Customer Reviews

Rich is a Religion: Breaking the Timeless Code to Wealth

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The book opens up the code of the truly wealthy. Written by a multimillionaire author and CEO, who experienced both poverty and wealth. This is not a book of theories and formulas, it is written by a man who has lived them and observed them first hand in billionaires through personal relationships. I really enjoyed reading this book and found it very difficult to put down because it completely reconfirmed my own beliefs and lifestyle that has taken me also from poverty to a high six figure net worth.
The rich pursue passions not numbers of dollars. They treat money with respect and never squander it. They put their wealth in assets that increase in value. Their goal is to enjoy a high quality of life, not to show off and impress others with their wealth. The vast amount of the money that the rich have is invisible, and is setting in places that insure their financial independence. They never waste money, and use it as a tool for bringing what they desire into their lives. They take calculated risks, but never "bet the farm".
"It's not what you earn in life that counts; it's what you keep" the rich work smart, increasing their wealth while decreasing their amount of work. Using businesses, stocks, investments, and other vehicles of wealth they make money while they sleep. They are not stuck on selling their time for cash, or getting a "good" job.
They seek to simply their lives into exactly what they truly want. Sometimes, less is more. Happiness is not found in dollars, it lies in your passions, personal life, relationships, friends, family, and peace of mind. "The quality of life is a better way to measure winning and losing than dollars and cents".
I have read hundreds of books on personal finance and this wonderful book has done the best job I have seen of summing up the "religion" of the rich and how you can join them. Outstanding job Mark Stevens!

From the first page to the last, "Rich Is a Religion" is captivating. I could not stop reading once I started.

The first book I ever read about success, business and money was "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, it was given to me 39 years ago by a successful business friend of mine. That book changed my thinking, my life, just like "Rich Is a Religion" will. But, if I could have a wish, it would have been that I read "Rich Is a Religion" first! Why? Because in a most powerful way it illustrates that the rich, the wealthy, RESPECT MONEY and that's why they have attained and maintain their wealth.

What I loved about the book are the personal accounts Stevens offers in how the wealthy think. How those "in the religion" use money as a tool and don't flaunt what they have. They are happy and enjoy the security and protection money offers.

Lastly and most importantly, "Rich Is a Religion" offers a "how to" for those who want to join the religion, and of course you don't have to be rich to join. Stevens is not talking about joining a "cult" but adopting a set of beliefs, a philosophy that will help lead anyone within the "religion" to attain success. And the best part, it's free!

There're some good points about wealth accumulation in this book, but you will find them in much better written books somewhere else.

The writing is really bad and a pain to read. The author tried to communicate some worthy ideas, but his delivery was just too mediocre, even worse than most online ebooks and blogs.

I am already doing well financially, and this book stirred me clear of looking wealthy and instead kept me focused on being wealthy. Mark sounded like a coach telling me to keep challenging the way I look at life, the way I live my life, and the way I assign value to money as a whole. My favorite chapter was "The Invisible." If you are on the path to physical, spiritual, and financial enlightenment, You Must Read This Book. This book puts you in control of YOU, and helps you decide if your financial paradigm supports the real YOU. At the very least this book makes you determine if your definition of success is really your own, or if it was created through media messages.

Must read today. It's a new world with a new focus - The title is head turner.
This book is very straight-forward - Easy to read and enjoyable.
It offers a very compelling approach to holding on to your wealth from real millionaires. This book is a must in today's changing environment. It will provide you with a very decisive road map on how to keep your money after you make it. Mark's advice will provide you with actionable strategies that you can use to feel real freedom. It contains amazing insights into the minds of the rich and generates an equally remarkable success pathway from business owners and professionals. Rich is a Religion talks about the psychology and the common sense tactics of America's wealthy. The book offers unconventional nuggets of information to money and your life. How do the wealthy spend their time, their relations, their money and what they believe are important elements in understanding true security. Following their rules and behaviors that are revealed in this book will help you understand the way. Mark Stevens' interviews has given us an opportunity to be exposed to true guidance from some very wise millionaires.
It is an awesome read and will change the way you look at money and life.

This book is much better than the title suggests, for it is not about the pursuit of wealth as being a religion. The focus is on respecting wealth for what it can do for you in making your life more comfortable and rewarding. Stevens speaks with disdain of the people who pursue the golden cow simply so that they can display their success. His praise is reserved for the people who dress and act financially modest, yet have built up fortunes that those who wear the financial feathers can only dream about.
Stevens refers to the people who spend in order to impress as the "atheists", certainly an odd way to use religious terminology. His greatest praise is for people like Warren Buffett, a man worth billions of dollars, yet he still lives in the modest house he purchased 50 years ago. Buffett is certainly one of the most impressive of people, I have watched some videos of him speaking and sensible is an understatement measurable only by the level of his net worth.
In the current climate of financial and economic disaster, Stevens is a sensible head rising above the chaotic clatter of uncertainty. The best investment advice is often not precisely that and this book is an existence proof of that fact.

In his usual, "turn-your-belief-upside-down" manner, Mark Stevens' "Rich Is a Religion" examines the meaning of what it is to be rich.

To be truly rich is equated with a set of beliefs, as in a conventional religion; spending money becomes only one less significant factor. The sense of confidence and inner peace associated with having, rather than spending money becomes the keystone of the religion.

Interestingly, while "Your Marketing Sucks," Stevens' sales bible, details how to cause a person to fall in love with your product, so that he/she cannot resist buying it, "Rich Is a Religion" explains the importance of resisting these marketing techniques, of living below your means.

The book is well worth reading; it aims to change a generation of consumers into a generation of "savers." During these difficult economic times, some peace can be found in the concept that what material things we "need" to be happy are actually considerably fewer than we might think.

The book is not a "how to get rich quick" guide by any stretch of the imagination. Mark conveys far more important philosophical differences between those who have a healthy attitude toward money and wealth, and those who do not. Saying to yourself "of course I have a healthy attitude toward money - I want all I can get" doesn't cut it. And I think that's why he chose the path of describing wealth creation as a "religion" because it reflects a core belief system that treats money, spending, value, leisure and time all with respect.

[...]

The more of Mark Stevens' book I read, the angrier I got. If Rich is a Religion, I refuse to pray in that church. Though Stevens defused my initial doubts (no "God and Mammon" issues here), he raised entirely new qualms every step of the way. He takes perfectly reasonable money management techniques, like avoiding vainglory and preparing ahead for uncertain times, and runs in directions I find manifestly offensive.

Bad enough that Stevens praises Sam Walton and Carl Icahn as apostles of his faith. Both were/are notorious bullies with legendary disdain for workers. Walton admitted in his memoir that he disregarded any laws which inconvenienced him. Both lived modest, frugal lives, but is that enough? If someone stays at a posh hotel where "hot dogs, beer, and potato salad" runs $88 for four, am I impressed because he's too parsimonious to pick up the check?

But then Stevens pooh-poohs wage earners. Hourly wages earners, he says, are suckers, because they can only make as much money as there are hours in the day. In contrast, he praises a boyhood neighbor who owned five lucrative dry-cleaners. If he was at one store, Stevens says, four more still made him money. Even if he stayed home, he made money, which is the only way to get rich in Stevens' faith.

Judging from this book, Stevens is neither stupid nor ignorant. So I can only assume he chooses to ignore that his neighbor's stores earn money because SOMEONE IS STILL THERE DOING THE WORK, probably for an hourly wage. The owner who invested his time and resources in the chain deserves compensation, I agree, but to imply he's worth more than his hourly workers really makes my blood boil.

Early on, Stevens extols Bill Simon as a guiding light of his religion. As proof, he mentions seeing Simon in a "screaming match" with his daughter over cab fare. Sure, catching a cab from Manhattan to the Hamptons is irresponsible. But if somebody bawled out his kid in front of you over money, wouldn't you start to doubt his priorities? Not for nothing did another religious leader say that "love of money is the root of all evil."

This book is definitely going on my personal list of Top 3 non-fiction books.I won't say it is an investment bible but definitely something that you would want to read and digest.I highly recommend it.