TV financial guru Alvin Hall recently packed a York bookshop with customers eager to buy his new publication. But he says he's often surprised by the impact he has had on people's lives.

Anyone doubting the popularity of BBC TV financial guru Alvin Hall would have seen the evidence at Borders bookshop in York. The 100 or so chairs put out for his public appearance were occupied well before the event was due to start. By the time Hall, wearing his trademark bow tie and chuckling that unmistakable laugh, was in front of the microphone, the first floor was packed with people who'd come to hear him speak and ask his advice.

The American was on tour to promote his book Your Money Or Your Life - also the title of his successful BBC2 series in which he tells a family with financial problems how to manage their money. "I am often surprised at the impact I've had on peoples' lives," he admits, as he sits in an upstairs office signing copies of his book before the event.

"I didn't know that or think about that very much until I won the Best Business Book prize in the WH Smith People's Choice Book Awards, which people had voted for. I never thought about the impact before because I try to focus on any given job."

No doubt many believe he'll provide easy answers to their financial woes. Instead, he lists the options and doesn't play down the tough choices that must be made. The reason people listen is because he's a good communicator and talks a lot of common sense.

"Book sales are one thing, but are people actually implementing these things? It seems they are, and that's been most heartening," he says. "One couple told me that before they started reading my books they had never saved. Now they've saved the most money they've had in their lives, but don't feel deprived. With this tour I've realised the responsibility I have, but that doesn't bother me because I'm a pretty reponsible person."

Everyone must shape their path to the best advice, and that's what he can offer - good advice. "My books are more about giving signposts or putting forward things for you to consider," he says. "People say, 'I want to have a career like yours', but how I got here is impossible to repeat. People think there's one best plan, but you have to decide to do the things that are best for you.

"I don't tell you the best thing to do, but the things to consider when you make a decision. It's more that I give people hope they can do this themselves. A lot think money issues are difficult and complex. One of the things I've noticed is that people think rich people have very complex finances, a little bit here and a little bit there.

"I try to make it fun and get the message across, and create an image that's very sincere and succinct. One of my basic principles is keep it simple. People are surprised that I've had the same credit card for 15 years and not changed my bank account for 20 years.

"I've been in debt and understand what it's like. One of the things that makes the show work is that I'm very empathetic."

He attributes his ability to get on with people to growing up in a place where you had to get on with people - a small community of 57 people in rural Florida, south of Tallahassee. He left home and went to university after he was recognised as a smart young black kid during the segregation period. Later, he worked as a college professor and began taking control of his finances when out of work.

"Chance occurences" are what he calls them. "I started my business because I couldn't get a job, and a friend said, 'Alvin, you are your own best product'. You just keep reinventing yourself and working hard to make that happen.

"I'm aware that life is about winning and losing, and that things are good and bad. I'm going to quote Oprah Winfrey, which I try to avoid, who said, "Sometimes failure is God telling you you may have made a bad choice". That statement had a profound effect on my life.

"I'm still willing to go in there and work hard to make something happen. But when you're failing at something, it's not right for you, maybe emotionally or intellectually. Failing to get a job with another company was maybe fate telling me I should work for myself. And that's what I did."

Hall leads a double life - TV financial expert in this country and teacher in the US. The former role began after Daisy Goodwin, at Talkback Productions, heard him on the radio and approached him about a Money Doctor programme idea. That was developed into Your Money Or Your Life - "a simple show about money because I'm not good at maths".

The balance between the two adds up to "a good life", giving him the best of both worlds. He can be a public figure over here and a relatively anonymous teacher in the States.

He's a great believer in fate. "It opens the door and gives me opportunities," he says. "But my greatest trait is I'm compulsive and don't mind working really hard to do a job. As long as I'm doing something I'm relatively happy with, that's all right with me."

The downside of working for himself is that everything depends on him, although he's stopped writing cheques and has managers to help run the business while he's on the road. "I don't complain about it much. I have a lot of confidence that I can make it happen if it comes to the crunch."

Hall knows that not everyone will take the advice offered and some will fail to solve their financial problems. "With some people you can give them all the things they need, but they don't want it bad enough," he says.

* Alvin Hall's book Your Money Or Your Life is published in Coronet paperback, £6.99. The next edition of the programme in the Your Money Or Your Life series is on BBC2 on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

Published: 07/06/2003