Hello David,
I wanted to join the troops in truly thanking you for how much you have helped shape my financial future (and at my suggestion, the financial future of my sister, my friend and my fiance turned husband). In 2006, I bought “Smart Women Finish Rich” on a whim at a book store. I had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and was thirsty for even more information.
I was mesmerized by the book. At the age of 36, I felt financially awakened and empowered. I read it, then I read it again with pen in hand, and then I took immediate action. I have saved all my life and am relatively organized, but upon doing your quiz in the book, I realized how much further I had to go. I immediately:
–organized all of my financial files better, and in the process found accounts and CDs that I didn\’t know existed
–moved my main savings from a .5% savings account to a high yield money market that I automatically contribute to monthly
–reviewed how my retirement savings was allocated and what I was earning, and then better allocated the funds to maximize the yield
–purchased disability insurance
–reviewed my mutual funds and reviewed exactly how they were performing
–moved my emergency fund from a .5% savings account to a 4.43% 13 month CD
–stopped buying lunch every day and started making myself sandwiches at work for a fraction of the price, or bring my lunch (my Latte Factor)
–asked for a raise (and got it!)
–figured out my values and wrote down all of my goals with specific starting points and ending points
For Christmas that year, I bought my boyfriend “Smart Couples Finish Rich”. Within a month, we were engaged (which coincidently was one of my goals I had written). Then for my wedding gift, he got me a cute, used convertible (which coincidently was also on my goals list I had written). Then we both read Smart Couples Finish Rich, and I read two of your other Automatic Millionaire books as well. Since then, we have:
–gotten my now husband to max out his 401K
–opened up an IRA account for him as well to help him ‘catch up”
–opened up a Charles Schwab account that we plan to use both to automatically save for my husband’s emergency fund, and also use to for investing purposes
–looked into creating wills, and getting life insurance
–joined a credit union and then moved our high interest home equity lines of credit to a low interest home equity loan
–put the above loan on a bi-weekly payment plan
–have started working on our values and goals as a couple
–I have moved some of my mutual funds around to get the best yield after evaluating them
As you can see, you have really motivated us to start taking control of our financial future, which seems now very achievable and real, if we just keep “moving the ball down the field” as we like to say. We also own five properties now, so we are using your principles to help us determine how and when to buy/sell, etc. and maximize our profits for our future financial freedom.
David, thanks so much for putting all of this valuable information into easy to understand, interesting books that really drive these important points home.