Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Too wordy
Review: This book contained several gems of advice. Save 10%, make a will, buy the right kind of insurance, check out real estate investing. Good stuff. This information was unfortunatley jam packed into a story about a couple of barbers and some young people. I found myself desperately trying to find the important sentences in a sea of sports commentary and bad jokes. It was unfortunate.What I came away from the book with was a sense of validation. The advice in this book has been far better explained in other very good books, two of which I highly recommend. "The Richest Man in Babylon" and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". This book made me feel like others I've read were right. Overall, good book, could have been smaller.
Rating:
Summary: Sound financial advice - Americanized
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that this is an
excellent book to teach financial planning to novices.
The in-depth situational analysis on saving, insurance,
retirement planning, etc. will prove a solid foundation
for people looking for a place to start building their
net worth, and looking for something that doesn't require
them to already have several tens of thousands before they
can start. One caveat, though, for readers (like myself) who read
the original, CANADIAN, version ... this one available
at ... has been rewritten with the US market in mind.
The story is now set in Port Huron instead of Sarnia (no
big deal), and the retirement planning section focuses
on IRAs and 401(K)s instead of RRSPs and SDRSPs - a major
difference if you were expecting current Canadian advice! I bought this book expecting to have an update on current
Canadian treatment of RRSPs and their allowable foreign
content, the phasing out of the old [$$$] lifetime
capital gain exemption, etc., and was rudely surprised
at the all-American content. So, be warned. The book is still an excellent read, and for anyone living
and/or working in the US, it's probably a must-read. I'm not sure where the Canadian version of this book
is available, or even whether it _is_ any longer being
kept current in a Canadian version, but if you're looking
for that, try a Canadian bookstore. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't all it was cracked up to be
Review: I had heard so much about this book that I decided to buy a copy and read it for myself. I was quite disappointed. I didn't like the storybook format because you cannot use it as a reference later on. The people in the book are either bachelors or barely married with only one couple having a child on the way. Sorry but some of us have only one salary and many kids to feed and educate so the casualness in the book about it being so easy to save for the house of your dreams or that great motorboat simply is not realistic. It doesn't go anywhere near the nitty gritty many people need to make ends meet.
Rating: 
Summary: The financial book I keep coming back to
Review: Fun to read. Simple, simple, simple, but it works.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading, unless you're already an expert.
Review: I tend to agree with most positive reviews on this book, so in the interest of not being repetitive, I will just say this. It's concise enough to read in a day or two, but has just enough solid information to get you moving down the road to financial responsibility. I highly recommend the book, especially for anyone who tends to shy away from more "structured" books on financial planning and just wants some basic sound advice.
Rating:
Summary: Reccommended Read for all my Tax Clients........
Review: This is the best book on personal financial planning that I have ever read, largely because it doesn't read like a book on personal financial planning. It's written in plain english, in story book fashion, so while you reading an entertaining, sometimes funny story, some of the basic principles of financial planning are explained in a clear, concise and interesting way.
Rating:
Summary: Great, easy to read book on personal finance
Review: Reviewed by Ted Lea, author of "When I Grow Up I'm Going to be a Millionaire (A Children's Guide to Mutual Funds)". This easy to read book is a great introduction to the world of personal financial management. It should be required reading for all young adults, as much of this information is not taught in schools. It is written in story format that makes it easy to read and digest the money concepts while not being challenged by difficult to understand ideas. The author has a good sense of humour. This book was the inspiration for ours.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely anyone can retire a millionaire...
Review: ...if you apply the principles in The Wealthy Barber soon enough! Soon enough. Those are very important words, and they remind me of the main reason that I tend to hate books about financial planning... they usually make me feel as if the old maxim that says "the best time to plant an oak tree is twenty years ago" was coined by someone just after they reviewed my own financial portfolio! But this book is so different... it is everywhere ENCOURAGING, and ANYONE (at any age) can begin to benefit from its principles. In a light, humorous, and UN-technical way, Chilton's fictional "wealthy barber" Roy lets us in on some very basic but dynamic financial advice, such as: - invest 10% of all you make for long-term growth. (ie. mutual funds). - pay yourself first. (have the money come right out of your bank account before you get a chance to spend it). - take advantage of the benefits of dollar-cost averaging. He goes on to talk about life insurance, wills, real estate, income tax, and of course... the "eighth wonder of the world" the magic of compound interest, which is, simply put, interest on principal and interest, not just simple interest on principal. Listen to this scenario (from ch.4): "If you had started putting $30.00 a month away, the equivalent of a dollar a day, at age eighteen and you continued until age sixty-five, averaging a 15% annual return, how much would you end up with?" Someone in the story hazards a guess and says $70,000? The barber tells him the correct answer... (are you ready for this)? It is approximately $2,000,000. It's enough to make an oak tree turn into a weeping willow! Nobody told me about this stuff when I was an acorn! This is why I believe that this easy-to-read book about the path to future self-reliance/prosperity should be MANDATORY reading in high-school... there should be a course called Wealthy-Barberism. A great gift for a graduate, and written in a lively engaging way that will encourage the rest of us that it is never too late to start using our common cents!
Rating:
Summary: No joke: The only book you'll need
Review: I always read financial books, one after the other, but yet I was still ignorant to personal finance, and certainly wasn't any better off -- else, why would I need to keep reading books? It's like paying for the Health Club membership each month -- and wondering why you hadn't lost any weight when you hadn't even gone since the first month! The Wealthy Barber lays it out simply -- pay yourself first, save, and go ahead -- spend the rest! It makes budgets not quite as limiting psychologically...I was so inspired, I immediately went to a Paine Webber rep. and was able to discuss my future goals as an educated, informed investor. Honestly: because of this book. Now that I'm on track, I've passed the book on to my brother who is already tearing through it!
Rating:
Summary: Great advice
Review: This book is full of great advice. For example: Pay yourself first: 10% of your gross income in mutual funds. Keep investing the same 10% in the same way, and don't fiddle with it. Through dollar cost averaging, you'll automatically buy more shares of the fund when it's low, and fewer shares when it's high. My only complaint, and it's a relatively small one, is the fiction it's wrapped in. Sophomoric. Pedestrian. It's really bad. But when I'm 65, I'll be giving credit to the author for my very comfortable lifestyle. So complaining about poor dialog in light of that fact seems ungrateful. But as Frank Sinatra said, "If you're gonna tell a story about me, make it the whole story, warts and all." And, warts and all, I recommend this as a life-changing book.
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