It's always too late if you don't do something

books:

	• Start Late, Finish Rich: A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age (Finish Rich Book Series) David Bach Broadway, 2006 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 94 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Good guide for the late beginning investor

This is a sharply moving book of about 340 pages, with the target audience of people in their late 30s, 40s or 50s who are just starting to save for retirement. The book flows very well and you can expect to invest perhaps 3-5 hours in your read.

The book is broken down into 4 main sections: How to spend less; How to Save More; How to earn more; and How to give to charity. All of the chapters have anecdotes illustrating people's success, and there are also many emailed testamonials through out the chapter.

The section on spending less is very good. The basic theme is how small expenditures on a daily basis on little luxuries such as coffee house coffee (His Latte Factor), meals out, and cell phones, high speed internet and premium cable add up to be a significant expenditure over the course of a lifetime. He also gives good suggestions on how to reduce interest payments on credit cards and how to select which cards to pay off first. I found this section to be the most informative and revealing section of the book.

The section on saving shows how to use tax avoidance and automatic deposits to save more faster. He also outlines different investment vehicles and gives a good blended portfolio for the target audience. If you do have knowledge of the types of plans he outlines, you will skim over some of this material.

The next section covers how to make more money. He gives some guidance on how to be more valuable at work and how to ask for a raise. He also covers different side business opportunities, such as eBay businesses, direct selling opportunity, real estate, and franchises. I found the real estate section to be particularily well formulated and presented.

The final section is more of a feel good section on the importance of giving to charity and the importance of living a complete live. He stresses that mone is a means for achieving your life goals, and is not a life goal in and of itself.

Overall, the book is a worth while read, although people with no background will get much more out of it than people going in with a good base of knowlede in the themes presented. The section on savings however is worth the price of the book.

for more information click here

It's always too late if you don't do something

I was interested to read others' reviews of David Bach's book, Start Late, Finish Rich. Those who wrote negative reviews seemed to feel very strongly that the book was worthless. A few were in the other camp, proclaiming its value even over and above other wealth-building books and seminars.

It seems to boil down to this: yes, the author relates principles that are timeless, and in most cases have been presented in classics like George Clason's, "The Richest Man in Babylon," "Think and Grow Rich," et cetera. If readers are not inclined to change their spending and saving habits, as several reviewers wrote that they weren't, then nothing will change for them. Mr. Bach has managed to present these concepts in easy to digest action steps that anyone can do. (Anyone who decides to act, that is.) These are illustrated by real-life anecdotes that are easy to relate to, for most of us who wonder if it is too late.

As one who read "The Richest Man in Babylon" at an impressionable age, I have had times when I successfully followed my saving and investing plans, and other times when necessity required those plans be temporarily shelved. If you're over forty, or way over forty, it really is not too late to improve your financial picture. Most Baby-boomers think they're going to live forever. Even if that's not true, these methods can make the second half of your life much more comfortable and secure.

for more information click here

It Delivers

I've read a ton of financial self-help books over the years, and this one goes far beyond the majority of them in delivering solid content and sound advice without wasting the reader's time. David Bach does an excellent job in showing how cutting tiny expenses can really add up and increase your savings rate. America has one of the worst savings rates in the world, and there are plenty who should be reading the author's advice. He also covers consolidating debt, real estate, investing, and different ways to make additional income without quitting your day job. If you have read any of the books in of Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" series, then you probably noticed they are sometimes inspirational but thoroughly content-free. You won't find that with "Start Late, Finish Rich". David Bach provides really useful information, and you may even find that you read the book twice to take it all in. It's money well spent.

for more information click here

Better in theory than in practice

This was an interesting book. At first glance, I really liked it because it reviewed all of the basic economics that we should have learned back in grade school, but some of us didn't! I was rubbing my palms with excitement thinking of all of the different ways that I could save money until I put it down on paper and saw how difficult it would be to implement Bach's suggestions.

Firstly, I concede that there are several areas where I could cut back financially, however, I'm not sure that I want to make the sacrifice right now. Give up hi-speed? Go back to the dark ages of dial-up where it takes me 20 minutes to send an attachment? Forsake caller ID when it saves so much time from my day not have to pick up calls from telemarketers or my friends who might want to chat for a half-hour when I'm in the middle of doing something else? Stop going to movies renting DVDs, or playing minigolf? Well, OK, I can cut back on those activities but eliminating them would certainly affect my quality of life.

Most of what Bach said was extremely sound -- save more, spend less and make wiser investments. But this will work more effectively for someone who is regularly employed as opposed to a part-time worker or someone who works contractually. (Forget about those on unemployment and disability! It would also be really hard to follow for minimum-wage workers and people who are barely making ends meet.)

Lastly, I don't know anyone who is making 10% on their returns unless they're involved in risky investments. I'm in Canada and most of the safer investments are yielding 2% - 2.5%. It's pretty hard to get rich that way especially when all of that money from your RRSP will be taxed when you take it out.

My criticisms notwithstanding, I did enjoy this book. I will certainly think twice about all of my purchases from now on and question the idea of renting property versus owning.

Sigrid Macdonald. Author of D'Amour Road.

for more information click here

EXCELLENT book!

Previous reviewers miss the point. This book is for the over-40's who aren't financially literate, who haven't been setting aside retirement money since age 20, who sometimes lose track of where it all goes, and who don't have money stashed away in beachfront 2nd homes or piles of stock options.

On the plus side, he clearly offers many investment specifics for the 40-plus wage-earner or newly-minted entrepreneur. He also suggests a variety of supplemental income sources to suit various lifestyles and temperaments (including eBay!). On the down side, he does tend to cross-reference to his other books which isn't helpful. If I'm reading this book, why would read another one of his that applies to 20-somethings?

I like that he doesn't waste time scolding you for what you haven't done already, explaining an entire Economics 101 class, or assuming that you already have tons of investments and vacation property you can just shuffle around.

Overall, I found this book very accessible, easy to understand, and (so far) easy to implement!

for more information click here

reviews: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, page 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

My favorite books about Success and motivation
Books I've Read in 2007: Vol. 2, July - Dec
Safest Ways to Invest in Real Estate
My favorite books about Retirement
Financial Peace

search for books
start late, achieving, financial, finish, freedom, no-fail, series, start

Impressum / about us