I Will Teach You to be Rich Review

Title: I Will Teach You to be Rich

Author: Ramit Sethi

Target Audience: "At last, for a generation that's materially ambitious yet financially clueless comes I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi's 6-week personal finance program for 20-to-35-year-olds. A completely practical approach delivered with a nonjudgmental style that makes readers want to do what Sethi says, it is based around the four pillars of personal finance— banking, saving, budgeting, and investing—and the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship." - Book Description via Amazon.com

How I Found It: I found Ramit’s blog before I found his book. I think my first encounter with Ramit was in an excellent interview by Chase Jarvis. As an avid information collector, Ramit's blog was fascinating to me. Although on the surface the blog covers such topics as earning money, finding your dream job, and negotiating like an Indian, this blog is really focused on the psychology behind these things. I could go on and on about Ramit's work, but I think you get the picture. Warning: He communicates in a brusque, edgy, and occasionally offensive manner on his blog, although his book a bit more refined.

Content - The Facts: In his book, Ramit covers everything from banks to credit cards to conscious spending to investing. Though this book he works through a 6-week program that he has developed, starting with credit cards, moving into banks, etc. By the time you finish this book, you know enough to be moving toward complete control of your money, and, if you've been following his action points, you're actually doing it, too!

Content - My Impressions: As I said before, Ramit talks in an "in-your-face" manner, and it's not for everyone. However, his target audience is 20-30-somethings, and I feel his language is not only acceptable, but invited by this demographic. I quite enjoyed it, and, since I listened to the audiobook, I actually got to hear him saying it. He gets very detailed, going so far as to provide exact scripts for things like negotiating bank fees and telling you exactly which bank, credit card, etc. he personally uses. Although this might seem strange to some, Ramit's goal is not to be considered "proper," but to have his readers gain measurable results. Additionally, he breaks down his action points into small chunks, and tells you approximately how long it will take you to complete. As stated previously, this book targets young people, but I found that some of his steps were out of reach for me because I'm still in school and, essentially, living paycheck to paycheck. However, these steps are good to have in mind, and I look forward to revisiting them soon. My only regret is that I have the audiobook (a gift from a friend). I'll be buying the paperback book (one day) because there were examples and charts that are more effectively conveyed on paper (or Kindle), and because I want to be able to lend it to friends.

The Bottom Line:
I Will Teach You to be Rich is a fun book with practical tips to help you get your finances under control and get onto the road to start winning financially.

Favorite Quotes: Unfortunately, I listened to the audiobook, so I wasn't able to highlight my favorite quotes. :/