., recently began reviewing the book with an eye toward using it with her own clients.

Bradley, founder of the Sudden Money Institute, an educational center for new money recipients, says that the book is a way to establish some form of accountability for clients.

Bradley, an author herself who wrote Sudden Money in 2000, wasn't surprised by the amount of money and resources Lemon put into his book.

"I think he was coming from a very deep belief and passion around this," she says. "Paul's a CPA and a planner, so he's not a foreigner to money at all. He's also a very thoughtful man, and couldn't have put this together if he wasn't."

One question advisors have to ask, however, is whether their clients will be dedicated enough to do the work.

"I don't think all my clients need it, certainly, because we've done a lot of work with them already," she says. "Some people may have the patience. Some people may never complete it, but still get a lot from it."

Lemon says he has a range of ways of using the book. For clients whose assets don't merit them paying Lemon's fees, he will suggest the book as a way to fill their needs. Lemon may hold a meeting with such clients to review the final results. For clients who still want to retain Lemon's services, yet use the book, he charges an hourly fee instead of an annual retainer fee.