The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial...

Most Helpful Review

"This is well-written book that's easy to read and quite engaging given the dry nature of the topic. For a complete beginner to investing (which is the audience this book is aimed at), it's a fine place to start. But I wouldn't stop with it. For the sake of beginners, the book rightly avoids going too far into complexities and keep things rather simple, sacrificing some detail in the name of simplicity. Much of its simple advice is nevertheless good. The book recommends the proven Bogleheads approach to investing: buy broad market index funds and hold them for the long term. This is excellent advice based on solid evidence that achieving "average" market performance is far better than individual stock picking, using actively managed funds, relying on expensive financial advisors, and the like.The book also has some unconventional advice, some of which I find sensible--such as avoiding bonds until close to retirement and avoiding international funds. Other advice is bizarre, such as preferring nondeductible IRAs to Roth IRAs, or plain comical, like pushing people to invest at least 50% of their gross income. Yes, people should work to get "F-you money" as the book encourages so you have freedom in life--but most people in the real world cannot manage anything near that high of a savings rate, and they don't *need* to save that much, either, to build wealth successfully. I can see the appeal of this book to people who are part of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early)--although the book doesn't explicitly address that movement. If you ARE part of that movement, or want to be, then his 50% investment rate makes more sense. In contrast, if you have decades until retirement, I would follow the advice of Brian Preston (the "Money Guy") to invest 20% to 25% of your gross income.Ultimately, I do recommend this book, but don't let it be your ONLY personal finance book. I also recommend reading Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston at minimum (his Financial Order of Operations is excellent, and his advice more realistic and detailed) and, if you want more than that, reading the books in the "Boglehead Guides" series. All of these books (including The Simple Path to Wealth) complement each other well, and if The Simple Path to Wealth lights a fire in your belly to build wealth, these additional books will bring you to the next level with additional evidence-based strategies (and greater detail) on how to tackle finances and save for retirement effectively."