I Will Teach You to Be Rich
Ramit Sethi
A friendly, practical system for people who hate budgets: automate the basics, then spend without guilt on what you love.
By uFIRE ·
What the book is about
This book lays out a step-by-step program, roughly week by week, for setting up a money system: the right accounts, automatic transfers to savings and investments on payday, and a simple plan for spending that doesn't require tracking every coffee.
Its big idea is conscious spending: cut back hard on the things you don't care about, so you can spend freely on the things you do. Along the way it covers credit, negotiating, investing in low-cost funds, and defining what a rich life means for you, beyond money.
Who it's for
Beginners, people early in their careers, and anyone who has tried budgets and given up. It's especially good if you want a system you set up once.
Maybe skip it if: Readers looking for an early-retirement plan. The book is about a rich life generally, and its default retirement assumptions are more traditional than FIRE.
What we liked
- Automation is the most reliable habit in personal finance, and this book makes it easy to set up.
- Guilt-free spending on what you value is a healthy counterweight to extreme frugality.
- It's energetic and funny, which helps if money books usually put you to sleep.
What we'd push back on
- Its credit card advice assumes you pay the balance in full every month. If that's a struggle, skip those sections for now.
- The confident, salesy tone isn't for everyone.
- To use it for FIRE, you'll need to raise the savings rate well above what the book suggests as a starting point.
Takeaways
- Automate saving and investing on payday so willpower isn't needed.
- Spend lavishly on what you love and cut mercilessly on what you don't.
- Define your own rich life; it's not the same as anyone else's.
Want to read it?
Check your local library first. Many lend e-books and audiobooks you can borrow from home. If you'd like your own copy, it's easy to find.
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Education only. These are our opinions about a book, not advice. uFIRE is for education only. Nothing here is financial, investment, tax, legal or insurance advice. uFIRE does not sell insurance or investments. Please check any money, tax or insurance decision with a licensed professional.