Living Rich for Less – Ellie Kay

©2008 WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs

Ellie Kay is a nationally known author, speaker, and finance guru. She has a mountain of good advice for Americans trying to do more than just make ends meet in these trying economic times.

The advice she gives in Living Rich for Less is sound as far as it goes. She suggests that people should apply the 10/10/80 rule with their assets—Give 10%, Save 10 %, then Spend the other 80% wisely. Not bad advice that matches up with a number of the financial doctors trying to fix Americans’ fascination with debt.

There are several points which bother me about this book, though—

Ø The cover promises that the reader can learn to “save $30,000 this year”. This assumes that you have an income of over 90,000 to spend.

Ø Built into the fabric of the book are pauses the author refers to as the “cha-ching” factor. My biggest problem with this is the focus on being rich.

Ø The assumption that all Americans want to be rich and live like they’re rich is a struggle for me as well. I’d like to think that there are those out there who are wanting to get a handle on financial issues in order to do more good with the resources available to them.

I agree that Americans have a drastic need to change the habits that dig the hole of debt deeper each year. I agree that the principles in Kay’s book should work if practiced properly, I am bothered by the idea that the reason that you get out of debt is to get rich.

If your goal is to become rich—get and read this book. If your goal is to learn to use wisely the resources you have at your disposal, find another guru. I give this book 3 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, December 7, 2009