Get Rich Stay Rich (Becoming financially free):

Allen and Unwin (Published 2003)

Written By Martin Hawes and Joan Baker

Australia

Review 2 Stars – Not Good

How the blurb describes the book:

To be financially free is the ultimate goal – to be rich enough not to worry about money or work, and to have little risk of losing your wealth.

A sensible investment strategy will help you achieve a comfortable lifestyle and a secure future, but it won’t give you financial freedom.

So how do you become seriously wealthy? Get Rich, Stay Rich will help you develop the right attitude and skills to succeed in your quest for financial freedom. Start your journey to long lasting wealth today!

Bestselling author and presenter Martin Hawes and business consultant Joan Baker provide individualised wealth coaching and seminars to help their clients become wealthy and free to pursue their dreams.

Mr Home Budget’s Review:

When you review as many books as I have you usually get a sense halfway through the book how many stars you are going to give it. While this might change by the end of the book, it doesn’t vary too much.  However, with this book it was a rollercoaster all the way. At one stage this book was on track to get a four, then a three, then a one, but finally it sat at two. To say it was an unusual read is somewhat of an understatement.

Let’s tackle the good things about the book. Chapter 15 about stopping your mindless spending is an exceptional chapter, not just for this book, but for most books I have read. It walks you down the centre of all the reasons you might be spending more than you earn. And why up to now you probably have not even thought about the reasons why.

Plus the book has some great lines which really make you think. For example: “Other people who give the appearance of being wealthy, in fact are a long way from financial freedom. They have good careers that yield them high incomes. They have very nice cars and a good house in a good area (often with a big mortgage). This is not financial freedom either – as soon as they stop work, the income stops too. Most have little (or no) assets and investments to provide passive income unless they have diverted a good part of their salaries into investments (and very few seem to do that to any great extent).

And “Too few of us take the time to really think about what we truly want in life – we are too often focussed on just getting through the week, paying the next Visa bill, wishing for Friday, or hanging out for the next holiday. Many of us put more effort into purchasing a new fridge or remodelling the bathroom than we put into planning for the rest of our lives.”

But unfortunately, good advice like this is only a drop in the bucket of questionable advice. One thing the book reinforces time and time again is the only way to become rich is to borrow money. And in terms of the book it says, “And you better get used to that fact”. Plus the book says successful business people borrow as much as the bank will let them. We at Mr Home Budget believe this is out of touch.

There are constant statements in nearly half of the chapters which state you need to look for investments which earn 15 percent plus a year. It indicates that these investments are easy to find if you look for them. Well this is all very well and good, but 15 percent per annum is a huge amount to earn on your money. And trust me; finding these sorts of investments is like finding a needle in a haystack. Just an example to prove how good a 15 percent return on your money is. Say you start with $300,000 and you can find this magical 15 percent per year on your investment. Leave this investment for 30 years and you would have $17,272,614. This is without adding one dollar to it by the way!

It tells you that you can achieve this wonderful 15% by owning a business, buying shares, or even by being a property developer. But it never really goes into the nuts and bolts of how to do this. The book’s title is Get Rich, Stay Rich however, towards the end they tell you what to do if your investment does go bad and how to stop the banks taking all your assets. This seems odd if the point of the book is for the reader to stay rich.

The book seems totally unfocussed. With its 66 chapters (yes, that’s right 66). It swaps its point of view from being an employee, to employer, to enterpriser, to property developer and to share trader without giving you the finer details. The bad parts fully outweigh the good parts. Might be a good read if you can pick and choose which parts you believe.

Pros

Chapter 15 on mindless spending is an exceptionally written chapter (had the entire book followed this format, it would have been a five out of five)

Cons

Very confusing with a total of 66 chapters.

They constantly give having debt a good wrap, and make it seem all too easy to get an investment which pays you 15 percent plus.