Book Review & Commentary – Start Late, Finish Rich

By dougnau on Nov 13, 2009 in Book Reviews, Financial Growth, Personal Growth

Background

David Bach, speaker and financial advisor is the author of The Automatic Millionaire and a series of Finish Rich books including Start Late, Finish Rich: A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age. The book, published in 2007, is 368 pages and is available in both paper and audio versions.

Book Review & Commentary

Your first thought may be why does a personal growth and development website have a book review on finishing rich. Dig a bit deeper and you’ll see that personal growth is all about finishing rich, and living rich during the process (financially or otherwise). David Bach actually does a good job wrapping up this book by acknowledging that these concepts are not just about the mechanics of how to get rich, but also about enjoying yourself and being rich during the process. Financial growth is a huge aspect of personal growth, of personal wellness, and contributes enormously to the attainment of your goals. Those that live a life of ‘lack’ financially are likely to be lacking in other areas of their life as well.

That being said, Start Late, Finish Rich is a life coaching and financial coaching how to guide which shows you the ways to retire rich no matter what your age is and your current income level. Personally, I am not a financial advisor, though I do have a strong education in the field, and approach my personal finances with diligence, curiosity and understanding. I am also a numbers guy – but you don’t need to be to become financially knowledgeable. If you feel that you are not a numbers person, you are not educated on the topics of compound interest, and you struggle to see where all your money goes, then this book is an excellent starting point. David Bach in Start Late, Finish Rich introduces a number of strategies for saving more and building your nest egg. In a way he makes you face what you’ll need to do to retire rich whether you are 35 or 55, whether you are in debt or a homeowner. Be warned, you may or may not like what you hear.

The strategies in this book are no secret and are not spectacular. He does not promise anyone that they will get rich overnight (though he does embellish the book with a few exceptional stories). The concepts he touches on are tax deferred retirement accounts, paying yourself first, owning your home, compound interest, the latté factor (spending less), and being generous with one’s own time and money – a quality that most extremely wealthy people share.

I agree with David that most people get stuck in their own frustrations about finances, and even though books and guidelines like this exist spelling out precisely how someone can change their situation, the seemingly impossible task of it all prevents them from taking action. His point, anyone can finish rich – if you start now! You must start now.

Is this ringing a bell? Does the struggle with finances resonate with you? If it does, you are part of the majority. The real question is if you are content with the struggle, or if you are determined to take action – even drastic action to change your circumstance. The mechanics are laid out for you in this book, the decision however is up to you.

Although none of the concepts in this book were new to me, I am committed to my financial future and I really enjoy reviewing such material – even if its all simply review. Being conscious to the topic and the principles offers an opportunity to re-evaluate contribution strategies to 401k plans, to think about real estate investment, and to be leary of where one is leaking money. Its far too easy to fall to sleep here. The question is where is your focus. And what goals are you focused towards. Become curious rather than frustrated and your situation will shift.

While none of the strategies written in the book are foolproof (ie: in California we’ve been hit with a huge real estate market decline, economic recession and have been affected by the decline in global securities), they do offer sound long term principles that have a high likelihood of working if your risk tolerance is great enough. If you think the strategies are too risky, what’s the risk of doing nothing?

As evidenced by the examples the author provides, clearly the book was written before the recession hit the economy, as a reader you’ve got the option to choose whether to poo-poo the principles because of these events, or embrace the opportunity that the recession brings (ie: 5% 30 year mortgage rates and lowered housing costs). I choose to seek out the opportunity.

Who is this book for?

Struggling to get on top of your financial future? Are you a complete newbie to managing your finances? Are you worrying about your lack of retirement savings at 30, 40 or even 50 years old. If you are not intricately familiar with compound interest, real estate investing, tax deferred retirement accounts, ways to increase pay or cut expenses, then this book is a great starting point. If you’re like me and just like to stay aware of minor tweaks that you can make, then you’ll also enjoy this review of these principles.