I Will Teach You To Be Rich [Kindle Edition]

Ramit Sethi (Author)

Book Description

At last, for a generation that's materially ambitious yet financially clueless comes I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi's 6-week personal finance program for 20-to-35-year-olds. A completely practical approach delivered with a nonjudgmental style that makes readers want to do what Sethi says, it is based around the four pillars of personal finance— banking, saving, budgeting, and investing—and the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship.

Sethi covers how to save time by not wasting it managing money; the guns and cars myth of credit cards; how to negotiate like an Indian—the conversation begins with "no"; why "Budgeting Doesn't Have to Suck!"; how to get things rolling—for real—with only $20; what most people don't understand about taxes; how to get a CEO to take you out to lunch; how to avoid the Super Mario Brothers trap by making your savings work harder than you do; the difference between cheap and frugal; the hidden relationship between money and food. Not to mention his first key lesson: Getting started is more important than being the smartest person in the room.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Don't let the breezy irreverent style of this book fool you. It contains serious advice on personal-finance decisions from budgeting and savings to spending and investing.' -- Burton G Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street Ramit Sethi is a rising star in the world of personal finance writing ... one singularly attuned to the sensibility of his generation ... His style is part frat boy and part Silicone Valley geek, with a little bit of San Francisco hipster thrown in. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Review

'Don't let the breezy irreverent style of this book fool you. It contains serious advice on personal-finance decisions from budgeting and savings to spending and investing.' -- Burton G Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street Ramit Sethi is a rising star in the world of personal finance writing ... one singularly attuned to the sensibility of his generation ... His style is part frat boy and part Silicone Valley geek, with a little bit of San Francisco hipster thrown in. -- San Francisco Chronicle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 3238 KB
• Print Length: 260 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0761147489
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; 1 edition (March 23, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004WL4BW6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,049 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #48 in Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

185 of 199 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your parents' money management book March 23, 2009

By Susan Roberts

Format:Paperback

First, here's what this book is not: It's not your parents' money management and investing book, although as a parent I wish I had done in my twenties what Ramit Sethi tells the twenty-somethings they should be doing right now.

Ramit starts with the premise that most people are so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of financial information available that they just shut down and do nothing. So Ramit tells you exactly what to do with your money and why. Want to know whether it's smarter to pay extra on your student loans or put that money into your 401(k) instead? Ramit will tell you. Want to know some specific financial companies that offer the low-cost index funds you should invest in through your Roth IRA? Ramit will tell you. Do you not even know what the heck an index fund is? Ramit will tell you!

Ramit also tells the truth about brown bagging your lunch and curbing your latte habit; and the truth is that these actions on their own are virtually pointless. Instead, you should go after the big wins, like getting the lowest interest rate and the best price on your next car because you have impeccable credit and negotiated "like an Indian" (negotiation scripts included).

Ramit maps out exactly how to get from where you are now to where you want to be financially, including how to create a personal money management system that practically manages itself. Ramit's system starts with a no-fee checking account and an online high-interest savings account. (He even tells you which online bank he uses.) He then walks you through setting up automatic bill payments and regularly scheduled transfers to your investment accounts. Throughout, he includes easy-to-understand charts, as well as short pieces by other personal finance bloggers....

I wish I could quote some of the passages that I found especially useful or entertaining--Ramit writes with an appealing, if oddball, humor--but I have already mailed my copy of the book to my 24-year-old son, who called me last night to tell me it never would've occurred to him to ask his bank to waive an overdraft fee. (That gem is in chapter 2, I think.)

Thank you, Ramit! I hope this enthusiastic review by an "old person" will not stop the young people from buying your book! Read more ›

187 of 202 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I Will Teach You To Save Money should be the title of this book and Ramit's Blog June 29, 2009

By Wealth Doctor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I Will Teach You To Save Money, though a far less titillating title would be the more appropriate name for this book. 20 and 30 somethings are the intended audience for this book. And for them the book is delightfully irreverent and saucy in its language. You will not get rich by using the concepts in this book however you will gain basic financial literacy, which is the first step on the path to creating wealth. There are no new financial revelations in this book. If you already have a personal finance library you can pass on this book. If you don't already have one and are looking for a place to start, this book is a great way to go. I Will Teach You To Be Rich is not for people who have created a measure of wealth and are looking to increase it. For that you will have to look elsewhere.

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not follow his advice on how to buy a new car... March 28, 2012

By CookieCat

Format:Paperback

Ramit says he bought a car by faxing car dealers the best offer he could find and then asked them for counter offers (a "bidding war"). He writes that one car dealer sent him an offer for a new Honda with $2000 of list price "an unheard price discount for a new Honda". When he walked in the car dealer the conditions of the deal changed (as it always does when you walk into a car dealer) and although the price stayed the same, the interest rate was much higher for financing the car as it should have been (the car dealer said he did not have enough credit history, although his credit was "excellent" as Ramit states). Ramit foolishly agreed to pay a higher interest rate than he should have because "the price was so good".

That is a common mistake made by "beginners" who do not understand that car dealers often make more money through financing than through the car sale itself.
Ramit did a few things right to be fair. What he failed to do was either to get a loan from a nearby credit union right away and finance the car through them or to make a significant down payment at the car dealer. The latter is important to later refinance your car at a local credit union since otherwise the value of the car would be lower than the loan itself. Local credit unions almost always have 2-4% lower interest rates than the car dealer (if you have good or "excellent" credit as Ramit)...

I cannot believe Ramit failed to mention this and tells people to make the same mistake he did... (unless he is getting paid by the car industry to write this). A Honda with $2000 off, but with a 2-4% higher interest of a 5 year loan can easily mean he only "saved" $500 of MSRP. Not too good, actually pretty bad....

I purchased a Hyundai $6000 under list price just when the new model came out and the car dealer told me the same thing Ramit was told "that I would only qualify for a higher percentage loan because of lack of credit history"... I made a $2000 down payment at the car dealer and 3 months later I refinanced the car for just 2.99% at a local credit union which saved me another $1500.
Two years later the Kelly Blue Book value of my used car with 20,000 miles on the car is still higher than what I paid for it new at the car dealer...

My tips for buying a new car for a great price:
- Buy the old model when the new model already stands on the car dealer lot (happens every 4-5 years)
- Buy a "show car / demo car" that people test drive before buying the car at the dealer. The show car I bought had ZERO (!) miles on it (was never driven) but could be sold even cheaper because the car dealer also gets it for less from the car manufacturer. Also, show cars have full warranty because the car is considered new even if it has a few hundred miles on it.
- Do not fall for the financing trick at the car dealer! Did you know that General Motors in the last years made more money from car financing than from selling cars?

I had to share this because I feel like Ramit does not really understand how car dealers make you believe you got a good deal and you still paid too much for it...

In general, his book has some good advice. but if you have already read one or two financing books before you will find no new information in his book (maybe his writing style makes it a little bit more fun to read). Read more ›

108 of 130 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Was Taught To Be Rich. March 22, 2009

By M. Oleary

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Length: 3:09 Mins

Ramit is part of the new round of financial savants. It is one thing to know about finance, another to be able to write about it, and another entirely to write about it in a way to motivate the younger crowd. Ramit hits the tri-fecta here.

I'm good with my money and pretty knowledgeable but am the kind of person who needs a nudge now and again. Ramit gave me that nudge (and some great tips to boot) with this book. I'm barely through chapter two and already have a savings/profit of about $860 (as I explain in the video...)

Get this book for yourself, and with the money you save, buy another copy for a teenager or college student you know and care about.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Already outdated.... July 28, 2011

By TJSTOGY

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In two and a half years all of the "high yield interest bearing" accounts online have diminished. Author recommends you put your savings online at ING, which at writing had 3%+ interest bearing now has a measly 1%. He recommends you have a checking account with Scwab online, who at the time of writing was 3-5% interest, is now, get ready, 0.05%!! This was helpful 2.5 years ago, now is meaningless. You may as well put your savings in a credit union with a similar rate of return (around 0.5%) and you will have access to it immediately instead of waiting 3-5 days for a transfer in case of an emergency.

More About the Author

Ramit Sethi is New York Times best-selling author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. His blog, iwillteachyoutoberich.com, hosts over 300,000 readers every month. He co-founded PBwiki and graduated from Stanford, where he studied technology and psychology. He lives in New York.