The Smartest Way to Save: Why You Can’t Hang on to Money and What to Do About It
How many personal finance books have you picked up and glanced through, only to see a bunch of formulas and charts? For me, too many. Usually they take the form of “How many cups of coffee you drink” versus “savings” and things like that. It’s the same, repetitive advice over and over again, supplemented by stories of people who put the advice into action and changed their life.
The Smartest Way to Save is not one of those books.
This book is an immensely practical, very easy-to-read guide to making changes to your personal finance ways and explaining why these bad habits are dragging you down. They break everything down to basic money principles, which is exactly what everyone needs when they are trying to fix their money management habits.
The book’s introduction says the following: “Everyone, no matter what their income is, wants to have more money. Therefore, this book has something for everyone.” I think this is a bit misleading and hurts the focus of the book slightly. This book is for people who need to learn the basic principles of sound personal finance. Now, unfortunately, this describes most Americans. Even if you think you know personal finance, this book may uncover some gems for you. But good financial planners and others well-versed in these principles probably don’t need this book. Every average American, however, does.
Each chapter is laid out the same way: it opens with a quote by a famous individual in regards to money (relevant to the chapter, of course), lays out the advice in paragraphs with simple titles to each section, and ends with a bolded statement contrasting attitudes (i.e., “It’s not what you buy; it’s how you shop” or “It’s not the credit card that is the master; you are the master”). This layout goes a long way to simplifying these principles and making them easy to internalize. The sections are full of very practical advice, along with URLs to websites that can provide you with more information.
The book is divided into three parts: “Part I: Your Money and You” goes through the basics of debt and budgeting, including understanding why you are in debt in the first place, which is where most people fall short in analyzing their current situation. It reinforces the importance of discipline in your decision-making, and gives a great overall starting point. “Part II: Your Money and Others” looks at how money affects the relationships you have with family and friends, and how gift giving plays into that. “Part III: Your Money and The World” branches out further, showing you how to shop smarter, protect yourself from fraud, and how to invest your money wisely.
The progression is a smart one, allowing readers to start small and understand themselves before working on how to save on groceries and utilities, etc. The authors did their best to lay a solid foundation to build upon throughout the book, and I think they accomplish that. The book ends with a list of all the principles of sound money management, which is a great resource for any average consumer.
There is one thing that detracts from this book, however. It is The Smartest Way™. The authors apparently felt the need to try to put as much self-branding in this book as possible. While it doesn’t quite make you feel like they are just in it for the branding (the practical advice does show that they are trying to help), you just can’t help but feel occasionally that they are just using this book to sell you more stuff. Obviously they want you to go to the website, but The Smartest Way™ gets to be too distracting.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. If you can get past the frequent mentions of The Smartest Way™, it is full of very useful advice and sound principles that any average consumer can use. If you or someone you know is looking for a place to start learning more about their money and how to manage it better, pick up this book.
