Book Review: Living Rich For Less (and a chance for free books!)

Readers will recall that personal finance greatly impacted our family a few years ago. Because of the financial peace of mind that came out of that experience, I remain interested in culling good ideas from other financial guides who may be out there. I’m reaching the conclusion that there are just a few excellent ideas of building and maintaining wealth. The only difference in many of these books is the packaging. Or to put it another way, we all know that we should save more and spend less, the question is how do we do it?

Recently I was asked to write a review of another personal finance book entitled Living Rich for Less: Create the Lifestyle you Want by Saving and Spending Smart by Ellie Kay. In this work, she shares a personal narrative of her and her family of seven going from $40,000 in debt to a surplus of savings in just a few years. She then offers you the reader the opportunity to do the same.

Kay’s work divides into three parts:

Part One: Giving Ten Percent

Part Two: Saving Ten Percent

Part Three: Spending Smart the Other 80 Percent (Yes, it should be smartly)

In Part One she addresses the concept of giving 10% of your income away. Giving is a tough sell in contemporary society. And although this book is from a Christian publisher, she (rightly I think) addresses the larger society as a whole. So while she mentions the tithe, she doesn’t end the discussion by simply saying “It’s in the Bible, so do it.” She takes a careful look at the value and benefits of giving away. She ends the section with a “Green” chapter in which she argues that green living (changing incandescent lights for CFL bulbs, recycling, etc)

In the second part of her work, Kay addresses the issue of saving 10% of your income. She looks at the various saving and investing options and includes chapters on debt, FICO score. She concludes this chapter with advice on how to put together a simple budget. There is some good advice here, but there is some tension I think between decrying debt and arguing that we should increase our FICO score.

In part three, Kay explores how we should spend 80% of the income. This is the strongest section of the book. In it, she offers practical guidance on how to save a great deal of money on insurance, shopping, vacations, and home ownership. Kay claims that if you follow her advice you could save $30,000.00 a year. (Which I suppose is technically true, though you'd have to be painfully clueless to be overspending in so many different ways).

Overall this is a helpful book. It hits the high notes of personal finance, but doesn’t offer much beyond the basic advice. For Kay (or anyone else) it is important to spend less than what you make, get out of debt, and save for emergencies, college, etc. Kay is a fun writer who includes in her advice numerous perconal anecdotes that flesh out her concepts.

The greatest strength is in its practical tips. She provides numerous websites, helpful hints on how to shave costs for gifts and many other examples of practical advice. This section alone makes the book well worth its cost. The college savings material is incredibly helpful. (Biggest hint: College savings starts in high school with good grades, AP classes, and dual enrollment).
If I could only buy one book on personal finance, I would still go with Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover . But Kay’s Living Rich for Less would be my number two purchase.

The biggest drawback for this book was the subtitle. It should be “create the lifestyle you want by giving, saving, and spending smartly”. There should be an adverb at the end. (Insert Kadie eyeroll right here.)

I tell you what. In these uncertain times, I would like to offer a couple of free copies of this book. The first person who posts to the comments the critical event that triggered our decision to begin Dave Ramsey’s plan will get a copy of this book. (I narrate our financial struggles here).

Then the next person who posts the last debt we paid off in our debt snowball will get the other book.

I’ll try to get it in the mail immediately and perhaps it will be at your doorstep by Christmas.