This book is terribly corny and dated... however, the financial advice is sound. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an easy financial plan.

Thank you to Brian Preston and Bo Hanson ("The Money Guys" podcast) and their "on point" podcast about the key financial books you have to read. This is a primer, an easy read, a well-meaning story about getting financial advice that isn't going to overwhelm you. The human element seems to be what separates a great finance book from a typical pressing of finance information.

The story revolves around a young naive man Tom who goes to his local barber known for the best money tips and haircut snips. From a story perspective, it's really ingenious, we know enough about Tom for his questions about insurance, 401ks, and college savings account questions to come in an organic and organized manner. The book walks the lie of finance knowledge that is prudent and safe with ideas about saving 10% long term, dollar cost averaging and distinguishing needs and wants. It's the type of personal finance book 95% of us need to read multiple times in our lives, and just stay that solid course.

Finance gets trickier if you let it. There are ETFs, derivatives, commodities, and all kinds of investment vehicles to get you where you want to go..but these investments are no silver bullet. Like anything worth attaining; prudence, discipline, and staying the course are the invaluable attributes to bet on. There may be short term gains to be made in market timing, or aggressive technical analysis, but what kind of plan is that anyway.

It's true that 1996 looked a lot different than it does today. Our barber's long term concerns about real estate look quaint when you look at the catastrophic events of the 2007 crash. College tuition rates are unfathomably high. And the difficult job market that exists today is hardly even acknowledged as a possibly in the book's contents. All of this is pretty funny or sad depending how the coin lands, but ultimately it doesn't detach from the book's approachable and simple truths. "The Wealthy Barber" was written in kinder economic times, and fortunately it's wisdom is all the more salient, now that many of us have less room for failure.

This book could be shorter than it sounds. A few Google searches about the summaries would be good enough.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Summaries of Each Chapter
Chapter 1- The Financial Illiterate

The author gives a description of what he enjoys and what he likes to do in his spare time. For example, he enjoys the month of April for 4 reasons: the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, the start of MLB season, and April is the start of the Golf season. He then introduces his wife, and the fact she is expecting a baby soon. Both of them are excited for the delivery. The author admits that he is completely clueless when it comes to managing money. With a wife and a baby on the way, David needs to make himself a very literate financial individual. And fast.



Chapter 2- A Surprising Referral

The author talks to his father about saving money and paying for big purchases such as vehicles. His father tells him that he never bought anything without saving for it first. There was one thing that the author's father did borrow money for, which was a house. He assumed a 30 year mortgage. He tells his son that he became financially literate from the local barber named Roy. David decides to pay a visit to Roy so he can become financially literate.



Chapter 3- The Wealthy Barber

David goes with his sister named Cathy and Cathy's husband, Tom to visit Roy. He tells them how they handle their income and assets will determine their success. To ensure this, he tells them they must manage their cash flow. He promises by the end of 7 months all of them will be on the road to prosperity.



Chapter 4- The Ten Percent Solution

Roy tells them his story of becoming wealthy and he says an old man once told him to "Invest ten percent of all you make for long term growth." Roy goes on to tell them that if they saved 30 dollars a month from age 18 to age 65 at 15% annual return, they would end up with 2 million dollars.



Chapter 5- Wills, Life, Insurance, and Responsibility

Wills are important. If you die without a will things will not work out as planned. When there is not a will, the estate assets are frozen and the court manages it. No thought is given to the deceased or the family of the deceased. Each state as different rules. Donations, scholarships, gifts for children, none of it would be given to the people it was intended for. A living will is a document that states that if a person is ill they do not have to be kept alive but machines. People should buy life insurance so that wen they die, they can allow for their financial affairs to wind down and provide a standard of living for their dependents. it guarantees dependence and is financial protection. Your living estate and insurance must provide enough money to cover all debt, future obligations, and support dependents.



Chapter 6- Planning for Retirement

We all plan for the future and should plan to save for vehicles for retirement. Roy says that retirement should be the best years of your life and should be planned in advance while you are younger. You must accumulate substantial savings before you retire so that you can stay comfortable. Roy also goes on to say that Social Security is intended to be a safety net for retired Americans or an augmentation of retirement income, investment assets or even both.



Chapter 7- Home Sweet Home

Roy tells Dave and Cathy that renting is not throwing money away. Shelter is one of the biggest necessities in life and you need a place to live. He goes on by saying that there are some wide misconceptions about renting. There are 2 things that can lead to an inability to carry debt: rising interest rates and layoffs, wage cuts, and shut downs. The reason that these are feasible to occur is that many people have been living beyond their means for an extended amount of time and it will eventually take a toll on the economy.



Chapter 8- Saving Savvy

Dave comes back to the barber shop after having a new baby and purchasing and moving into a new home (which he spent 10,000 less than he expected to). Roy gives a lesson on the merits of thrift. He says thrift is exercising a degree of self-control. He goes on to say that it is virtually impossible to budget perfectly because wants become needs and the budget goes out the window. "A dollar saved is 2 dollars earned."



Chapter 9- Insights into Investment and Income Tax

Roy's lesson is about how to reduce annual income tax. He says that an investor is doomed if they do not have an eye for failure and discipline. With out discipline you are a sheep heading toward slaughter. Finally you should do some reading. Skim a few books, and become familiar with common mistakes when doing taxes.



Chapter 10- Graduation

Finally you need to keep an emergency fund for if and when you become out of work. Life will be less stressful knowing that you have a little extra saved a way for a rainy day.

I was kind of "meh" when this book won our book club vote, but I'm actually really glad I read it. Even though my first thoughts were around how chauvinistic and sexist some peoples were and how I wanted to punch them in the face, I did find that it moved very well and was entertaining in a stereotypical dubbed down, must be accessible all-American-boy way. And the writing is...like...SO terrible.

But that's not really the point here. The advice in this book is sound. I'm giving it points because it got me thinking and moving somewhat on my own finances and that's not something I usually pay much mind to. Even though it's outdated. Like...seriously...15% return rate? That doesn't exist anymore. But yeah. I don't care about the Tigers.