I Will Teach You To Be Rich - Review

I discovered the author of this book through a promotion for The 4-Hour Body. After being on Ramit’s email list for a couple of weeks, this book shot up to the top of my “to buy and read soon” list. I finished it a few days after purchase and was not disappointed.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich is a personal finance book geared towards 20-somethings who need a push in the right direction . . . which covers just about every 20-something that I know. I think this book is useful for anyone, but better suited for someone 40 years old or younger who wants a solid finance book that will not bore anyone to death.

The advice is more straightforward than I was expecting . . . no big revelations. The upside of this is that the techniques that Ramit offers will definitely work, the downside is that you have probably heard them before. The section on investing in an index seems too conservative for most young people, but it will work (probably) if you are willing to wait 45 years or so to be rich.

One of the best features in the book is the six week schedule. It really encourages the reader to do something rather than just read good advice.  The credit card advice was also great, with some actual suggestions on what cards to use. I appreciated that Ramit went this route with the credit cards. The “cut them up now” method of personal finance always seemed extreme to me.

Admittedly, this book is more about how to save money than it is about getting rich. It may not be the type of book that many people want to read, but it’s one that most need to read. My suggestion is to buy the book and follow the author on the accompanying site. This book is good, but I think it just scratches the surface of what this author will offer in the future. As someone who has avoid reading Dave Ramsey’s book, mainly because I have had too many people recommend it to me, this is a great alternative and a really solid finance book.