Comments on: Review: Smart Women Finish Rich

By: Roger Ste-Marie

Roger Ste-Marie — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:48:32 +0000

Actually, I don’t think reading «Automatic Millionnaire» is the same as , for example «Smart Couples Finish Rich».

Automatic Millionnaire contains much less information than Smart Couples Finish Rich (two of the books I read from Bach)

Personally, I would recommend «Finish Rich Workbook» because it contains a lot of tables to fill and the most important informations from David Bach’s books. It does not contain much new though, so one should take this book only if
1) did not read a David Bach book yet
OR
2) did not apply the steps yet and might need more «tools» to do it.

I agree that reading 1 book is enough, but in my view, it cannot be «Automatic Millionnaire».

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:23:38 +0000

You know Jillian, I agree with you on that point as well. It’s a lot easier to give budgeting advice to people who are over-spenders, because there is so much to cut out. For people on lean budgets already and looking for advice that’s useful and not already in use, that’s a harder task. That’s part of the reason I’m never impressed with tv shows that have people selling a ton of their stuff/crap for cash to use on redoing their house. I’ve never had that much stuff to begin with, so I have nothing to sell!

It’s the same with losing weight too-if you’re eating a ton of fast food, full calorie sodas, cutting that out will be easy and you’ll drop weight quickly. If you don’t eat that already it gets tougher.

It comes down to this: if you have more fat to cut out (food or budget) you make a bigger sizzle. The leaner you already are, the less impact.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:27:44 +0000

Why do these people always assume that we have a latte every day? I’m pretty tired of hearing that if I only stopped drinking so much coffee I’d have more money. I’m starting to think that maybe I *should* start buying expensive coffee every day, so that after a few weeks I can stop again and feel like I’ve achieved something.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:23:41 +0000

I recently flipped through a David Bach book and I wasn’t terribly impressed. Any book with a copyrighted/trademarked slogan in it (“Latte Factor”) tends to make me automatically more skeptical. Can’t really say why, though.

I’m also never a big fan of books that call on the gender of the reader either. They usually involve stereotypes/assumptions that I find annoying. I don’t know if that’s true with this book but I hate the whole “women are shoe hoarding, man dependent and afraid of money.” Please.

By: Jeni

Jeni — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:47:28 +0000

I loved this book when I read it a few years ago since it encourages you to figure out what is important in your life, which is not something you’d expect from a financial book. I also read his “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner” but think I’ve exhausted David Bach books for now.

By: Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:53:39 +0000

I’m sorry to say that I once wasted $595 on a set of weekly conference calls with this guy.

There are many underemployed smart people. How does one finish rich if they have student loan debt and earn minimum wage?

By: r

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:38:00 +0000

I wondered the same thing as guinness416. This book can be particularly worth it for someone who isn’t participating as much as they should in financial decisions and planning (presumably, “women in relationships where the partner dominates the finances”)… but that would seem to make it not very useful for single women who are on top of their game, in contrast to what might be implied by “I think this one is clearly the most appropriate for single women…”?

My attention was particularly drawn to this point, because I’ve never read a finance book directed at women per se, having been been too afraid that that the main difference in practice would turn out to be “this is designed for women – we’ve assumed you don’t know much and are too likely to be assuming you’ll be able to count on someone else in the future!” At the same time, it’s true that almost everyone I read on this subject is male and (at least often assumes that they are) writing mostly for males, so if there are things I need to keep in mind because I’m a woman, I suppose I want to know them.

Your review didn’t seem to list any sex-specific information at all… yet you did suggest getting this book “if you’re female”. What do you think the difference really is?

By: limeade

limeade — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:04:37 +0000

I’ve read a couple books by David Bach, but I wasn’t too impressed with either. If you’re starting to look at your personal finances for the first time, they can be beneficial, but otherwise they’re mostly filled with the same information you find most anywhere.

By: s

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:03:34 +0000

Also, it won’t make you “a millionaire” but if you invest that 1200/year at 8% you’ll have ~150k in 30 years. That’s a pretty good chunk of money. If you made 6 more $5/weekday changes (like packing a lunch), it would make you a millionaire. Just a fu n way to look at things :D.

(side note: it would actually be $1300/year if you include all 52*5 weekdays)

By: Torrey

Torrey — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:57:30 +0000

What’s interesting to me is David’s information on CNBC’s The Millionaire Inside is always a repeat of what he said on the previous show.

actlikeit.wordpress.com

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:43:22 +0000

I won’t be reading this one, as I have read The Automatic Millionaire, but (as a financially savvy woman) just curious what in the content makes you say “I think this one is clearly the most appropriate for single women and also women in relationships where the partner dominates the finances.”