One Million and Beyond

Book Review – Rich by Thirty

February 10th, 2009

Being Rich by Thirty was something I wanted to do when I was younger and had just started working; unfortunately for me the reality is that I’m now 31 and still not rich. I will freely admit that the title of this book really caught my attention and was the main reason I bought it. I didn’t buy this book in some vain hope that I would learn some magical secret to getting rich. I did hope to find some good information about what people have done to get them some measure of wealth.

What I did find was something entirely different; Lesley Scorgie has written what I would consider to be a pretty basic introductory book to personal finance. Rich by Thirty is a great first place to get a good sense of what money and personal finance are. From here you can expand your learning with some of the fields more ‘classical’ works.

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with Rich by Thirty because it really focused on people who had no experience with money. The book was writing keeping in mind people who are at the end of high school and at the beginning of college and have little to no knowledge of money, saving, or how investment vehicles work. The nice thing about the book is it makes no assumptions about your previous knowledge and starts with the basics.

I won’t pretend to have a vast array of knowledge about investments or even personal finance but I have been interested in the topic for a few years and as a result I’ve learnt a thing or two. For me the book was a good refresher to remind me where I was not too long ago. If you’re just starting out in life and want a good book to give you some basics for Personal Finance then Rich by Thirty really is a great investment.

On the other hand if you’ve read a few personal finance books and know how to put together your own budget then this book might serve as a refresher but it might also not be worth the time it takes to read. Overall having that reminder about all that exists in the world of PF at a high level was nice.

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Book Review – You’re Broke Because You Want To Be

August 21st, 2008

The idea behind the title of You’re Broke Because You Want to Be is a very profound one; your financial situation is the way it is because you chose it to be that way. Most people would start citing excuses or reasons why it isn’t but the reality is if you wanted your financial situation to be different from what it is then you would make the necessary changes. The general premise behind this book isn’t a new one and its one that I agree with whole heartedly – you are ultimately responsible for your actions regardless of what they are.Larry Winget’s book takes it a step further and forces you to think about it a bit deeper. If you’re in debt, heavily in debt, the actions you take will dictate how your financial future unfolds. If for example you decide to spend money you don’t really have then you’re going to continue being in debt regardless of how much you complain about it. I know this is true because over the past few years my financial situation has stagnated; although there might have been some positive movement I’m still roughly where I was a couple years ago.

You’re Broke Because You Want to Be takes a very hard no nonsense approach to the problem and makes you confront the issue without giving you room for excuses. The bottom line is how you spend your money really makes a huge difference and if you continue to do what you’ve done then there is no way you can possibly expect any form of change in your situation.

Money Defines You

This was a great statement from the book that really caught my attention. In a world that likes to sugar coat a lot of stuff this one statement is truer than many I’ve read in personal finance books. How much money you have defines what you do and how you do a lot of things. People spend more money than they make and the net result is then end up in debt. They become defined by this debt and then the excuses really start flying.

I really enjoyed You’re Broke Because You Want to Be and I highly recommend it to anyone whose financial situation isn’t as good as they would like it to be. The no nonsense down to earth approach Larry Winget takes really forces the issue and I enjoy reading his books. They force me to get angry with my situation and this forces action. The other thing that I really like about Larry’s style is the fact that he places great importance on education and improving your situation; it really takes the wind out of all situational arguments.

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Book Review – The Procrastinators Handbook

March 11th, 2008

Like it or not you procrastinate, some of us do it more than others but we’ve all had those moments where we procrastinate. For some people this is a serious problem where they essentially do nothing with their lives and in the end they don’t even know why they didn’t get off their butts to do something about it. Rita Emmett wrote the Procrastinator’s Handbook for anyone who procrastinates and let me tell you this little book is power packed. I’ve read The Procrastinator’s Handbook a couple times now and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around as I did the first.

The book has a great flow to it and Rita uses a lot of examples. These examples are down to earth examples that most people can relate to very easily. I picked up a great many tidbits from the book the first time I read it and I gladly refreshed my memory the second time around. There were a few things about The Procrastinator’s Handbook I really liked:

Fears: Rita doesn’t only give tips and suggestions for stopping our procrastinating ways but she also looks at some of the reasons we procrastinate in the first place. The fears section of the book really makes you stop and think about why you’re putting something off. Having this information is vital, in my opinion, to getting over some of the procrastinating elements.

Clutter busting: Long time readers will know that I’ve been on this kick with simplicity lately and I think that a lot of it stems back to when I first read The Procrastinator’s Handbook. The clutter busting suggestions made me stop and start getting rid of the junk around me that was weighing me down more than anything else.

Tips: This book is filled with tips and suggestions. Not only that there are exercises throughout the book that will make you stop and think about why you’re not doing that task. I think this book would be a great compliment to other productivity books out there.

I highly recommend this little book. Rita has taken her experience and turned it into an easy to read book that can help pretty much anyone. The Procrastinator’s Handbookis a quick read but full of information. I’ll probably re-read the book at some point in the future.

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Book Review – It’s called Work for a reason

February 28th, 2008

Recently I’ve seen a bunch of Personal Finance bloggers writing about Larry Wingnet’s new book You’re Broke Because You Want to Be and some of his older work. Needless to say this caught my interest since in general they had good things to say about him. So as I was in the bookstore browsing these caught my attention. Because they had been mentioned by a few bloggers lately it made the books pretty much jump off the shelf. I couldn’t resist and I picked up It’s Called Work for a Reason!. A couple days later the book was done and I have to say that it was a very refreshing read.

The whole premise of the book is Larry’s take on the fact that in general we in North America really don’t do our jobs that well, if at all. I have to say that I couldn’t agree more. Working over the last 12 or so years I have basically come to the same conclusions that he has: people waste a great deal of their time. I know that over those years I’ve been one of those people from time to time so I’m not innocent in any way shape or form. Larry’s book takes a very simple look at the whole issue of work and gives us all very profound kick in the pants. We’ve forgotten that it’s called work for a reason. Its not called lets stand around the water cooler talking about lunch but work.

His straight forward no holds barred style was very fun to read since it hammered the point home with amazing clarity. Success is driven by results not how much time or effort you put in but by the output you produce. One of the things that really jumped out at me wasn’t the fact that in general we don’t work as hard as we could (hell everyone has bad days) but that the style and message of the book was very down to earth and it highlighted what we can do to really succeed in a down to earth manner.

Aside from the overall message of the book there were a few sections that I really liked: the chapter on customer service and the one on sales. The chapter on customer service was quite entertaining with its examples but also very true. We don’t provide good customer service and in general we just don’t understand its impact and importance. Apathy and bad customers service are simply no excuse and that is oh so true.

The chapter on sales was eye opening since it really comes down to sales at the end of the day. If you’re not selling your product or service there is no money coming through the door. No matter how well you’re doing your job or how much you think you deserve a paycheck if there are no sales then there is no money.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who’s working or likely to find themselves working at some point (yes that’s pretty much everyone). The no nonsense, down to earth manner with which he approaches the topic should get a few people to realize just how little they’re doing. All over the world we see great examples of productivity and accomplishments yet they’re not constant and I haven’t seen any major accomplishments in North America for a while. I think Larry’s book might help resolve some of those problems.

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Book Review – Letting Go of your Bananas

January 17th, 2007

The first thing to catch your eye about this thin little book is the title. If I were to let go of my bananas they’ll fall to the floor and I’ll have to pick them up; but thankfully the bananas here are metaphorical and not real and best of all require no bending. This is a short little book with a pretty strong message that I quite enjoyed.

The metaphorical bananas in this book are the people, places and things in your life that you hang onto with deal life even though they might doing more harm than good to you. The best part is everyone has these bananas that they could get rid of and this book helps you by pointing you in the right direction of finding them including helping crack through the barriers of programming.

What I really liked about this book is it makes you stop and realize all of the things that are in your life and get rid of the things that have little or no merit; this book makes you accountable for your own life. It focuses on living your life rather than dwelling or holding onto the past. I would quote this if I still had the book but the excerpt I’ve got in my notes reads:

Live in the present, plan for the future, accept the past.

The bananas in this book are often barriers for us and once you have a sense for what these barriers are, and there’s a little soul searching required that doesn’t come with the book, it puts you into a better position to let go of these bananas or barriers. It lets you come up with a vision of your life and then pushes you down the road to achieving it while saying there will be bumps on the road but they’re bumps and you should treat them as such.

All in all I liked the book, it was fairly well written and structured and I liked the use of the metaphors and examples that the author provided. It was a refreshing look on personal growth.

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Learning about the world of Personal Finance – Reading Lists

January 12th, 2007

Ever since I was young the easiest way for me to get to know a topic was to read about it. When I was still in school this would mean I started in the library looking at the encyclopedia and from there I would branch out until I had an idea about the topic. Now when reading about a topic such a personal finance there is so much information and so many nuances that it’s really hard to get started. There is literally such a plethora of books out there including many that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. This lead me to take a slightly different approach: I started reading blogs first, bloggers would from time to time mention some of the ‘classics’ or new books that have come up that are worth reading. From this I started to pull together a list! Books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Automatic Millionaire were on there.

Now what I’m looking for is more books, quality books. Which personal finance books have you read in the past that have inspired you?

Here is my list of personal finance books that have inspired me:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
• Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
• The Automatic Millionaire – David Bach
• Secrets of the Millionaire Mind – T. Harv Eker
• The Millionaire Next Door – Stanley and Danko

Technorati Tags: reading, books, personal finance

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Book Review: QBQ – The Question Behind the Question

January 9th, 2007

When confronted with a problem one of the very first things we do is question the situation around us. Very simply we need to know as much information as possible before we make a decision on what to do. Unfortunately too many of us don’t wait till we have enough information or worse still don’t bother to get the right information before making a decision; QBQ goes on to address this to some extent.

This little book changes the questions that you ask in reaction to everyday issues and problems instead of our typical scripted responses. It drills down below the surface removing often blame producing questions, that start with why, and gets down to ones that can help and improve the situation without victimization. The book drives home the message that you need to be accountable for your actions and choices and how you react to problems is something you have control over rather than being a victim.

This book is also a self-improvement book in that not only does it get you to become accountable in the business sense it also gets you to be accountable on a personal level. It makes you aware that by asking the right questions you can remove the self-victimization that many of us use as justification for our actions rather than personal accountability. Very simply this short book gives you a kick in the pants and empowers you to take control of the things you have influence over and lets you take leadership of yourself; you can really only change yourself.

I enjoyed QBQ, it was a really fast read and although it’s not earth shattering in its writing style the message is definitely sound and our business world would be a lot better if more people applied it. As I was reading this book I couldn’t help but think how much this book would compliment a book like Seth Goodin’s The Purple Cow. This book is worth spending the time to read; you might just start asking the right questions afterwards.

Technorati Tags: books, book review, QBQ, questions, improvement

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Book Review – Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

December 19th, 2006

Last week I finished T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and I have to say that overall I was quite impressed by the book. With one caveat: while reading the book the rather constant plugs and suggestions that the reader take his seminars was a bit distracting.

The book is essentially broken down into two main parts, the first one is the description of the financial blueprint. This is the first time that I’ve seen this referenced and when it boils down to it, it’s how ones upbringing leaves a blueprint on our behavior for how we deal with money. Our financial blueprint; it’s an interesting idea that makes perfect sense. When I was growing up my family didn’t have a lot of money and it shows in my blueprint. I need to make some adjustments to my blueprint to be better able to make money.

The second part of the book is 17 primary points about what rich people do that the poor and middle class do not. Most of them are pretty obvious points and not necessarily tied to money though that is a very strong undercurrent. Essentially it points out that rich people approach money from the point of view of wanting/needing it to achieve their goals. In doing this they look for opportunities and take control over their lives in order to take advantage of them. Mr. Eker goes into detail about each point and every one of them is logically sound (at least to me).

I really enjoyed the book even though the plugs for his conferences distracted me from the content a bit. I’ll be happy to add this book to my PF collection.

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Commitment to Financial Success

December 11th, 2006

I started reading a new personal finance book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker (Amazon Link), and I have to say that I’m liking some of the ideas in this book. The first section that I’ve read through contained the idea of a financial blueprint which essentially explains that your financial behavior in the here and now was based on the past. This blueprint also dictates how your financial situation will be going forward unless you alter it. Good idea, totally common sense if you think about it.

As I continued to read through the book one of the items that really hit home for me was the fact that according to Eker, one of the reasons rich people are rich is their commitment to succeed. Not just the desire but the unwavering commitment to do whatever it takes to become financially independent. As I was reading this I was thinking to myself and I haven’t been doing this, not even in the slightest. I have the desire and want to be rich but in all honest I haven’t been committed to getting there (hence my debt load is so great).

There is a very serious amount of effort that goes into achieving wealth, especially large amounts of it. This effort is fundamental in my opinion to achieving your goals. Am I ready for this level of commitment? I’m not sure but I’m getting there, I’m reading more learning more and I’m starting to realize the amount of work that will be involved to get to where I want to be financially. I’m sure some people would argue that it’s like flipping a switch, you’ve either got the desire and commitment or you’ve just got an idle wish. But habits need to be fixed and replaced with good habits as well as increasing the level of commitment until it’s commensurate with my desire to get out of debt and accumulate wealth.

Technorati Tags: commitment, financial success, wealth, money

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Not Buying It – A review

November 28th, 2006

I just finished reading Judith Levine’s Not Buying It:My Year Without Shopping (Amazon Link) and I have to say that I’m very impressed with the book. I do not agree with all of the author’s views but then again I’m more conservative than she and not as much of an activist. Political views aside I found the book to be a nice and easy read which is always a good thing when it comes to a book dealing with money and in this case consumerism. A book that flows well makes the reading that much more enjoyable.

I have to agree with Judith about consumerism in our society, it’s rampant and you can’t get away from it. Before you simply agree that this is an obvious statement I thought that as well and the book really opened my eyes a bit wider. Not only that it made me pause and think about my own hyper consumerism. Our culture is all about spending money and to be perfectly honest I was out there with the best of them spending money faster than I could make it.

Seeing someone remove themselves as far from consumer society as possible why still living a normal life made for a fascinating read especially when Judith commented about the struggles associated with simply not buying it. Stopping yourself from buying is hard and would be associated with struggle (imagine a smoker trying to quit smoking). I have cut down on a lot of spending but reading this book showed me that I can go a lot further if I wanted to.

The book definitely makes you appreciate the things that you have and it will make you pause before spending lots of money. A good read, I definitely recommend it.

Technorati Tags: Book Review, Not Buying It, Judith Levine, Consumerism

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