Can a book about lowering your financial expectations be any good? We were intrigued by the premise of this book and decided to give it a try. It was a bit surprising in some places, and a little disappointing in others, but overall it was a very interesting read that we found to be thought provoking. While it is certainly not for everyone, if you're struggling to make ends meet, some of the advice contained herein may be very useful to you.

Chatzky's main premise is that seeking to be rich may be counterproductive, when you could instead be seeking to be "comfortable." For most of us, that would be more than sufficient, especially if you don't have any particular wealth building ambitions. However, given the state of the economy and worldwide uncertainty, we weren't really convinced that this approach is the best one to take.

You can be comfortable right now and build up just enough income to get by, but what happens when the dollar falls further or gas prices rise? We've seen the cost of living skyrocket in the past year alone, thanks in a large part to the housing crisis and the cost of oil. What may have been "comfortable" last year, may be scraping by this year. Since 80% of Americans currently live from paycheck to paycheck, comfortable really doesn't cut it in today's society.

That's not to say that the book has no value, it does, but much of it should be taken with a grain of salt. The book was obviously written before the current economic trouble and like so many that came out in this time period, it almost feels like the authors felt that the "good times" were going to last forever. That's rarely the case when it comes to economics, and there will always be downturns.

Our main issue is that while not everyone can be a millionaire, is it productive to encourage people to settle for less. If you remove that drive for personal betterment, what is left over? It's just human nature to want more, to achieve more and to get better things. While being comfortable may be fine for a little while, our natural inclinations may reduce that to rubble in a very short time. In a society where over spending is common, we worry that this book could actually prove to be disastrous for those that have little concept about good money management.

We did however appreciate Chapter Four, which discusses how to set financial goals that are meaningful to your life. This chapter alone makes the book worth reading, even if we didn't agree with a lot of the author's ideas. Overall, it was a good read and one that may challenge the way you think about money. We don't really recommend it for those just getting into managing their finances, but for those that have experience in this area, it is certainly a good book to add to your reading list.

Originally posted 2008-11-07 05:33:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Investing in a Crisis With so much uncertainty currently present in the marketplace, one of the most vital things that you can do to invest safely in a crisis market is simply to learn from mistakes in the past. Certain sectors of the market may seem incredibly attractive in times of a crisis, it......
• Review: The Motley Fool’s You Have More Than You Think By David and Tom Gardener For many people, the ability to invest is a pie in the sky dream that will never be achieved, due to the fact that they may not believe they have “enough” money to invest. This book promises to allay those fears and help readers get a better view on personal......
• The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey Dave Ramsey is a popular radio talk show host and author and his latest book, The Total Money Makeover has generated quite a bit of excitement. He claims that money management is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge, and there is a lot of truth to that. While the book covers......
• Review: Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them By Gary Belsky and Tom Gilovich This fascinating book by a popular financial journalist and a college professor may not be the newest book on the shelf, and it may not have the most hype, but by far, it is one of the most interesting personal finance books we have ever read. This book goes where......
• Organize Your Personal Finances in No Time by Debbie Stanley If nothing else, the state of the economy has shown that millions of people don’t have a good grasp of how to manage their personal finances. There are hundreds of books written every year on the subject and yet, this concept still seems to elude many. Some books are either......

Related Websites

• 2009 May Be Year of the Deal for Those With Cash - Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds -- DealBook - New York Times Trouble is, cash-rich companies are in the minority, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey of almost 500 businesses. Only 44 percent of companies are currently performing at what they would characterize as “successful levels,” the survey found. Fifty percent of those surveyed characterized their current operating levels as......
• Book Review: Essential Money There are a few books in my personal finance library that I rely on much more than the others.  Sometimes, it's because they provide information on a relatively obscure part of the personal finance universe, one for which I have few, if any other references.  Other times, it's because the......
• Save Money on Cars [Each Monday for the next couple months, I'm going through many of the ways to save money. Read the whole Save Money series. Last week we looked at how to save money on movies, music, television, and books.] This Monday, I'm focusing on covering some ways to save money on......
• review, zen to done Unless you are new to the world of blogging, you've probably heard of Zen To Done. The author, Leo Babuta, started the blog Zen Habits as a personal journal for friends and family to chronicle some of the positive changes he was making in his life. The blog caught on......
• Remember me? by Sophie Kinsella This was a really interesting book. Imagine if you wake up in the hospital after a car accident and your most current memory is three years before when you were out with your friends for the evening. You slipped and fell getting into a taxi. In the hospital, you......

Online Stores

• Comfortable Womens Shoes

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.


Categories:

Book Review, Personal Finance, Wealth

Tags:

ambitions, betterment, economic trouble, economics, economy, financial expectations, gas prices, good times, grain of salt, human nature, millionaire, paycheck to paycheck, premise, skyrocket, time period, uncertainty, wealth building