Wealthy Barber Returns

David Chilton

the Wealthy Barber Returns

Significantly Older and Marginally Wiser, Dave Chilton Offers His Unique Perspectives on the World of Money

Financial Awareness Corp.; 1st edition (Aug 15 2011)

224pp. $19.95

I will be writing an unbiased critique on the book "The Wealthy Barber Returns," as written by author David Chilton, which contrary to popular belief is not a sequel to his first book "The Wealthy Barber." Chilton is a Wilfrid Laurier University economics graduate who won the prestigious H.L. Gassard Memorial Award for achieving the highest score in the country on the Canadian Securities Course in 1985. In 1989, Chilton released "The Wealthy Barber" which sold an astonishing two million copies in Canada. After exploiting his one and only good idea for years, Chilton left his passion, the personal-finance field to home-school his children. Over the years, Chilton went on to publish several bestselling cookbooks such as: Looneyspoons and Crazy Plates alongside authors Janet and Greta Podleski. A frequent guest on national TV and dynamic motivational speaker, Waterloo ON resident David Chilton uses his great conversational writing style simultaneously with his unparalleled combination of knowledge and humor to help take the intimidation and dryness out of financial planning while assisting people in their money managing goals. "The Wealthy Barber Returns" was released in September 2011 using his new style, and through his own intensely personal and compelling analogies, which coincides with his easy speaking style, I felt like Chilton was right beside me talking to me. In the author's own words, "Essentially it's just me chatting casually about the world of money. It's almost as though I'm in your living room except better because, well, I'm not."

This book is already becoming the standard in truly understanding personal finance in today's volatile world. As readers' progress, I will be looking to answer some of the more intricate questions that arise such as: "Did the author build a logical argument? What are the areas of expertise of the author? And does the author's use and interpretation of this evidence lead the reader to the same conclusion?" (Anonymous, 2011) While attempting to provide useful insights into saving money, inheritance, spending, debt, investing, RRSPs, TFSAs.

"I hate to begin with a harsh dose of reality, but here it goes: Unless you marry into wealth or come from a well to do family (Both highly advisable strategies, by the way), you'll have to learn to spend less than you make." Although abrasive, this sentence is laden with truth. It is David Chilton's belief that people are overspending. Why? "There are only three Canadians that want you to set aside some money - your future, your financial advisor and me." Everywhere you go, people are encouraging you to spend money (Chilton, 37), when they should actually be telling you to "Pay yourself first" (Chilton, 22) by putting money into an RRSP or tax-free savings account thus saving for retirement and incurring less debt. No one has much of a support group when it comes to the topic of personal finance; more people are encouraging you to spend as opposed to save. Businesses spend large sums of money on marketing research, seeking ways to convince consumers that the product they are selling is a necessity. It's these subliminal agendas coupled with Convenience, another yardstick in world finance which has led to overconsumption. "It's really this simple: Credit cards allow us to act wealthier than we are and acting wealthy now makes it tough to be wealthy later." The convenience and impulse satisfaction a simple swipe of a credit card yields is the reason why many Canadians into financial trouble. Unlike hard cash which must be exchanged for a good or service, credit cards provide the illusion that nothing is actually given up. Prices are deliberately ignored, and this is all fun and games until of course the bill arrives at the end of the billing period. In order to save this moribund era, Chilton suggests leaving your credit card at home and using your debit card to withdraw a reasonable amount of cash to spend.

"One of the most damaging misconceptions in personal finance is that saving for the future requires sacrifices today that lessen people's enjoyment of life."(Chilton, 65) In actuality it is quite the contrary. "People who live within their means tend to be happier and less stressed. That's not only true for the obvious reason - they know their futures look bright - but also because they are not consumed with consumption."(Chilton, 65) Truth be told, people who save for their future now and spend within their means live a more felicitous life. Everyday problems such as daily consumption & finance become less time consuming as they know they are building for a bright future. "Sound financial planning is surprisingly straight forward - nothing more than a combination of common sense, vanilla products and time-tested principles." (Chilton) Rather than looking at the intimidating task of saving more money and doubling your savings, it's often easier and perhaps more beneficial to cutting back a little on your spending. That is, simply look at cutting your spending from 96% by 6.25% to achieve that same 10% savings goal as opposed to doubling your current savings of 4% to 10%. An entirely new standpoint is to be assumed if any goals are to be achieved.

Today, no one really appreciates what they have. Like the song says "you don't know what you got till it's gone." People have trouble appreciating their possessions for its own merit. "People nowadays are too concerned about what other people think of them. Status is the position of an individual in relation to another or others, especially in regard to social or professional standing. It is other people's perception of your success, often a reflection of the kind of car you drive, the size of your house and the type of