I like to think of myself as pretty good with money but lately I’ve been struggling to keep on top of my finances. When I picked this book up a few months ago in a bar I found it really interesting. A lot of it I already knew but I did learn a few good points and I have since started writing a spending diary to see exactly where my money is going. The results are enlightening.
It’s the sort of book that you can just pick up and read any page or read it from cover to cover as I did. The title doesn’t really justify the book. It covers a much wider range of personal finance than just what not to spend including how to budget, how to save, invest and dealing with money in relationships.
The most interesting chapter I found was on relationships and money because as Alvin Hall points out, so many of us enter into relationships with people that have very different attitudes towards money yet we almost never address those differences until it’s too late. It’s so strange that we would have a child with someone or talk openly about sex with strangers yet never address our partners different attitude towards money that is so ingrained within us it has the potential, and often does, tear apart even the strongest of relationships.
The only real criticism of the book is that it is a little outdated. It’s not that all the points don’t still apply and is excellent advice, but it’s that it was published in 2004 which was before a lot of changes in the financial world so doesn’t include things like bitcoin and peer 2 peer savings which didn’t exist back then.
I would imagine everyone could learn something about managing their finances from this book but certainly if you are a bit of a spendaholic or constantly finding yourself in debt, I would recommend trying to implement the strategies laid out in this book.
Favourite quotes from the book:
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” – Henry David Thoreau, page 176.
“Money buys you choices, while lack of money limits your options” – Page 177.
Overall: 80%