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.

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Book Review, Personal Finance, Wealth

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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