Book Review: I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Ramit Sethi’s new book titled I Will Teach You To Be Rich launches today. I highly recommend it to anyone under age 30 as a kick-ass crash course on personal finance, or to parents who want to teach their kids about money.

In fact, I like it so much that I’m offering you a deal. If you buy the book by 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Tuesday March 24th and forward your Amazon receipt to [email protected], you will be invited to participate in an hour-long special conference call with Ramit and me where you can ask us anything.

The book tells you everything you need to know about how to manage your money. From credit cards to saving for a wedding, from stocks and bonds to savings accounts, it’s all here. Unlike most books on money, I Will Teach You To Be Rich sings right along with the zest and humor you’ve come to expect from Ramit. The accompanying charts and boxes are helpful (and wonderfully rendered from a visual perspective) and the sprinkling of quotes (signed by real people, not “John D.”) are frequent reminders that other people are taking control of their finances — and so can you.

The book’s only weakness is that it doesn’t fully account for the global economic crisis. Ramit would argue that fundamentals are fundamentals when it comes to money. I largely agree, though it would have been lovely to have gotten a bit more on how the crisis came to be, why the S&P 500 hasn’t returned its usual “long-term” return over the past 10 years, whether bank bailouts should affect one’s selection of a bank, etc. But these are fast-changing and recent developments best followed in the blogosphere. For a foundational understanding of how a young person ought to think about personal finance both strategically and tactically, you need this book on your desk.

Of course, I’m a biased reviewer. I’m close to Ramit and have been talking to him about all aspects of this book for more than two years. But I don’t recommend stuff I don’t genuinely like. He’s taught me a lot about money, just like I’ve taught him a lot about working out, how to muster the courage to talk to women, and the rules of basketball.

Bottom Line: Buy the book by Tuesday night and forward your receipt to [email protected] and join Ramit and me for a private conference call on entrepreneurship, careers, and life!