Customer Reviews

Living Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What You Really Want

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm age 70. Living Rich and Spending Smart has opened my eyes as to how much money I have thrown away. I hate this book. It makes me ashamed of myself. On the other hand, this knowledge will make living entirely on Social Security a lot easier.

Most of the books I've read about spending wisely are full of the same nonsense about how you'll become a millionaire in 30 years if you stop buying that $3 Starbucks latte each day and instead stuff that money into a mutual fund. Karp, on the other hand, argues you don't need to deprive yourself of the things you enjoy to achieve true wealth. Instead, he shows you ways to save thousands of dollars on the things YOU ARE ALREADY BUYING. This is not hypothetical poppycock. Karp gives you hundreds of specific tips you can take advantage of today. For me, the book paid for itself within five minutes after I opened it. I followed Karp's advice on how to find the best term life insurance premiums, and I'm going to save $300 this year ... for the same amount of coverage.

Living Rich by Spending Smart by Gregory Karp seems like a book that lists practical advice for people who like to spend their money. He says that you do not have to deprive yourself of the things you want, but spend wisely in other areas of your life in order to afford the luxuries. I found many of the ideas that he had to be common sense, for instance, making your own meal will save you more money than going out to eat. Some ideas were new to me, such as saying that life insurance is only for those who support others financially. This book is for people that do not know how to cut back, or who could still use the advice on how to cut back even more. While he doesn't like to use the word "budget" often, that is basically what this book is about. Learning what you need to spend your money on, what you want to spend your money on and how to look for the best prices in order to obtain these wants and needs. After reading Karp's book, I have revised a few of my habits and have already saved a little money. If you would like to save money a little at a time and wouldn't know how to do so, this book will help you figure how to do so.

I read the book's description and some other reader reviews about how it was promised to be able to get the purchase price of the book back by using some of the book's information. Well, I guess I'd say I'm left questioning if I actually would recoup my purchase price by changing some spending habits. My career revolves around purchasing (which I've taken many of the tricks and applied to my personal expenditures).

I thought most of the suggestions in the book are grounded in common sense, but I didn't find the majority of them either ground breaking or new (to me). This book is good for those that really haven't thought about how they spend money, but not worth the money/effort if you actively manage your expenses.

I believe that we play both offense and defense in our personal finances. Offense is the amount of money we earn through income, investments, businesses, and odd jobs. Defense is how much we save through being debt free, coupon clipping, getting great deals on cars or houses and saving. This book does an excellent job showing how to play good financial defense through really looking at our spending habits in all areas of our lives and then showing how to think differently and spend more intelligently. Whether it is food, insurance, telecommunications, cars, houses, weddings, funerals, this book covers it all and the suggestions should save you thousands easily in all areas. Whether it is stock piling sale items at the grocery store or using term life instead of whole life insurance this book has it all.
"The point of reading this book, assuming you accepted the spending smart philosophy, is to spend less money on things you don't care about so you can spend more on things you do care about".

"Positive life experiences contribute to happiness more than things do".

More reading suggestions for financial defense:
Dave Ramsey's "Total money makeover"
Joe Dominguez "Your money or your life"
Amy Dacyczyn "The Tightwad Gazette"

After reading personal finance books for over 15 years, you would think I have learned about all there is to know. Greg Karp's book pleasantly surprised me and offered some fresh ideas on spending wisely. His book is in an easy to read format which goes beyond typical bargain hints. These ideas will save you immediately when put to use. I know- I did and saved!

After reading the reviews for this book I was excited to read it. I didn't find it very useful though. Most of the ideas in the book I've read online for free.

Greg Karp is an award-winning, nationally published newspaper columnist. He understands that earning more money isn't the solution to most financial dilemmas -- but that spending smarter is! He discusses evaluating your life insurance; owning cars; analyzing phone, internet and cable TV bills and usage; options to wasting money on overpriced bottled water; extended warranties; timeshares; smoking; playing lotteries and much more. This book talks about lots of very practical ways to save money -- but doesn't really address how to develop a budgeting system. He does provide a good amount of research to support his assertions of how most people waste money. His writing style is not condemning and is easy to read.America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams
Steve & Annette Economides

This book is one of the best thing out there right now if you are not sure how to improve on your spending. And yes, because you will save money, you will be making better choices. The book is an easy-read, but intelligently written. It is a quick-read book, but very informative. It will not waste your time. I really liked the book. I found the book very valuable to me in every practical way. The author is extremely well-written and you will understand what he is talking about even if you may never have done the things he talks about. You will not alienated. You should take his advice to heart and start implementing his suggestions right away. Also, you don't have read everything. You can skip around and read what interests you. This book will definitely make you smarter. It is amazing. Very well-written. Everyone should have a copy.

After reading "The Millionaire Next Door" (one of my all-time favorites!), "Living Rich by Spending Smart" was an outstanding read. I really enjoyed the financial wisdom shared within this book. It really is amazing to think how simple it is to save significant money and yet how careless we can be throughout our days and months. This book contains some excellent tips on how to be smarter with your daily expenses, while still continuing to live an enjoyable lifestyle.