Book Review: The Barefoot Investor
May 27, 2018
Whether its online, audio or in the pages of a book, I'm always seeking out information to help me learn just a little bit more than I knew yesterday. And when I find something that hits the mark with me then I of course want to share it with you. Well, I've found a "must read" that I want to tell you about today.
Do not BUY this book. Get it out of the library instead. That is the advice that I gave to my sister, my friend and anyone else who would listen to me really. The whole point about reading a book on how to be better with money is to use the money you have wisely. So, save yourself $34 and get it for free from your library.
I have recommended this book to a lot of people, heck I even gave it to my daughters teacher as an end of year gift for enduring a classroom with 33 kids in it for the year. My daughter was horrified, but I refuse to give gifts that are not useful, so I wrapped it before handing it over so as not to get odd looks from other parents. Her teacher loved it!
EVERYONE I recommend this book to loves it! And more importantly they act upon the advice inside the book.
Here is the proof:
“Ruth recommended The Barefoot Investor, so I took her advice and even got it out from the library rather than buying it! My husband and I read it together and it was a complete game changer for us. We always considered ourselves fairly responsible with money (he more than me!) but reading this book completely changed the way we organise our finances and prioritise our debt. It also changed our “long term goals” - which was to “pay off the mortgage and then buy a rental”- and we have now started an investment plan instead. The book is funny and easy to read- not bogged down with financial jargon. I have recommended this book to everyone: my parents (there is a great section on retirement) my brother (who actually works in banking) and many friends and colleagues who are trying to get ahead to buy a house or are wanting to improve their financial position. If you’re at all interested in having more money I definitely strongly recommend reading this book :) “ T + M
I also asked my sister to write me a review and while she was working on it she emailed me the following:
“Funny, but I opened a guys desk at work last week trying to steal his pen, and saw a copy of the book. I asked him about it, and it was almost as if he had discovered Jesus!! He and his mate had also just started a small local company and can’t keep up with demand, which he attributed to Scott Pape. He’s far reaching!”
Then her review arrived:
“Scott Pape actually made me want to talk about my finances, plan what to do with them (over a glass of wine of course), and showed me how money really works for me. In fact, he makes talking about money sexy! He keeps his rules to wealth simple and uses layman terms for everything so it doesn’t confuse the likes of me who is relatively new to the (previously) complicated world of finance. He uses humorous analogies throughout on how wealth building works and takes away the mystique of money, showing it as an attainable commodity for anyone. Not to mention, he's a great writer and the book’s really funny. If you’re serious about getting ahead financially and want someone who you can relate to telling you about how to do it, I’d definitely recommend The Barefoot Investor.” Liz
What more could I add? I have obviously read it myself and I concur with all of the above. It’s not a New Zealand book, he is Australian, so not everything applies here but most of it does.
When he was at one of his lowest points, after losing everything in a bush fire he was able to turn to his wife and young child and say “I’ve got this”. He wants to give the rest of us the tools, at whatever stage of life we are at, to say to ourselves “I am financially in control of my life”. This is really poignant to me because before I had even heard of him my own family experienced a similar moment, for us it was the devastating Christchurch earthquakes. I remember turning to my husband and saying “I don’t know where we are going from here but all I can tell you is that we are covered financially to sort it out”. The power, comfort and freedom that brings you is priceless and Scott Pape captures that in his writing. Plus he calls in a lot of case studies of people, and each of their stories we can relate to and apply to our own situation. Such a powerful book!
You need to add this book to your reading list. He is a straight talking bloke, calls a spade a spade, is good looking (which helps!) and being completely independent he has OUR best interests at the heart of everything he does.
The Barefoot Investor BOOK GIVEAWAY...
The Barefoot Investor BOOK GIVEAWAY was a great success and congratulations to our winner who won a copy of the book. Thank you to all my subscribers who entered.
If you would love to read it, try your local library or you can buy it here via my link to Book Depository.
Book Depository: The Barefoot Investor - Scott Pape
I would be most grateful if you used the link above because by doing so I will receive a very (very) small percentage of the sale and that helps me to continue to bring you my blog each week for free. One way you can support The Happy Saver and the work I do is to use this link to buy ANY book on Book Depository. Thanks so much!
Do you have any other good reads you could recommend to me? Drop me a line and let me know.
