Start Late, Finish Rich - By David Bach

A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age

By David Bach

I picked up this book because I felt like it was too late for me to have a comfortable retirement. I filed bankruptcy several years ago, and basically started over from scratch. With only a few thousand in a new 401(K) plan, I thought it was going to be a pretty tight budget in my retirement years. With the ideas presented in this book, I can see that if I make good financial decisions, I can still have a comfortable retirement.

The book itself is an easy read - nothing too complicated. And, where the ideas are a bit complicated, or hard for the average person to believe, Mr. Bach has charts and examples. In a lot of ways, the author is your "financial cheerleader".

A lot of the material here can be found elsewhere, as Mr. Bach points out, but the difference is that in this book you are actually given some motivation to believe that you really can do it. Mr. Bach includes a number of success stories to help motivate you and help you believe that success is within your grasp, if you'll take the steps that he tells you about.

Further, he covers some common financial pitfalls that keep people from succeeding - such as the myth that you have to pay off your debt before you start saving. He advocates a 50/50 approach - make some cuts in your lifestyle to free up money, then divide that money between debt reduction and savings. Heather and I have decided to reduce our eating out to one meal a week. It will be a nice one (after all, we're just doing it once!) but even a $50 meal will be cheaper than eating a $20 meal three times. Heather and I have also realized that eating out often is our least healthy meal of the week, if only because it's a big one. Mr. Bach's point is that by doing a 50/50 split, you'll see yourself making progress on both goals - which is motivational. If you don't make progress in both places, then the awareness that you're failing in one of them leads to discouragement, and discouragement leads to giving up on the plan.

Some of the things Mr. Bach talks about are things I already knew, and was doing. Both Heather and I participated in 401(K) plans where available, and Mr. Bach strongly encourages you to participate to the maximum allowed by law, and by your company. I participate to the maximum allowed at the company I work for, although not from the start. I increased it this past January.

He also talks a lot about real estate, and why you should own instead of rent. There is a great section in there about how to be successful in real estate. Heather has always owned, which is great. I have owned as well. Recent tax law changes make it even more attractive.

There are two other sections to the book - making more money, and living more. The making money section has a good coverage of direct selling, franchising, and eBay, among others. The final section has some great ideas about how to teach your children these ideas. We've made some money on eBay, and I've had success through side businesses before. I've also experienced businesses that failed, and learned from that as well.

This book really helped me see that it's not too late for me, and gave me concrete ideas to make a difference in my own financial outcome. We are making decisions every day that can make a long term difference in our efforts to "finish rich". But he also talks about living well, and how you shouldn't wait until retirement to live well. Heather and I are taking some trips this year. We are being as careful as possible about the costs, but also making sure that we make the most of the trips we are taking - by planning ahead, reading, discussing, and then making sure we enjoy it when we go - and not waste time or energy worrying or complaining.

My final observation is that the only remaining obstacle to financial success would be regret about the past. I made mistakes, some of them big ones. But the biggest mistake would be in letting past mistakes keep me from saving money, making money, and finishing rich!