I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Smart Couples Finish Rich: Introduction

I have a confession to make. I blog about personal finance… and I have never read a personal finance book. Never. I’ve never even looked at one in a store. I guess it always seemed to me, before, that I needed to have some money first before I started to learn how to manage it (ie a book). And by the time I came to the realization that that wasn’t the case, and in fact, it may be even more important to learn how to manage your money when you don’t have any, well, I was too strictly budgeting myself to go buy a book. I could have gone to the library and gotten one, but I didn’t. I read many many people’s interpretations of different personal finance “gurus” but I must admit, I have never actually read anything straight from the source.

Until now. I won a contest at Brip Blap for his copy of David Bach’s Smart Couples Finish Rich. A personal finance book was coming to me, free of charge! What an excellent chance to delve into the world of personal finance literature and see what I think. So here I go!

With all my excitement for finally reading a personal finance book, I wondered if this was the right book to try. Would this book give me any new insights into how I handle money with my spouse? Is this really what I’m looking for? My spouse and I have long passed the beginning stage of coupledom where you figure out the ins and outs of each others attitudes towards money. But “finish rich” is something I could totally get on board with. I think that is one of the things that made me think in the past that personal finance books weren’t really for me - I never thought it’d be possible for us to be rich, so I never thought anything in a book telling me how I can finish rich would apply to my life. But I’m pretty sure I am wrong. Maybe not about finishing rich, but I know there is a lot out there in book form I can apply to my life. Hopefully some of that insight will be found in this book.

The book is basically divided into 10 parts. There is an introductory chapter, and then 9 steps to achieving your financial goals (each taking its own chapter). For the next 10 weeks starting today, I am going do a review of one chapter each Friday. Each week, I’ll give my thoughts from before I read the chapter, then an overview of what the chapter contains, and finish each week’s review with what I thought about the chapter and its ideas both from my first quick read and a deeper more thorough second read/analysis. At the end of the ten weeks of reviews, I’ll have my opinions on what I think overall about the book, where I might be able to incorporate these tips in my own life, and what I *won’t* be incorporating (if anything). And if I think I’m part of a Smart Couple that will Finish Rich. I can hope!

This week, I’ll begin my 10-week review with the introduction. I didn’t start with any specific expectations for the introduction before reading it, but I went over in the beginning of this post my expectations and reservations about the book as a whole, which basically can be applied to the introduction as well. Would this book have any insights for me as part of a couple who already does pretty well communicating about finances? Will the book be more about financial ideas or about relationship ideas, or will there be a good mix?

The introduction starts with a personal story that Bach writes of his own experience of going from a single person to part of a couple, and the problems that arose when two people have very different ideas about what their finances as a couple should be. Bach then outlines the ideas behind the 9 steps and that this book should be a roadmap to taking control of finances as a couple through these ideas:

• learn to earn together
• look at your values and put what matters most first
• use “Couples Latte Factor” to transform income to a million dollar nest egg
• protect your family with “security basket”, provide for the future with “retirement basket”, fund dreams with “dream basket”
• Grow income as a couple by 10% over next 9 weeks

He then promises this book won’t talk over your head and the ideas will be simple and easy to understand. He tells a personal story about his grandparents, who did not make much money but managed to save a million dollars plus for retirement. To do this, we must learn to earn, understand you don’t have to be rich to be an investor, and work together (not against each other) and take charge. He illustrates that last point with reader stories sent to him after his book Smart Women Finish Rich. He claims that 1+1=4 in this case, because 2 people working together will do something much faster than two people working separately. Finally, he reiterates the role of this book as a roadmap to financial freedom and his role as your personal financial coach, and doing 2 or 3 of the steps, you’ll be better off that 80% of the population, do 5 or 6 steps and you’ll be better off than 90% and all 9 steps? In the top 1%. (I like the sound of that.)On my first read, I was very drawn in to the chapter overall. Bach’s writing style is very conversational and like he’s just having a chat over coffee with you. It is engaging to me, and I can see why he’s so popular. I think I have read too many personal finance blogs however, because in the first four pages, I was thinking to myself “What? Huh?” at the fact that he and his wife both have car payments (pay cash! save up!) and even worse, that when they were trying to sort out how they would pay bills as a couple, they let things go to the extreme of being paid late while arguing about who does what (and you call yourself a financial planner?). I know this was done to make the book relatable to the average person (I’m just like all of you!) but I guess I’m looking for a little less buddy and a little more professional in my financial coach. And this did nothing to allay my fears that the book is going to be more about learning to communicate with my spouse than solid financial advice. But by the end of the chapter, I was really drawn in to the idea of the financial roadmap and I was eager to find out just how easy this really would be, especially the raising income and being in the top even 20%.

When I reread the chapter to take notes for my overview, I started to dig further into the financial ideas presented in the introduction, specifically the 9 steps idea. The 9 steps aren’t completely spelled out in the chapter, but the idea that I could increase income by 10% and also that following these steps, I could be in the top 1%… well, they got me a little bit excited. I do think the book so far is an easy read, and Bach does an excellent job of taking a concept, relating a personal story, and breaking that concept down into easy to understand pieces. I must say I am looking forward to reading Step 1.

More next Friday when we learn about Step 1 and what I really think of it. Depending on what Step 1 is, I may have even tried it by the Friday review!

Each Friday for ten weeks I am reviewing a chapter of David Bach’s Smart Couples Finish Rich. Continue exploring the book with me by reading the review of Step 1 here.

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