Customer Reviews

Rational Simplicity: Setting Course to a Simpler Life

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

 

 

I bought this book from the website www.rationalsimplicity.com.

This is a great book. It is short and simple and explains how to stop wasting money on consumer goods and move toward spending your time on what is really important.

They also give you a free bumper sticker reading "Less Stuff, More Time," on the www.rationalsimplicity.com website.

"Rational Simplicity" has changed the way that I look at money.

I am so excited about this book! Finally someone has merged personal financial management, savings techniques, real estate investment, and early retirement strategy in a concise guide. If you want to get out of the work/spend cycle, this book is your answer. This is a "no gimmicks" guide to evaluating your relationship with money. Very well written, with easy to understand examples from the author's personal experiences.

If you take the advice and strategies in this book and customize and apply them to your own situation, it will change your life.
A "must read" book! Read it in one day, experience change for the better!

While the message is a valuable one (see below), the book is only about 80 pages of text, making it quite expensive on a page for page basis! You can find similar info in books like "the Overspent American" which you can get used on this site for a fraction of the cost here.

Lessons in the book:

-happiness has not increased per capita from the 50s even though our houses, incomes (and time devoted to work) and consumption of "things" has grown markedly. Therefore, we need to look for another source of happiness.
-distinguish between needs and wants.
-avoid commercial TV as it is really an advertising machine.
-determine your real hourly wage - take home pay minus work related expenses, devided by hours devoted to work.
-calculate the cost in your time for any potential purchase (e.g. flat screen TV = 3 weeks of work, etc.)
-get off the earn & spend merry-go-round which is making people miserable and rewards people with useless stuff to fill their closets and basements.
-Drive a second-hand car
-Pay off debt and create net worth to un-tether yourself from the consumer lifestyle. (The author suggests buying under-market real estate, fixing it up, and selling it for a modest profit, but simply reducing consumption will work too).
-Then you will be able to live your dreams, retire early, and enjoy life.