The Automatic Millionaire was one of the first books I read when I began my foray into personal finance and becoming debt-free. It was first published in the US in 2004.
The book’s author, David Bach, is a renowned motivational and financial speaker.
He is regularly featured on talk shows and at financial seminars and conferences. He is also behind FinishRich.
The book’s name implies there might be some magical speedy Gonzales formula located within its pages to get from church mouse to Donald Trump without much effort. If only.
The good news is there is a formula. The bad or better news, depending on how you see it, is the formula requires dedication and persistence to see results.
The Automatic Millionaire offers a no-frills, candid approach to handling your money and eventually ending up a millionaire, one cent at a time.
This is done through a simple time-tested, age-old method – savings and investments! That’s the “magical” formula.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing only people who earn 6 figure salaries can save and invest.
However, how many times have you thought, “If only I could get a raise, I’d finally be able to put something aside.”
When you finally got a raise, did you manage to put something substantial aside?
It’s not the amount of money you make that needs to change. It’s the approach to managing the money you earn that matters.
No matter how crappy your salary is, it’s possible to save and end up a millionaire.
Three aspects of The Automatic Millionaire stood out to me: –
3 Things I Loved About The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
1. Paying Yourself First
If you want to be rich, you need to pay yourself first. Before you pay rent, credit card, phone, tax, and other bills, pay yourself first.
This Automatic Millionaire system advocates paying various percentages of your monthly income starting from 5% up to 20%, and above if you can afford it, into a pre-tax retirement account.
Over the course of 35 years, you should end up with over 1 million dollars. You work hard most of the day, 5 days, sometimes 7 days, a week to pay everyone else.
It makes sense to factor yourself into the list of people you have to pay. David Bach explains the compound interest in The Automatic Millionaire.
He outlines how saving a minuscule amount of money every month can grow into over a million dollars over 20 – 30 years. Very eye-opening.
Related Content
- A Guide to Getting Started with a Plan: Dream. Plan. Implement.
- Easy Guide to Money Management: Small Steps for a Huge Difference
- Take Control of Your Financial Freedom
2. The Latte Factor
The latte factor is simple. Outline all the insignificant little things you spend money on every day without thinking about it.
These things could be coffee, soda, chocolate, cigarettes, juice, take-out, etc. Consciously start saving the money instead.
This money can add up to a pretty neat amount annually, which would be better off in investments working for you.
I’m a huge fan of chocolate and not the cheap Kit Kat variety either.
I mean expensive Belgian and Swiss chocolate. I was spending roughly $30 a week on chocolate without really thinking about it.
When I tallied the number over a year (30 x 4 weeks/month x 52 weeks = $6, 240/year)…seeing the figure as a whole is quite alarming.
That same amount in an investment account over 20 – 30 years could work out to over half a million dollars.
Even with inflation, you would still end up with a tidy sum. Nothing sobers you up faster than consciously seeing and tallying the numbers.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a chocoholic but I’m a reformed chocoholic these days and restrict the spending to my treat yoself fund.
Related Content: Book Review – The 4 Hour Workweek
3. Make It Automatic
A lot of discipline is required to maintain a systematic savings plan and not everyone can do it every month without fail.
The only way to make sure the process of monthly savings is never interrupted is to make it automatic.
Set it up so the payments are automatically deducted from your income every month before you even see it, and you are on your way to a happy retirement.
Additionally, you will start adjusting your mindset to living on less, which is the amount you see in your account after all the automatic amounts have been deducted.
If you are stumbling around trying to figure out how to get ahead of your money, The Automatic Millionaire comes highly recommended.
The Automatic Millionaire doesn’t overcomplicate explanations and is pretty straightforward.
Although The Automatic Millionaire’s content is geared mostly towards US readers, a lot of the information is adaptable wherever you are in the world.
At 228 pages, it’s a fast and easy read too, and also comes with a workbook you can use to personalize your plan. I rate The Automatic Millionaire 4/5.
Buy The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
When you buy books through Bookshop.org, you support local, independent bookstores.
Anna gave up her 9 – 5 to implement her life plan after paying off over $40,000 in debt. She started The Writer Entrepreneur to share her journey and encourage other people to pay off debt and pursue their life plans. She has been featured on HuffPost, YouQueen & Fitnancials among others. Learn more about Anna HERE.
Photos by rawpixel.com & freestocks.org
This post may contain affiliate links which means I will make a small commission if you purchase through those links. Read full disclosure HERE.
I’ve heard good things about this book. I think it might be time to pick it up. I’m getting poore by the minute :(.
Haha. Don’t get yourself down dear. It’s never too late and there’s no time like the present to get going.