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The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
What’s the secret to becoming a millionaire?
For years people have asked David Bach, the national bestselling author of Smart Women Finish Rich , Smart Couples Finish Rich, and The Finish Rich Workbook , what’s the real secret to getting rich? What’s the one thing I need to do?
Now, in The Automatic Millionaire , David Bach is sharing that secret.
The Automatic Millionaire starts with the powerful story of an average American
couple--he’s a low-level manager, she’s a beautician--whose joint income never exceeds $55,000 a year, yet who somehow manage to own two homes debt-free, put two kids through college, and retire at 55 with more than $1 million in savings. Through their story you’ll learn the surprising fact that you cannot get rich with a budget! You have to have a plan to pay yourself first that is totally automatic, a plan that will automatically secure your future and pay for your present.
What makes The Automatic Millionaire unique:
You don’t need a budget
You don’t need willpower
You don’t need to make a lot of money
You don’t need to be that interested in money
You can set up the plan in an hour
David Bach gives you a totally realistic system, based on timeless principles, with everything you need to know, including phone numbers and websites, so you can put the secret to becoming an Automatic Millionaire in place from the comfort of your own home.
This one little book has the power to secure your financial future. Do it once--the rest is automatic!
For years people have asked David Bach, the national bestselling author of Smart Women Finish Rich , Smart Couples Finish Rich, and The Finish Rich Workbook , what’s the real secret to getting rich? What’s the one thing I need to do?
Now, in The Automatic Millionaire , David Bach is sharing that secret.
The Automatic Millionaire starts with the powerful story of an average American
couple--he’s a low-level manager, she’s a beautician--whose joint income never exceeds $55,000 a year, yet who somehow manage to own two homes debt-free, put two kids through college, and retire at 55 with more than $1 million in savings. Through their story you’ll learn the surprising fact that you cannot get rich with a budget! You have to have a plan to pay yourself first that is totally automatic, a plan that will automatically secure your future and pay for your present.
What makes The Automatic Millionaire unique:
You don’t need a budget
You don’t need willpower
You don’t need to make a lot of money
You don’t need to be that interested in money
You can set up the plan in an hour
David Bach gives you a totally realistic system, based on timeless principles, with everything you need to know, including phone numbers and websites, so you can put the secret to becoming an Automatic Millionaire in place from the comfort of your own home.
This one little book has the power to secure your financial future. Do it once--the rest is automatic!
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 2003
About the author
David Bach
59 books319 followersDavid L. Bach is an American financial author, television personality, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and founder of FinishRich.com. Bach, is best known for his Finish Rich Book Series and Automatic Millionaire Series of motivational financial books under the Finish Rich Brand. He has written 12 books since 1998 with over seven million copies in print.
Eleven of Bach's books have been national bestsellers, including nine consecutive New York Times bestsellers, two of which were consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers (The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich). Bach has had four of his books Smart Women Finish Rich, Smart Couples Finish Rich, The Automatic Millionaire and The Finish Rich Workbook appear simultaneously on the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and USA Today bestseller lists. Eleven of Bach's books have been published from Random House (Broadway Books).
Bach's first book Smart Women Finish Rich was published in 1998, and appeared on the bestseller lists for a decade. His most recent book Debt Free For Life (2011) was published by Crown Business Books, and appeared simultaneously on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists.
Bach has appeared regularly on television dispensing his financial advice since 1994. His first appearance on television took place in San Francisco, on local cable channel BayTV, where he was "The Money Doctor", and answered personal financial questions.
He was a regular contributor to The Today Show, appearing weekly on the Money 911 Segments. He also has contributed to CNN American Morning, CNBC, Fox Business, ABC Good Money, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show over six times, including the shows "How to become an Automatic Millionaire" (2004), "How to become an Automatic Millionaire Couple" (2004) and "Oprah's Debt Diet Series" (2006). Bach has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, NBC's Weekend Today, CNN's Larry King Live, ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, and ABC's The View.
Bach has written, produced and hosted two public television specials, Smart Women Finish Rich and The Automatic Millionaire, which aired nationally. Smart Women Finish Rich was produced by Connecticut Public Television (1998) and The Automatic Millionaire by Chicago Public Television (2006). He has hosted two radio shows, Finish Rich with David Bach (Sirius Satellite Radio) and The Finish Rich Minute (Westwood One).
Eleven of Bach's books have been national bestsellers, including nine consecutive New York Times bestsellers, two of which were consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers (The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich). Bach has had four of his books Smart Women Finish Rich, Smart Couples Finish Rich, The Automatic Millionaire and The Finish Rich Workbook appear simultaneously on the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and USA Today bestseller lists. Eleven of Bach's books have been published from Random House (Broadway Books).
Bach's first book Smart Women Finish Rich was published in 1998, and appeared on the bestseller lists for a decade. His most recent book Debt Free For Life (2011) was published by Crown Business Books, and appeared simultaneously on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists.
Bach has appeared regularly on television dispensing his financial advice since 1994. His first appearance on television took place in San Francisco, on local cable channel BayTV, where he was "The Money Doctor", and answered personal financial questions.
He was a regular contributor to The Today Show, appearing weekly on the Money 911 Segments. He also has contributed to CNN American Morning, CNBC, Fox Business, ABC Good Money, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show over six times, including the shows "How to become an Automatic Millionaire" (2004), "How to become an Automatic Millionaire Couple" (2004) and "Oprah's Debt Diet Series" (2006). Bach has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, NBC's Weekend Today, CNN's Larry King Live, ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, and ABC's The View.
Bach has written, produced and hosted two public television specials, Smart Women Finish Rich and The Automatic Millionaire, which aired nationally. Smart Women Finish Rich was produced by Connecticut Public Television (1998) and The Automatic Millionaire by Chicago Public Television (2006). He has hosted two radio shows, Finish Rich with David Bach (Sirius Satellite Radio) and The Finish Rich Minute (Westwood One).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,069 reviews
April 26, 2012
I'm a bit of a personal finance nerd, and I love budgeting, being frugal, and paying off debt. I tackled my consumer debt after returning home from a teaching job in Japan, and in about 2 1/2 years paid off about $20K thanks to Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" and "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Between those two, I had all the motivation/information I needed and diligently dug myself out of my B.S. money ways while working full time and going to grad school full time (for free, thanks to my employer- hence the full time work thing).
This long winded introduction had a point... oh, yes. So I saw this book on my mentor teacher's shelves, and my other mentor teacher uses it for her LA IV class, and I decided to check it out to compare to other finance books I had read. All in all, I think it's a solid book. The "automatic" in the title doesn't refer to the timeline of achieving millionaire status, but rather the method of becoming a millionaire by automating all of one's bills so that one doesn't miss the money being diverted into retirement accounts and savings funds and debt payoff. I fully agree with this principle, because humans are in general terrible at wishy washy things like "Motivation" and "Willpower". I believe these are myths. Accept that you don't have the wherewithal to diligently get money and give away 1/3 of it every month to boring adult things like 401K's and credit card payoffs, and just make it automatic so you never see it/never miss it. If people only followed this one bit of advice and were complete nincompoops with investing I think it would serve them well.
Did I learn anything new? No, but nothing in personal finance is truly new and groundbreaking- we all know we should avoid debt, save for retirement, and not fritter away our money on credit card fees and interest, but most people still do it. So there needs to be 31 flavors of personal finance information out there so that people can find what makes them sit up and finally pay attention to basic adult skills of financial responsibility. I think this book would be a great starting point that is more nuanced than Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" and less New Age-y than "Your Money or Your Life". It's straightforward, easy to read, detailed without getting dense, and makes something very overwhelming seem manageable.
This long winded introduction had a point... oh, yes. So I saw this book on my mentor teacher's shelves, and my other mentor teacher uses it for her LA IV class, and I decided to check it out to compare to other finance books I had read. All in all, I think it's a solid book. The "automatic" in the title doesn't refer to the timeline of achieving millionaire status, but rather the method of becoming a millionaire by automating all of one's bills so that one doesn't miss the money being diverted into retirement accounts and savings funds and debt payoff. I fully agree with this principle, because humans are in general terrible at wishy washy things like "Motivation" and "Willpower". I believe these are myths. Accept that you don't have the wherewithal to diligently get money and give away 1/3 of it every month to boring adult things like 401K's and credit card payoffs, and just make it automatic so you never see it/never miss it. If people only followed this one bit of advice and were complete nincompoops with investing I think it would serve them well.
Did I learn anything new? No, but nothing in personal finance is truly new and groundbreaking- we all know we should avoid debt, save for retirement, and not fritter away our money on credit card fees and interest, but most people still do it. So there needs to be 31 flavors of personal finance information out there so that people can find what makes them sit up and finally pay attention to basic adult skills of financial responsibility. I think this book would be a great starting point that is more nuanced than Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" and less New Age-y than "Your Money or Your Life". It's straightforward, easy to read, detailed without getting dense, and makes something very overwhelming seem manageable.
July 19, 2008
I would recommend this book to the complete novice, if you want to learn some very simple things that you can do to help you secure your retirement then read this book. If however, you want to really understanding investing, and finance this probably isn't the best book.
The book has a few good tips that work for everyone:
1: Pay yourself first (A common recommendation)
2: Pay your mortgage bi-weekly (could reduce it by 5-10 years)
3: Put away 10% of your money
4: Tithe
5: Always save some, even if you have debt, while debt reduction should be a priority, having a little cash will help to avoid future debt.
The book also some tips that I don't agree with:
1: Buy a home (This book was pre-bust) not all people benefit from home ownership and it's not something to be undertaken lightly. While there are *many* benefits, sometimes renting works for certain types of people and areas.
2: Pay your credit cards with the lowest amount left first... While this is great psychologically, I would argue that you should probably pay the one's with the largest interest rate first. What if your lowest card has a 0% rate and the one with the highest balance has a 20% rate? You'd be much better off chipping away at that 20% card :)
3: His assessments on when you will be a millionaire on $5 a day is based on 10% annual return, which by the way is better than the stock market (based on the S&p 500 avg for 50 years) long term average which happens to be arguably the best long term investment in terms of returns. How does he suggest you do this? Mutual funds... small problem being that somewhere in the 85%+ range of mutual funds _fail_ to even meet, much less beat the market. Even the ones that do often charge an annual fee as well as front/rear loads that can chip away at that rate. More importantly, just because the fund earns 10%, doesn't mean you will :) That's the money the fund earns *before* all of the costs. According to Warren Buffet, and Charlie Munger, and John Bogle (He's biased as he did create it...) the best investment for someone who doesn't want to learn, would be an S&p 500 index fund that simply tracks the market. These tend to have the lowest fees possible and essentially guarantee roughly the same rate of return that the overall market returns.
In summary, this is a good book for someone who wants an easy way to guarantee some retirement and move in a more fiscally responsible direction. This is not, however, in my opinion the bible on this subject, nor is it the final word. While I do like his automatic payments structure, and do agree with that logic, I think the investment strategies need a little more depth and experience.
The book has a few good tips that work for everyone:
1: Pay yourself first (A common recommendation)
2: Pay your mortgage bi-weekly (could reduce it by 5-10 years)
3: Put away 10% of your money
4: Tithe
5: Always save some, even if you have debt, while debt reduction should be a priority, having a little cash will help to avoid future debt.
The book also some tips that I don't agree with:
1: Buy a home (This book was pre-bust) not all people benefit from home ownership and it's not something to be undertaken lightly. While there are *many* benefits, sometimes renting works for certain types of people and areas.
2: Pay your credit cards with the lowest amount left first... While this is great psychologically, I would argue that you should probably pay the one's with the largest interest rate first. What if your lowest card has a 0% rate and the one with the highest balance has a 20% rate? You'd be much better off chipping away at that 20% card :)
3: His assessments on when you will be a millionaire on $5 a day is based on 10% annual return, which by the way is better than the stock market (based on the S&p 500 avg for 50 years) long term average which happens to be arguably the best long term investment in terms of returns. How does he suggest you do this? Mutual funds... small problem being that somewhere in the 85%+ range of mutual funds _fail_ to even meet, much less beat the market. Even the ones that do often charge an annual fee as well as front/rear loads that can chip away at that rate. More importantly, just because the fund earns 10%, doesn't mean you will :) That's the money the fund earns *before* all of the costs. According to Warren Buffet, and Charlie Munger, and John Bogle (He's biased as he did create it...) the best investment for someone who doesn't want to learn, would be an S&p 500 index fund that simply tracks the market. These tend to have the lowest fees possible and essentially guarantee roughly the same rate of return that the overall market returns.
In summary, this is a good book for someone who wants an easy way to guarantee some retirement and move in a more fiscally responsible direction. This is not, however, in my opinion the bible on this subject, nor is it the final word. While I do like his automatic payments structure, and do agree with that logic, I think the investment strategies need a little more depth and experience.
February 13, 2018
Although the writing is repetitive and long winded, the message is clear and incredibly sensible: automate your savings at 10% or more, automate your debt reduction, automate your giving, don’t buy on credit, don’t rent. Automatic millions are doable, but there’s no such thing as a “get rich quick” scheme.
August 5, 2014
I read one of David Bach's books back when I was starting my first job and it was helpful. This one, as far as I can remember, has the same type of information - good basics if you are not saving at all now or are in debt, but nothing much beyond that.
It was also written before the housing market crash, so I rolled my eyes a lot hearing about how you have to buy a house now or you'll never be rich, foreclosure is so rare, it's so easy to buy a house, check out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... I listened to this on audiobook, which was a terrible idea, because the author reads it and it's very much like cheesy infomercial. I was about to strangle someone after the 1,000th time he said "automatic millionaire."
It was also written before the housing market crash, so I rolled my eyes a lot hearing about how you have to buy a house now or you'll never be rich, foreclosure is so rare, it's so easy to buy a house, check out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... I listened to this on audiobook, which was a terrible idea, because the author reads it and it's very much like cheesy infomercial. I was about to strangle someone after the 1,000th time he said "automatic millionaire."
April 12, 2018
Inspiring & Interesting
I would give this book a percentage of my savings but sorry David, I have to pay myself first. ☺ This book was truly inspiring and such an easy read. If you're like me, new to the world of finance, it can be intimidating and frightening. David has written a fantastic book and provides a valuable blueprint to make anyone, yes - ANYONE, a millionaire. While reading this book, I did not feel as though there were any gimmicks or get rich quick schemes. There was only value advice and amazing knowledge. Highly recommended for anyone that wants to make their income work for them and to whoever wants to enjoy retirement.
I would give this book a percentage of my savings but sorry David, I have to pay myself first. ☺ This book was truly inspiring and such an easy read. If you're like me, new to the world of finance, it can be intimidating and frightening. David has written a fantastic book and provides a valuable blueprint to make anyone, yes - ANYONE, a millionaire. While reading this book, I did not feel as though there were any gimmicks or get rich quick schemes. There was only value advice and amazing knowledge. Highly recommended for anyone that wants to make their income work for them and to whoever wants to enjoy retirement.
February 19, 2009
This is a difficult book to rate. Informationally, it should get a 5. For ease of understanding, it should get a 5. But as a "good read," well, much of the first half read like an annoying infomercial and that really bugged. I also don't like phrases like "get rich."
So, it's weird that I read this book. I did so at the suggestion of a friend, otherwise I never would have given it a thought. (Thank you, Katrina!) I began skeptically, but this ended up being the very book I needed to read, for me and for my marriage. Dear Phil has been patiently waiting 15-1/2 years for me to have any inkling about finances and planning. Nothing in this book was new to him, but it was a complete revelation to me. Knowing what I now know, I am amazed that Phil has stayed married to me this long!!!!! What a real man.
This is going to be required high school reading for graduation from our homeschool. I truly wish I had understood all of this as a college student. Thankfully, Phil DID understand it as a college student and he's quietly tried to do what he could without me being "on board." Now life should get better for him.
So, it's weird that I read this book. I did so at the suggestion of a friend, otherwise I never would have given it a thought. (Thank you, Katrina!) I began skeptically, but this ended up being the very book I needed to read, for me and for my marriage. Dear Phil has been patiently waiting 15-1/2 years for me to have any inkling about finances and planning. Nothing in this book was new to him, but it was a complete revelation to me. Knowing what I now know, I am amazed that Phil has stayed married to me this long!!!!! What a real man.
This is going to be required high school reading for graduation from our homeschool. I truly wish I had understood all of this as a college student. Thankfully, Phil DID understand it as a college student and he's quietly tried to do what he could without me being "on board." Now life should get better for him.
August 1, 2021
If you are american, you'd probably enjoy reading/listening to this. If not, you can skip this one. The only rule applied to us europeans is that you should pay yourself first, and that's pretty much the only thing you will learn from this book.
May 18, 2009
الكتاب بالجملة مفيد لعامة الناس .. كونها يحوي طريقة لتجميع مبلغ مالي جيد من خلال التوفير من الإيراد الشهري أو النصف شهري ..
يحوي أفكار كثيرة رائعة .. لا يرقى لما طرحه كيوساكي في كتابه " الأب الغني والأب الفقير " لكنه في الجملة رائع ومفيد
أكثر ما أعجبني فيه طريقة التسديد النصف شهري والذي يضيف نصف شهر في السنة ويسقط عليك نصف التكلفة بعد مرور عشرين سنة ..
أنصح بقراءته
يحوي أفكار كثيرة رائعة .. لا يرقى لما طرحه كيوساكي في كتابه " الأب الغني والأب الفقير " لكنه في الجملة رائع ومفيد
أكثر ما أعجبني فيه طريقة التسديد النصف شهري والذي يضيف نصف شهر في السنة ويسقط عليك نصف التكلفة بعد مرور عشرين سنة ..
أنصح بقراءته
April 10, 2024
3.5/5 ✨
As someone who’s always seeking financial wisdom, I found “The Automatic Millionaire” to be an enlightening read. David Bach, the author, distills complex financial concepts into practical steps that anyone can follow. Here are my key takeaways:
Pay Yourself First: Bach emphasizes the importance of automating your savings. By setting up automatic contributions to your retirement accounts or investment funds, you ensure consistent wealth-building without relying on willpower.
Debt Elimination: The book advocates for debt reduction as a crucial step toward financial freedom. Bach’s approach is refreshingly straightforward: pay off high-interest debts systematically.
Frugality with Purpose: Living frugally doesn’t mean sacrificing joy. Bach encourages readers to cut unnecessary expenses while still enjoying life. It’s about aligning spending with your values.
The Latte Factor: Small daily expenses add up over time. Bach introduces the concept of the “Latte Factor,” where skipping that daily latte can lead to significant savings. It’s a wake-up call for mindful spending.
While the book lacks depth in some areas, it compensates with actionable advice. The real strength lies in its simplicity—no complex budgeting required. Whether you’re a financial novice or a seasoned investor, “The Automatic Millionaire” offers a blueprint for building wealth effortlessly.
Note: I deducted a star and half due to occasional repetition and lack of advanced strategies. However, if you’re looking for a practical guide to financial success, this book is a solid choice.
Remember, financial literacy is a journey, and this book serves as an excellent starting point. 📚💰
As someone who’s always seeking financial wisdom, I found “The Automatic Millionaire” to be an enlightening read. David Bach, the author, distills complex financial concepts into practical steps that anyone can follow. Here are my key takeaways:
Pay Yourself First: Bach emphasizes the importance of automating your savings. By setting up automatic contributions to your retirement accounts or investment funds, you ensure consistent wealth-building without relying on willpower.
Debt Elimination: The book advocates for debt reduction as a crucial step toward financial freedom. Bach’s approach is refreshingly straightforward: pay off high-interest debts systematically.
Frugality with Purpose: Living frugally doesn’t mean sacrificing joy. Bach encourages readers to cut unnecessary expenses while still enjoying life. It’s about aligning spending with your values.
The Latte Factor: Small daily expenses add up over time. Bach introduces the concept of the “Latte Factor,” where skipping that daily latte can lead to significant savings. It’s a wake-up call for mindful spending.
While the book lacks depth in some areas, it compensates with actionable advice. The real strength lies in its simplicity—no complex budgeting required. Whether you’re a financial novice or a seasoned investor, “The Automatic Millionaire” offers a blueprint for building wealth effortlessly.
Note: I deducted a star and half due to occasional repetition and lack of advanced strategies. However, if you’re looking for a practical guide to financial success, this book is a solid choice.
Remember, financial literacy is a journey, and this book serves as an excellent starting point. 📚💰
November 12, 2016
تعديل 12-11-2016: اعيد قراءة الكتاب هذه الايام ورقى مترجم للعربية من اصدار العبيكان
نزلته من على النت فى صورة فولدر كبير به 9 فولدرات ل 9 موضوعات بداخل كل منها ما بين 8-12 مقطع صوتى كدروس حول ذلك الموضوع العام
- كورس المليونير التلقائى و 6 اسلة يجب ان تسألها ل نفسك
- قصة latte factor
-ادفع لنفسك اولا و معادلة ديفيد باخ للحصول على الثروة
- حسابات التقاعد و انواعها "و دى حاجة خاصة بالمجتمع الامريكى"
- الاسواق المالية و حساب الطوارىء
- اشترى منزلك الخاص و مساوء التاجير و مميزات امتلاك المنزل
-بطاقات الائتمان و عيوبها و كيفية التخلص منها
-التصدق و فوائده
-كيفية صنع اسلوب ملفات خاص مكون من 13 ملف لكل معلوماتك المالية لسهولة الوصول اليها
اكتشفت ان كل اغلب نقط الكتاب و التى تنطبق على اقتصاد بلدى "المهترىء" ب الاساس و يمكن تنفيذها انا انفذها ب الفعل
و الحمد لله
- لا ديون و لاا قروض
- لا بطاقة ائتمان
- لا تأجير و انما امتلك منزلى الخاص
-لا latte factor من الاساس و انما اعيش فى مستوى معقول
- اتصدق و الحمد لله
-لا يوجد لى حساب طوارىء :(
بينما النقاط الاخرى و التى للاسف فى بلاد الاقتصاد القوى - لا يمكن تطبيقها هنا على ارض الواقع-و التى تتيح لك بضائع بنكية اكثر و متنوعة للاختيار منها و باسعار متفاوتة و شفافية فى اسعارها و شروطها
و هو ما لا يوجد ف اقتصاد بلدى المهترىء
فى كل خطوة كان يقول يمكن الوصول ل موقع كذا به كل تلك المنتجات البنكية و الاعتمادية او الاقراضية للاختيار من بينها وب اقل سعر فائدة و احسن شروط و و و و
مبادىء التنافس الشريف و تكافى ء الفرص
و هو ما يعيدنى للتفكير فى كلام felix dennis فى كتابه
i want you to be rich
عن ان اول خطوات سعيك للثراء هو ان تكون بالاساس فى بلد ذو قاعدة اقتصادية سليمة تشجع الادخار الفردى و الاستثمار وا نشاء المشاريع و التنافس الشريف و الكسب
بيئة رأسمالية صحية باختصار
وهو ما لا يوجد فى اقتصاد الجنرالات
و لعدم انطباقية تلك النقاط على واقعنا او واقعى فقدت الاهتمام بتلك الاجزاء مما افقد الكتاب - لا لعيب فيه و انما لعيب فى انا - تلك النجوم
الكتاب التالى : ملهمون
نزلته من على النت فى صورة فولدر كبير به 9 فولدرات ل 9 موضوعات بداخل كل منها ما بين 8-12 مقطع صوتى كدروس حول ذلك الموضوع العام
- كورس المليونير التلقائى و 6 اسلة يجب ان تسألها ل نفسك
- قصة latte factor
-ادفع لنفسك اولا و معادلة ديفيد باخ للحصول على الثروة
- حسابات التقاعد و انواعها "و دى حاجة خاصة بالمجتمع الامريكى"
- الاسواق المالية و حساب الطوارىء
- اشترى منزلك الخاص و مساوء التاجير و مميزات امتلاك المنزل
-بطاقات الائتمان و عيوبها و كيفية التخلص منها
-التصدق و فوائده
-كيفية صنع اسلوب ملفات خاص مكون من 13 ملف لكل معلوماتك المالية لسهولة الوصول اليها
اكتشفت ان كل اغلب نقط الكتاب و التى تنطبق على اقتصاد بلدى "المهترىء" ب الاساس و يمكن تنفيذها انا انفذها ب الفعل
و الحمد لله
- لا ديون و لاا قروض
- لا بطاقة ائتمان
- لا تأجير و انما امتلك منزلى الخاص
-لا latte factor من الاساس و انما اعيش فى مستوى معقول
- اتصدق و الحمد لله
-لا يوجد لى حساب طوارىء :(
بينما النقاط الاخرى و التى للاسف فى بلاد الاقتصاد القوى - لا يمكن تطبيقها هنا على ارض الواقع-و التى تتيح لك بضائع بنكية اكثر و متنوعة للاختيار منها و باسعار متفاوتة و شفافية فى اسعارها و شروطها
و هو ما لا يوجد ف اقتصاد بلدى المهترىء
فى كل خطوة كان يقول يمكن الوصول ل موقع كذا به كل تلك المنتجات البنكية و الاعتمادية او الاقراضية للاختيار من بينها وب اقل سعر فائدة و احسن شروط و و و و
مبادىء التنافس الشريف و تكافى ء الفرص
و هو ما يعيدنى للتفكير فى كلام felix dennis فى كتابه
i want you to be rich
عن ان اول خطوات سعيك للثراء هو ان تكون بالاساس فى بلد ذو قاعدة اقتصادية سليمة تشجع الادخار الفردى و الاستثمار وا نشاء المشاريع و التنافس الشريف و الكسب
بيئة رأسمالية صحية باختصار
وهو ما لا يوجد فى اقتصاد الجنرالات
و لعدم انطباقية تلك النقاط على واقعنا او واقعى فقدت الاهتمام بتلك الاجزاء مما افقد الكتاب - لا لعيب فيه و انما لعيب فى انا - تلك النجوم
الكتاب التالى : ملهمون
September 13, 2019
I encountered two new ideas in this book:
1. Make your (good) financial decisions automatic
2. If you have a mortgage, pay it down twice a month rather than once a month.
I wholeheartedly agree with #1.
Idea #2 is a fantastic idea if you "own" a home, which the author endorses; but even at the time of the book's publication, this was not great financial advice (it's not bad advice either, but the problem is David Bach insists that owning a home will put you on the road to riches, and renting will not).
Bach details all the wonderful benefits of home ownership (ending the list with, "It feels great to own a house."), while ignoring the many financial drawbacks of owning a home.
Instead of listing the pros and cons of owning a home versus renting, he lists all the pros of owning a home and all the cons of renting.
He mentions that, with a mortgage, in the end you will pay nearly twice the price of your house (oddly he seems oblivious to this as a problem, and already sold on the idea of owning a home, tries to mitigate the issue by guiding us to pay the mortgage biweekly so that we nibble away at the debt faster).
If you are buying a $100,000 house, you'll pay nearly $200,000 for it.
But don't worry, it's financially wise to do that because David Bach makes that clear.
Fundamental ideas in Automatic Millionaire:
1. Pay Yourself First. I first encountered this concept in the old classic The Richest Man in Babylon.
Regardless of whether you make $20k/year or $200k/year, if you don't pay yourself first, then you'll never be wealthy.
Every week, every month, we work, and the first people we pay our hard-earned money to are landlord, car dealership, government, utility company, etc.
You should add to that list yourself, and put yourself (or your future self) at the top of the list, which means no matter what, YOU get paid first.
Paying yourself first is about keeping some of that money you've worked for.
A good percentage is 10%-12%, but if you're not already doing it, then you can start with a smaller number...even 1%. Then get used to that before adding another percent.
One way to think about this is that, if you work 8 hours in a day, then work the first hour of the day for YOU.
2. Do a 401k or IRA, because you aren't taxed on the gains (I think... Bach didn't make this clear). If you make $30k/yr, then after taxes you really have $25k for the year from which you can save/invest. But with a 401k or IRA, you have $30k from which you can invest.
And say you put 5%-15% of earnings into an index mutual fund, which earns you 10% annual interest (that's a conservative figure and it's been roughly 10% per year for 70+ decades now),
then that 10%/year earnings does not get taxed (I'm pretty sure). Only the principle gets taxed (but even that is tax deferred or tax sheltered).
3. Make the things above like pay yourself first and 401k/IRA automatic, because those ideas work, but they rarely work when the human has to manually do the thing every month. This is David Bach's main idea (well, I hadn't seen it before).
4. The Latte Factor: when you buy a latte every day, that's bad. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, but keep in mind that every time you buy a latte, an angel gets assaulted.
We don't think about the latte, or the energy drink, the little daily treats for ourselves. But these things together add up to thousands of dollars at the end of the year (or after a couple years).
Maybe daily lattes aren't really as rewarding as $1825 at the end of the year which is what you'd have if you kicked the latte habit.
The 401k or IRA not only has the tax benefits but also automates saving.
The other thing is pay yourself first, which the Roth and such does that as well.
Another thing is the rainy day fund, which is a good idea. These are in most personal finance books.
Also he says that if you have credit card debt, you should halve the pay yourself first % and use the other half to whittle down the credit card balance because the amount of % of cash you're hemhorraging from the CC debt is like 20% loss which would be a great deal if you were to put the PYF money into an investment with a guaranteed interest like that.
So numbers wise, it's probably a priority to shrink the CC to zero before PYF, but he still suggests doing half and half (I think because of the principle of it or something).
The last advice, based on several flimsy reasons, is to buy a house, and I strongly disagree with him about that for several good reasons, and almost every reason David Bach gave for it is no longer valid.
Buying a house was wise financial advice 20+ years ago.
If you were going to buy a house, there is a good idea in the book that turns a 30 year mortgage into a 20 year mortgage--without paying any extra.
You just pay the mortgage twice a month instead of once a month.
Since in the first years you're paying mostly interest and not principle (on a mortgage),
this means every year you paid 13 months instead of 12 months (if you're mortgage is $1000/mo, then you pay $500 every fortnight). Magically this can turn a 30 year mortgage into 20 years paid off.
Pissing Away Money
One argument for buying a house is that you're not pissing money away on rent. That's obvious.
But what he does not mention is that instead you're pissing money away on the loan interest
(for a $500,000 house, you typically end up paying nearly a million dollars over the course of 30 years).
So that sort of cancels out his other argument--that houses appreciate.
So your house appreciated double in value over 30 years.
You still paid nearly double for it, so it's not as if you got a great deal.
He also says it's "investing in real estate."
But you can invest in real estate by owning stock in an REIT (real estate investment something)...and that way, you're not LIVING in your investment for 30 years.
Opportunity Cost
Let's say your house appreciates 100% over 30 years (btw, as investments go, that's not a great ROI over the course of 30 years).
What have you LOST over the course of those 30 years because you signed that agreement with the bank?
What might you have were you not burdened by the mortgage?
Freedom.
Mobility.
More money to invest in vehicles that can be compounded (30 years worth of house insurance payments; 30 years of annual property taxes; 30 years of not spending your time mowing the lawn, not repairing the lawn mower, not buying a new lawn mower, replacing the fridge, home repairs)
Better, more liquid investments-- that extra money you saved by not paying interest on a mortgage loan could be put to good use investing in an investment vehicle that doubles in value every ten years (not 30 years)... that's very conservative, all you'd need is 10%/year return, which is average.
Real estate is a good investment IF you're not living in the place.
If you're living in the house and your house becomes more valuable,
how easy it to cash in? How easy is it to sell the house and move to another one?
Nigga what?
It's a lot easier for me to open my Robinhood app, see that my XYZ stock has doubled in value over the last 4 years, click Sell, then click Transfer to Bank.
THAT's liquidity.
Population Growth
And even then, this "real estate is the best investment" idea was more certain 20+ years ago when people were having more children.
That's no longer true, because people are having fewer children.
Fewer children means fewer people looking to buy a house.
Fewer people looking to buy a house means fewer occupants.
Fewer occupants means more vacancies.
More vacancies means more empty houses for sale.
More empty houses for sale means housing prices fall down and go boom (or at least they don't appreciate like before).
Bach had two valid arguments for buying a home.
The first is that it's a forced savings plan...hence, automatic.
The second was not a financial argument.
The feeling of "owning" a home is warm and fuzzy.
Can't argue with that; it's probably true.
But then, I could also counter that with an argument for renting.
The feeling of freedom and mobility. Warm and fuzzy.
Compounding
Here's something else that David Bach, the author, should've realized...
Compound interest. He went on and on about the beauty of compound interest in the first part of the book. Good on him.
But doesn't the "investing in a house and living in it" mean that this is one unique investment where you CANNOT benefit from compounding?
An example:
If I put $100 into an index mutual fund and get 10% return per year,
then in the second year, I have $110 to invest.
Assuming the same 10% return, at the start of the 3rd year, I have $121 to invest.
4th year, I have $133 to invest.
5th year, I have $146 to invest.
Because of compounding my growing money/assets,
by year 40 I have $4114.
Yes, you read that right.
That's a 191 percent increase.
Show me a house that appreciated that much.
That's NOT from adding a new $100 every year...that's just starting from a seed of $100 and reinvesting the dividends.
What would that look like if a house appreciated 191%?
That would mean a house you bought at $100,000 becomes a $291,000 house.
1. Make your (good) financial decisions automatic
2. If you have a mortgage, pay it down twice a month rather than once a month.
I wholeheartedly agree with #1.
Idea #2 is a fantastic idea if you "own" a home, which the author endorses; but even at the time of the book's publication, this was not great financial advice (it's not bad advice either, but the problem is David Bach insists that owning a home will put you on the road to riches, and renting will not).
Bach details all the wonderful benefits of home ownership (ending the list with, "It feels great to own a house."), while ignoring the many financial drawbacks of owning a home.
Instead of listing the pros and cons of owning a home versus renting, he lists all the pros of owning a home and all the cons of renting.
He mentions that, with a mortgage, in the end you will pay nearly twice the price of your house (oddly he seems oblivious to this as a problem, and already sold on the idea of owning a home, tries to mitigate the issue by guiding us to pay the mortgage biweekly so that we nibble away at the debt faster).
If you are buying a $100,000 house, you'll pay nearly $200,000 for it.
But don't worry, it's financially wise to do that because David Bach makes that clear.
Fundamental ideas in Automatic Millionaire:
1. Pay Yourself First. I first encountered this concept in the old classic The Richest Man in Babylon.
Regardless of whether you make $20k/year or $200k/year, if you don't pay yourself first, then you'll never be wealthy.
Every week, every month, we work, and the first people we pay our hard-earned money to are landlord, car dealership, government, utility company, etc.
You should add to that list yourself, and put yourself (or your future self) at the top of the list, which means no matter what, YOU get paid first.
Paying yourself first is about keeping some of that money you've worked for.
A good percentage is 10%-12%, but if you're not already doing it, then you can start with a smaller number...even 1%. Then get used to that before adding another percent.
One way to think about this is that, if you work 8 hours in a day, then work the first hour of the day for YOU.
2. Do a 401k or IRA, because you aren't taxed on the gains (I think... Bach didn't make this clear). If you make $30k/yr, then after taxes you really have $25k for the year from which you can save/invest. But with a 401k or IRA, you have $30k from which you can invest.
And say you put 5%-15% of earnings into an index mutual fund, which earns you 10% annual interest (that's a conservative figure and it's been roughly 10% per year for 70+ decades now),
then that 10%/year earnings does not get taxed (I'm pretty sure). Only the principle gets taxed (but even that is tax deferred or tax sheltered).
3. Make the things above like pay yourself first and 401k/IRA automatic, because those ideas work, but they rarely work when the human has to manually do the thing every month. This is David Bach's main idea (well, I hadn't seen it before).
4. The Latte Factor: when you buy a latte every day, that's bad. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, but keep in mind that every time you buy a latte, an angel gets assaulted.
We don't think about the latte, or the energy drink, the little daily treats for ourselves. But these things together add up to thousands of dollars at the end of the year (or after a couple years).
Maybe daily lattes aren't really as rewarding as $1825 at the end of the year which is what you'd have if you kicked the latte habit.
The 401k or IRA not only has the tax benefits but also automates saving.
The other thing is pay yourself first, which the Roth and such does that as well.
Another thing is the rainy day fund, which is a good idea. These are in most personal finance books.
Also he says that if you have credit card debt, you should halve the pay yourself first % and use the other half to whittle down the credit card balance because the amount of % of cash you're hemhorraging from the CC debt is like 20% loss which would be a great deal if you were to put the PYF money into an investment with a guaranteed interest like that.
So numbers wise, it's probably a priority to shrink the CC to zero before PYF, but he still suggests doing half and half (I think because of the principle of it or something).
The last advice, based on several flimsy reasons, is to buy a house, and I strongly disagree with him about that for several good reasons, and almost every reason David Bach gave for it is no longer valid.
Buying a house was wise financial advice 20+ years ago.
If you were going to buy a house, there is a good idea in the book that turns a 30 year mortgage into a 20 year mortgage--without paying any extra.
You just pay the mortgage twice a month instead of once a month.
Since in the first years you're paying mostly interest and not principle (on a mortgage),
this means every year you paid 13 months instead of 12 months (if you're mortgage is $1000/mo, then you pay $500 every fortnight). Magically this can turn a 30 year mortgage into 20 years paid off.
Pissing Away Money
One argument for buying a house is that you're not pissing money away on rent. That's obvious.
But what he does not mention is that instead you're pissing money away on the loan interest
(for a $500,000 house, you typically end up paying nearly a million dollars over the course of 30 years).
So that sort of cancels out his other argument--that houses appreciate.
So your house appreciated double in value over 30 years.
You still paid nearly double for it, so it's not as if you got a great deal.
He also says it's "investing in real estate."
But you can invest in real estate by owning stock in an REIT (real estate investment something)...and that way, you're not LIVING in your investment for 30 years.
Opportunity Cost
Let's say your house appreciates 100% over 30 years (btw, as investments go, that's not a great ROI over the course of 30 years).
What have you LOST over the course of those 30 years because you signed that agreement with the bank?
What might you have were you not burdened by the mortgage?
Freedom.
Mobility.
More money to invest in vehicles that can be compounded (30 years worth of house insurance payments; 30 years of annual property taxes; 30 years of not spending your time mowing the lawn, not repairing the lawn mower, not buying a new lawn mower, replacing the fridge, home repairs)
Better, more liquid investments-- that extra money you saved by not paying interest on a mortgage loan could be put to good use investing in an investment vehicle that doubles in value every ten years (not 30 years)... that's very conservative, all you'd need is 10%/year return, which is average.
Real estate is a good investment IF you're not living in the place.
If you're living in the house and your house becomes more valuable,
how easy it to cash in? How easy is it to sell the house and move to another one?
Nigga what?
It's a lot easier for me to open my Robinhood app, see that my XYZ stock has doubled in value over the last 4 years, click Sell, then click Transfer to Bank.
THAT's liquidity.
Population Growth
And even then, this "real estate is the best investment" idea was more certain 20+ years ago when people were having more children.
That's no longer true, because people are having fewer children.
Fewer children means fewer people looking to buy a house.
Fewer people looking to buy a house means fewer occupants.
Fewer occupants means more vacancies.
More vacancies means more empty houses for sale.
More empty houses for sale means housing prices fall down and go boom (or at least they don't appreciate like before).
Bach had two valid arguments for buying a home.
The first is that it's a forced savings plan...hence, automatic.
The second was not a financial argument.
The feeling of "owning" a home is warm and fuzzy.
Can't argue with that; it's probably true.
But then, I could also counter that with an argument for renting.
The feeling of freedom and mobility. Warm and fuzzy.
Compounding
Here's something else that David Bach, the author, should've realized...
Compound interest. He went on and on about the beauty of compound interest in the first part of the book. Good on him.
But doesn't the "investing in a house and living in it" mean that this is one unique investment where you CANNOT benefit from compounding?
An example:
If I put $100 into an index mutual fund and get 10% return per year,
then in the second year, I have $110 to invest.
Assuming the same 10% return, at the start of the 3rd year, I have $121 to invest.
4th year, I have $133 to invest.
5th year, I have $146 to invest.
Because of compounding my growing money/assets,
by year 40 I have $4114.
Yes, you read that right.
That's a 191 percent increase.
Show me a house that appreciated that much.
That's NOT from adding a new $100 every year...that's just starting from a seed of $100 and reinvesting the dividends.
What would that look like if a house appreciated 191%?
That would mean a house you bought at $100,000 becomes a $291,000 house.
August 24, 2020
The main point of this entire book in one sentence, so don't bother reading it: Use recurring paycheck deposits and deductions.
This is probably a good read if you're utterly clueless but astute enough to understand basic personal finance. Fortunately I'm both very astute and not utterly clueless (e.g. I'm aware that holding cc debt is ill advised, but this book spends a lot of time on cc debt). The book also mentions checks a lot so the perceived barrier to automated/scheduled payments is a bit exaggerated for today's context.
One good suggestion that came out of this entire book was to pay your mortgage biweekly instead of monthly thereby reducing the principal balance faster thereby creating less interest due. But I don't have a mortgage and the author did not expand on the fact that some mortgage loans include prepayment penalties. Like HELLO.
This is probably a good read if you're utterly clueless but astute enough to understand basic personal finance. Fortunately I'm both very astute and not utterly clueless (e.g. I'm aware that holding cc debt is ill advised, but this book spends a lot of time on cc debt). The book also mentions checks a lot so the perceived barrier to automated/scheduled payments is a bit exaggerated for today's context.
One good suggestion that came out of this entire book was to pay your mortgage biweekly instead of monthly thereby reducing the principal balance faster thereby creating less interest due. But I don't have a mortgage and the author did not expand on the fact that some mortgage loans include prepayment penalties. Like HELLO.
November 5, 2018
This book is perfect for people who have a stable living-wage job, no pregnancies or kids or familial caretaking duties, employer-provided health insurance, no expensive health conditions, and who can buy a house in the same area as the aforementioned job.
Not helpful for anyone who experiences or has experienced unexpected injuries/health conditions, systemic oppression, or residual economic penalties for being a woman or person of color, or simply does not magically have a job that pays a real living wage where they live.
So I guess this book is for college-educated Libertarians (mostly white men)?
Very glad I read the Blinkist version because this book would have wasted hours of my time that I could have spent working on my freelance business.
Not helpful for anyone who experiences or has experienced unexpected injuries/health conditions, systemic oppression, or residual economic penalties for being a woman or person of color, or simply does not magically have a job that pays a real living wage where they live.
So I guess this book is for college-educated Libertarians (mostly white men)?
Very glad I read the Blinkist version because this book would have wasted hours of my time that I could have spent working on my freelance business.
March 21, 2015
I like the main premise of the book, making your investing automatic to pay yourself first. I disagree with the "no budget" philosophy. His argument is that they are boring, stifling, and don't work. Inn experience they are what keep you from going into debt.
I am not sure how automatically saving and investing is going to keep you from wasteful spending of the rest of your money without having a written budget and sticking to it.
I am not sure how automatically saving and investing is going to keep you from wasteful spending of the rest of your money without having a written budget and sticking to it.
January 21, 2017
كتاب جميل.. بأفكار بسيطة.. ومبادىء صارت بديهية للراغبين في الثراء.. إليكم بعض أفكار الكتاب :
١- توفير ١٠٪ من دخلك..
٢- شراء منزل.. بدلا من الإيجار
٣- شراء سيارة قديمة بدلا من الجديدة..
٤- التخلص من الديون..
٥- مراقبة مصاريفك اليومية والتقلي�� منها ما أمكن
٦- الإستثمار ( أفكار هذا الجزء مخصصة للذين يعيشون في أمريكا.. لأن الكاتب أمريكي)
١- توفير ١٠٪ من دخلك..
٢- شراء منزل.. بدلا من الإيجار
٣- شراء سيارة قديمة بدلا من الجديدة..
٤- التخلص من الديون..
٥- مراقبة مصاريفك اليومية والتقلي�� منها ما أمكن
٦- الإستثمار ( أفكار هذا الجزء مخصصة للذين يعيشون في أمريكا.. لأن الكاتب أمريكي)
May 15, 2020
Despite being completely focused on the Amercan financial market and retirement plans (or countries similar to it such as Canada), this book offers a practical philosophy that you may be able to use in your own country as well.
Considering the practicality as well as the short length of the book, I totally recommend reading it.
Considering the practicality as well as the short length of the book, I totally recommend reading it.
July 7, 2016
For someone who is wanting to know finances 101 in a palatable and realistic way, you really can't beat Auto Millionaire! Now I'm off to read Robbin's Money, Master The Game and then some Suze Orman. FYI - Bach has some fabulous videos on Youtube...
December 2, 2016
It's a beginner-intermediate level personal finance book. Taking it into that context it is a great book to read and a philosophy I followed before reading it. Recommended for those learning about managing money.
November 24, 2021
Instructions for a wage slave to become a millionaire before his death.
March 12, 2023
Must read for all ages!!
Being about 5-7 years from retirement (hopefully) I wasn’t sure if this book would have much value to me. While I consider myself to be fairly informed on basic savings and retirement planning, I found the book to be very informative, reminding me of things that I had never done and forgotten or known but not implemented. It helped me to revise and improve my plan by deliberately targeting increasing my savings and paying down my mortgage more quickly. I have gotten a copy of the book for my daughter and am recommending it to family members and anybody else looking to improve their retirement strategy and become an automatic millionaire. Quick read that is interesting and informative with simple ideas that anybody can use!
Being about 5-7 years from retirement (hopefully) I wasn’t sure if this book would have much value to me. While I consider myself to be fairly informed on basic savings and retirement planning, I found the book to be very informative, reminding me of things that I had never done and forgotten or known but not implemented. It helped me to revise and improve my plan by deliberately targeting increasing my savings and paying down my mortgage more quickly. I have gotten a copy of the book for my daughter and am recommending it to family members and anybody else looking to improve their retirement strategy and become an automatic millionaire. Quick read that is interesting and informative with simple ideas that anybody can use!
May 23, 2021
Easy to implement recommendations. Everything makes sense and is clearly illustrated with examples and charts. May need a bit of an update since it's was not written almost two decades ago.
August 6, 2021
There are so many recommendations about how to manage your money and invest it in housing, and set up retirement or IRA funds. It's a book that I could probably revisit in the future. And to be completely honest, I am not the best at financing, which is the very reason why I decided to read this book in the first place. So I think it's a really good book to start with, then go delve deeper into the subject with other books on the topic.
February 27, 2021
Better for Americans.
May 29, 2019
I guess this might be a good place to start if you know nothing about finances at all. However other books do it better. I like the idea of paying yourself first - I think I just like Ramit Sethi's approach a bit better, where you pay yourself first but have a "conscious spending plan" instead of focusing on "The Latte Factor."
(I think it is important to monitor the small stuff and make sure the spending doesn't get out of hand, but I don't make it my primary saving strategy.)
I also flat-out disagree with some of the stuff that is said:
- "Homeowners get rich; renters get poor"
- "You can't get rich renting"
- "The fact is, you aren't really in the game of building wealth until you own some real estate"
- "...buying a place to live [...] needs to be a priority"
He says all this before going into how to get a mortgage. And hey, don't worry if you can't afford a sizeable down payment, just pay the CMHC some more of your hard-earned money. It's fine because you'll get to be a ~*homeowner*~.
And don't forget to use 20K from your RRSP towards the purchase! Get your partner to do the same! Yes, rob your RRSP of all that potential compound interest....
AND THEN he goes on about "How you can get ripped off by a 25yr mortgage"
Uuuummmmm I though homeownership was gonna get you rich?
"During the first 10yrs of your loan, more than 90% of your payments go to pay interest. [...] Millions of Canadians with 25yr mortgages are wasting a fortune paying for their homes this way. [...] With a mortgage like that, you spend the first 10yrs working hard for the bank but building little equity for yourself."
He goes on to describe how paying your mortgage biweekly instead of monthly can make a huge difference (*a GOOD point, in his defence*).
But with homeowners paying so much simply on interest (nevermind that they also have to pay for land transfer taxes, closing costs, maintenance fees and repairs, property taxes, etc....) can't it be argued that homeowners also "throw away" a lot of money?
For a lot of people, I agree that a mortgage can be a good forced-savings plan. However, sometimes renting can be the right call (try reading The Wealthy Renter).
Also, the book hasn't aged well in some respects... "there's hardly ever any foreclosures," he says, right before the housing bubble bursts and the great recession begins 😅😂
The book also predates a lot of awesome online resources for investing.
If you're starting out, this book does provide some good tidbits. But I'd give this a pass in favour of other finance books.
(I think it is important to monitor the small stuff and make sure the spending doesn't get out of hand, but I don't make it my primary saving strategy.)
I also flat-out disagree with some of the stuff that is said:
- "Homeowners get rich; renters get poor"
- "You can't get rich renting"
- "The fact is, you aren't really in the game of building wealth until you own some real estate"
- "...buying a place to live [...] needs to be a priority"
He says all this before going into how to get a mortgage. And hey, don't worry if you can't afford a sizeable down payment, just pay the CMHC some more of your hard-earned money. It's fine because you'll get to be a ~*homeowner*~.
And don't forget to use 20K from your RRSP towards the purchase! Get your partner to do the same! Yes, rob your RRSP of all that potential compound interest....
AND THEN he goes on about "How you can get ripped off by a 25yr mortgage"
Uuuummmmm I though homeownership was gonna get you rich?
"During the first 10yrs of your loan, more than 90% of your payments go to pay interest. [...] Millions of Canadians with 25yr mortgages are wasting a fortune paying for their homes this way. [...] With a mortgage like that, you spend the first 10yrs working hard for the bank but building little equity for yourself."
He goes on to describe how paying your mortgage biweekly instead of monthly can make a huge difference (*a GOOD point, in his defence*).
But with homeowners paying so much simply on interest (nevermind that they also have to pay for land transfer taxes, closing costs, maintenance fees and repairs, property taxes, etc....) can't it be argued that homeowners also "throw away" a lot of money?
For a lot of people, I agree that a mortgage can be a good forced-savings plan. However, sometimes renting can be the right call (try reading The Wealthy Renter).
Also, the book hasn't aged well in some respects... "there's hardly ever any foreclosures," he says, right before the housing bubble bursts and the great recession begins 😅😂
The book also predates a lot of awesome online resources for investing.
If you're starting out, this book does provide some good tidbits. But I'd give this a pass in favour of other finance books.
September 16, 2019
Although this is a departure from my usual reading, we are approaching an age where we really need to get our ducks in a row with our retirement savings.
I have heard great things about Bach's book and thought I would spend a day reading this to make sure we were on the right path with our savings.
This book tells the story of a couple, that David was providing financial consulting to, and their journey to becoming millionaires. David is completely astounded that they have saved this much because the couple seemed like the typical middle-class family who didn't seem like they had a lot to save.
Their story, he reflects, is the template we all need to achieve the same financial freedoms.
The idea of automating things is an easy one to implement, especially in this era of technology. His template to remove the "latte factor," pay off your vehicles, pay off your house, possibly do another property ownership, pay down debts, and then save are pretty straightforward.
The idea of being aggressive with retiring and how to make your savings work for you is where the meat of these lessons worked for me.
One of my tasks this week is to do some of these ideas for automation and we upped our retirement contributions since we have worked hard to put a safety net in place.
If you are trying to pay things down and looking for a strategy to begin, I think this is a great one for learning beginner skills to grow your savings and retire comfortably.
Although I hate to plug my own book, I do think there are some additional lessons you could discover in my book. Bonus, it's priced at just $4.99 on Kindle.
I have heard great things about Bach's book and thought I would spend a day reading this to make sure we were on the right path with our savings.
This book tells the story of a couple, that David was providing financial consulting to, and their journey to becoming millionaires. David is completely astounded that they have saved this much because the couple seemed like the typical middle-class family who didn't seem like they had a lot to save.
Their story, he reflects, is the template we all need to achieve the same financial freedoms.
The idea of automating things is an easy one to implement, especially in this era of technology. His template to remove the "latte factor," pay off your vehicles, pay off your house, possibly do another property ownership, pay down debts, and then save are pretty straightforward.
The idea of being aggressive with retiring and how to make your savings work for you is where the meat of these lessons worked for me.
One of my tasks this week is to do some of these ideas for automation and we upped our retirement contributions since we have worked hard to put a safety net in place.
If you are trying to pay things down and looking for a strategy to begin, I think this is a great one for learning beginner skills to grow your savings and retire comfortably.
Although I hate to plug my own book, I do think there are some additional lessons you could discover in my book. Bonus, it's priced at just $4.99 on Kindle.
September 28, 2010
The premise of this whole book is that if you do anything with money, throw out the concept of a budget and automate everything you do with money. Safe idea?
He explains everything in a very young-adult reader fashion by creating little snippets of conversations with people from either interviews or classes he taught and framing it in a way that sounds funny and easy at the same time. I think the idea of a budget or some finance manager is still important for tracking expenses and following up on errors that occur, from the bank or businesses.
His try and true method is simply, set percentage goals of saving and investing and giving and set up automatic drafts from your checking acct and then leave it be. This sounds nice and easy, but does not take into account people who travel a lot and those that have unstable incomes. He touches briefly on the subject of self-employed people but not enough for people who know they only get paid twice a year or maybe less than ten times a year.
This book is great for those that live basic, stable lives where nothing ever changes and no surprises will happen. If that's you, then read this book. Its a great saturday read and you can learn a lot from it. His chapter on investing is very helpful.
He explains everything in a very young-adult reader fashion by creating little snippets of conversations with people from either interviews or classes he taught and framing it in a way that sounds funny and easy at the same time. I think the idea of a budget or some finance manager is still important for tracking expenses and following up on errors that occur, from the bank or businesses.
His try and true method is simply, set percentage goals of saving and investing and giving and set up automatic drafts from your checking acct and then leave it be. This sounds nice and easy, but does not take into account people who travel a lot and those that have unstable incomes. He touches briefly on the subject of self-employed people but not enough for people who know they only get paid twice a year or maybe less than ten times a year.
This book is great for those that live basic, stable lives where nothing ever changes and no surprises will happen. If that's you, then read this book. Its a great saturday read and you can learn a lot from it. His chapter on investing is very helpful.
November 26, 2018
Some good advice for anyone new to personal finance, but spoiled by endless repetition and outdated information. The audiobook kicks off with useful tips for viewing the 'Portable Document Format' resource files on your 'PDA' device.
December 13, 2019
Essentially: pay yourself i.e. save and invest first by using automatic payments. The rest of the book is savings math, success stories and summary information about IRAs and other types of investments.
June 25, 2018
And very useful, fairly short finance book. Definitely recommended, will only take a few hours to read but gives some solid points and strong ideas
January 10, 2024
This book basically got me hooked at the title. As I read the few pages, I knew this author was writing to really lure me in. I am good with saving money, but I wanted to take it a step further - and this was the perfect book to do that. I only know how to save and I'm not really knowledgable with retirement plans, investing, money market accounts, etc., but this book was a great starter point. Now I know a little bit of why I should use those tools and how to start. Especially because in the back of my brain, I know my savings are losing value to inflation just by sitting in my bank account. Not anymore! The only thing I disliked about the book is the fact that "everyone" can win in this system, even though capitalism very much depends on a loser. For example, there's a chapter on how we should all try to be homeowners since they're net worth is proven to be double digit times bigger than renters. But the thing is, if we are all homeowners, then what? There's no renters. And why should landlords be making money off of their renters, anyway? As a hater of capitalism, that rubbed me the wrong way. Not everyone makes enough money for a downpayment, as much as his Latte Factor chapter of his book encourages us to save a little bit more by not purchasing our small guilty pleasures. Yes, we can save a little bit more than we think, but there's only so much money we can save up if we don't have enough income. Like why do I have to devote 10% to my retirement fund, 10% for a downpayment, 10% for emergency funds, etc. There's only so much money to go around.
That said though, I was glad to see some of my own personal saving tips make it into the book. I am a tad obsessed with achieving financial freedom and seeing my bank account grow, so honestly, this book came at the right time. I know I just wrote a whole long paragraph about what I disliked, but the book is a really good, encouraging starting point, especially if you have debt or don't know what to do with your savings. The automatic part of the book is key, hence the title, and I appreciate that aspect of the book.
That said though, I was glad to see some of my own personal saving tips make it into the book. I am a tad obsessed with achieving financial freedom and seeing my bank account grow, so honestly, this book came at the right time. I know I just wrote a whole long paragraph about what I disliked, but the book is a really good, encouraging starting point, especially if you have debt or don't know what to do with your savings. The automatic part of the book is key, hence the title, and I appreciate that aspect of the book.
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