Customer Reviews

Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book contains sound financial advice that will help even the most financially clueless reader start down the path to riches. I have studied personal finance since 2002, and I consider myself a very frugal and informed person, and my review reflects this perspective. Let me begin with my positive impressions:

- Torabi's advice is solid, even though a lot of it is "commonsense." Unfortunately, in America today, saving money, identifying goals, setting and sticking to deadlines, spending within one's means, etc, have been replaced by the behaviors that led to the credit and housing bubbles. This shows that there is a wide-open market for "commonsense" wisdom. This book would be a helpful handbook for all students, and those entering the "real world" for the first time.

- Torabi has done her homework, and includes research, statistics, and other hard data that make her presentation stronger.

- The book is interesting. She loads the text with stories of herself and others. I was genuinely interested in reading what came next.

- Torabi explores psychological aspects of money and finance. Our spending or saving is a function of our personalities and past. Certain exercises in the book helped me see why I view money and finance the way I do. Chapter four was particularly helpful, and caused me to reevaluate my views on money and success. Looking back to my childhood, I heard the word "financial crisis" far more than I ever heard anything about investing. My relationship with money has not been very positive, and I plan to change the relationship!

- The last chapters, within the "Raising the Bar" section, were the most helpful to me, which makes sense given the knowledge of finance I already have. Here Torabi discusses overcoming fear of risk (and how this fear is conditioned into us in school), finding alternative investments, and embracing and nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit. I believe that if I want to earn good money and enjoy my work to the fullest, becoming an entrepreneur is the way to go.


Below are two reasons I would not recommend this book for everybody:

- Successful and financially informed people already know most of her advice. This book seems to be written for the type of people that Torabi helped on her reality TV show, those who are in a lot of debt, spend too much, and are financially clueless. If you have ever read a "Finance for Dummies" book, a lot of this content will be redundant. For example, I already know how to ladder CDs, set goals, pay my bills on time, and how to apply for college financial aid.

- The title misled me. I was hoping for a book that provided psychological techniques to get me over the mental blocks that stop me from earning the kind of money I know I am capable of making. The preface mentions Torabi's interest in behavioral psychology, which effectively gets people over their fears and hang-ups, so I thought the book would provide techniques to change the way I think. Such techniques do exist (Neurolinguistic programing "patterns," for example). Unfortunately, the book is mostly basic financial and goal-setting advice, with some self-exploration and psychology thrown in.

Overall, if I were younger, or less informed, this book would be a godsend, worth 5 stars. If you are in a lot of debt, spend too much, can't seem to get ahead, etc, and need a way to get your finances together, this book will help you. However, I was looking for a book with psychologically based tips and tricks to help me get over any hang-ups I might have about money, success, etc. Because this book is more financial lesson than psychological session, it is a 3 star value to me. This averages out to a solid 4 stars, my overall rating.

I have proudly been a stay at home Mom for the past 9 years. It was a decision that both my husband and I both made together and although it was certainly tight at times, we managed it and I am so thankful that I have had an opportunity to do it.

We didn't have hoards of money growing up and I certainly didn't in my 20s when I met my husband and I am ashamed to say though that I've never been great at managing money long term so we've been 'one of those' households that my husband has managed our finances. He's great at it, I'm not so the job has always been his. Getting caught up with busy kids, it was easy to lost in the day to day and justifying putting off REALLY learning about money so I did. Some might say, how hard is it? Live within your budget and save your extra money. Now that our youngest has started Kindergarten, we now have a dual income household. Now what? I've decided that it's time that I REALLY learn about money and how to HELP manage, contribute and build our nest egg for our family.

This was the perfect book for me to review since I consider myself a beginner with long term finances. Some of it doesn't apply to me...it has a feel to the younger crowd at times (early 20s) but not so much where I couldn't benefit from learning. It's simple, easy to read, understand and to start to implement. IDEALLY I think it's great for parents to read then to encourage their college bound / 18, 19, early - mid 20s kids could read.

With a title like "Psych Yourself Rich", you'd expect some really innovative and creative ideas and exercises about how you think about money. From the title I expected this book to talk about mental and emotional views of money and how we can change how we relate to finances. Sadly that was not the case and the title was a bit misleading. There is nothing about \mind, and all about matter (like one reviewer noticed).

It's a fine, solid book about finances but its not innovative at all. This book isn't any different than most other books about managing your money on the market. Its the same old, same old. It does read easier than alot of dry financial books, and the author does pepper it with some personal anedoctes along the way. Its a good book if you are young and need to learn basic finance help. For most readers, this has already been learned and is common sense.

The author is young and I think this is geared towards a younger audience who over indulge. If you are looking for something about changing your mental/psychological relationship with money this isn't the book for you.

Perhaps because the author has spent much time coaching young women about basic finance in the United States, she may have come to consider their plights as universal, and therefore not thought to qualify the title to that segment of the population. Granted, the subtitle reads, "Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life." However, some readers may not understand she means from ground zero.
I'm not a financial wizard, yet I found nothing new in these pages. I did find a lot of anecdotal information and a lot of to-do lists.
The book did not seem well organized to me. The beginning had a number of quotes from important people, which led me to expect great insider information. The beginning of each chapter also had some interesting quotes. Sadly, I found the quotes to be the most interesting bits in the book.
Since this is a coaching book, here's my responding anecdote to give an example of coaching differences. There were two coaches for my high school tennis team. One was good at cheers and slogans, "Come on, ace that serve!" "Corner, corner, corner!" etc. Her shouting lended energy to the players if they were starting to lag, but most times proved distracting. The other coach sat us down before the matches and reviewed what she knew about the players we'd be facing. She warmed us up with specific exercises and described how each one worked to enhance our backhands, etc. And she checked our racket faces for any loose areas. She spoke softly and not often, but we all hung on her every word, from greenest freshman to seasoned senior, because it worked for all of us.
For me, Psych Yourself Rich would have been the sort of book written by the first coach.

This book skims the surface of the current commentary and information on personal finances available online, in books and through talk shows. While the ideas are useful, they are not new. For someone fairly in control of their finances, there are probably better books out there on how to invest and save your money. For those that are in a financial mess or not well versed in personal finance, this book is for you. But beware the title, there is no secret ingredient in here to make you rich. Rather, it teaches the reader to be financially responsible, and for many potential readers, this is already common sense.

One last note on this book, the page numbering in this book is not contiguous, which drove me crazy, but maybe it was because I didn't have the final version.

This book is a great primer for the young adult reader wanted to get-it-together in terms of spending, saving and having money to invest. Its written for someone just starting out in the adult life of job, money, consume. It focuses on the discipline to budget and save rather to spend, splurge and charge. The audience of this book would more likely be young adult, college age or higher. The book offered straight talk in a friendly manner, like a talk you might have with your favorite Aunt or Uncle.

Farnoosh Torabi's book, Psych Yourself Rich in built on the idea that your personal mindset has a good deal to do with whether or not you find money success. With a title like this, I expected it to be much like Wallace Wattle's "The Science of Getting Rich". It turned out to be less concept and more application than Wattles.

Torabi shows you how to develop the mindset, discipline, and habits to grow wealth and achieve you goals by combining behavioral psychology with a disciplined attitude to help you psych yourself into a place of financial well being.

Some of the key points include:

Personalize Rich - You need to figure out what "rich" means to you. This is basically asking, "Why do you want to have money?" What will it really give you?

Establish Goals - This may seem obvious, but it involves takings the ideas of what makes a person "rich" and transforms them into specific, tangible goals that you can use.

Craft Your Money Philosophy - This gets a bit into finding your values and what is important to you. It helps you really understand what you can do with really want money for.

Embrace Your Relationship with Money - Many people don't connect their checking account balance to all of the things they spend their money on. Keep careful track of how you're spending money. Talk about money with your loved ones, even if it's uncomfortable. Keep it in your mind and embrace it.

Organize, Don't Agonize - Many people don't really what they have and what they don't have. Their records are disorganized and the information they need isn't available when they need it, which makes it all the more difficult to really embrace your relationship with your money.

Be Your Biggest Advocate - This is your money and it's up to you to take care of it. You're your rights and stand up for yourself when dealing with companies when you spend your money. Know what to expect from them before you even talk to them and when they don't provide it, be insistent and get what you pay for.

Make Your Money Count - The more return you can consistently earn on your money, the better. If you're putting it into savings, look for savings options that provide a better return. When you're considering which debt to pay off, look hardest at the debt with the highest interest rate.

Think Five Years Ahead - Always ask yourself, with every dollar you spend or invest, what will have the biggest positive impact five years from now.

Break from the Norm - Some of these ideas may be different from what you are used to or have done before. Recognize that you're breaking from the norm in doing this, you may want to consider breaking from the norm in other areas of your life.

Embrace the Entrepreneurial Spirit - Embrace the idea that you are an entrepreneur. Everyone who exchanges work for money is essentially a small businessperson. When you see yourself as your own business, it changes the way you feel about work and money

Bottom Line:
Psych Yourself Rich does a good job of combining psychology, personal finance, and self-motivation and turning them into specific tasks that anyone can apply. The advice is sound, especially for people who are trying to get a handle on their finances.

This is probably not the final book you want to read on finances. It is a good starting point, although it may seem a bit too basic for more experienced people. It is easy to read and understand, and the personal stories add a nice touch.

I'm a stay at home mom of 8 children. This book is not quite what I expected from the title, because I thought it might help me figure out some of my financial road blocks. This book really is for those that are not "financial savvy" and would like real world application to building wealth. And I do think it could help older folks who want to learn financial discipline in general.

Having lived on one income for the last 15 years, much of Torabi's advice is already information I knew and currently apply. I am going to pass this book off to my 20 & 21 year olds. I think it has a good plan for BUILDING wealth and maintaining that wealth. Torabi is a knowledgable writer and has done her homework and if you are just beginning to really learn about money...this is the book for you. If you are a little more seasoned in financial matters...you will find this book is very common sense and an affirmation of the rights you are doing. Ya just can't pull money out of the air and sometimes the only way to make money is to make MORE money. But it's like the old adage...no matter how much you have...its never enough :)

GREAT PURCHASE or GIFT FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE GRADUATES!

Overall, I found the book to be sound with good, common sense advice that when applied really can bring you "wealth."

As a 40 something who is trying to put my financial life back together after 2 divorces, an IRS audit, and raising 3 children on a small income, I figured I definitely needed to rethink my attitude. After all, I married two spenders (I'm a saver), and being married to them had contributed to wrecking my finances. I needed a mental overhaul.

That was the reason I chose to read this book. Although it has plenty of information to help you get on the right track, the problem I had is that the examples really weren't relevant to my situation, and I couldn't identify with the author's perspective. (She's in her 20s).

However, that doesn't mean the information isn't any good. Steeped in lots of information on behavioral science (something I think is one of the most boring subjects on the planet) it does contain a lot of helpful information that will show you how to gain the right attitude and perspective on your personal finances.

You'll also learn how to get organized, as well as learn how to think ahead in planning for your future. If you're a 20 something looking to get your finances on track, get rid of your student loans and build wealth, this book is for you.

Psych Yourself Rich, may appear to just be a self-help book, but the book is about building your character and so much more. You will learn to re-think the ways you view wealth and the pursuit of success. However, Farnoosh Torabi, takes you step-by-step from inner focus to developing a real workable plan for planning your financial goals. A great book that deals with the way you view your goals and money. Yet, the book will also discuss ways to invest or build your fortune.