Chris Hogan (1)

Chris Hogan, a financial coach at Ramsey Solutions, breaks down a survey study of 10,000 (yes, you read that right) millionaires in the U.S. to discover traits they have in common and encourage others that they, too, can build wealth through hard work, living within their means, and saving for the future.

I think what this book suffers from most is preaching to the choir. The first half of the book is busting millionaire myths - that people with a net worth of a million dollars (in most show more cases, not huge paycheck earners) inherited wealth or that they went to prestigious universities. Hogan builds a case that millionaires are actually pretty average people. Many of them went to state school, and 74% never inherited anything. The second half of the book then delves into character or personality qualities of millionaires; for example, they are goal-oriented. It ends up being very repetitive and not really teaching me to do anything differently from what I'm already doing: budgeting, living within my means, saving in retirement plans. I could've done with a short article that gave me the percentages, but other than that there's nothing new for me here and his motivational-speaker tone was really grating. show less

Some solid advice, but disingenuous

This book offers some solid advice for improving one's finances and does a good job illustrating that being a millionaire is actually more feasible than most people imagine. However, a lot of important points are glossed over. For example, a million dollars, while a worthy goal, isn't as much as it once was. The average person needs 1 to 1.5 just for retirement for example.
Also, most of the millionaires profiled are clearly baby boomers but the advice show more rarely does more than gloss over the fact that things are very different for younger people. Issues like housing costs, health insurance costs, changes in retirement benefits offered by employers, etc. are barely mentioned despite those things making a big difference in the ability of someone to achieve a net worth of a million.
There is a lot of talk about "research" done in millions but it is never supplied beyond anecdotes and what appears to be self report says by these millionaires.
Aside from that the book is repetitive. Finding new ways to say the same thing over and over. It is the typical "it's all your fault" trope offered up by most finance gurus (they wouldn't get you to buy more stuff otherwise).
If someone reads this well aware of the shortcomings of the information and just looking for some basic advice and inspiration on how to improve their situation I think it's worth reading. There is some solid advice offered. show less

Financial advisor Chris Hogan gives advice on planning for retirement.

If you're familiar with Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover, you may also be familiar with Chris Hogan, who works with Dave. They have a similar conversational style of writing, a lot of exclamation points, and reading their books almost works better when you can have their voices in your head. But it's very solid, practical advice. I enjoyed my time reading - it was interesting, not dry, and I learned a lot. Not show more surprisingly since he works for Ramsey Solutions, Chris's philosophy to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and save diligently for retirement is part and parcel of Dave Ramsey's "baby steps" plan to get out of debt and build wealth. So it makes sense if you've been through the class or read Dave's books, while focusing specifically on the details of "Step 4" - put aside 15% of your income in retirement. That's about where I am in my own financial planning, so I got a lot out of the book. Chris stays positive even if you haven't been saving and are getting close to retirement, but it's especially helpful for younger people in their 20s and 30s who can really gain a lot from saving now. He breaks things down simply and clearly in a way that will make you excited to reach your own goals for retirement. show less

For getting inspired to save money, this gets a 10 out of 5 stars. It will definitely get you feeling inspired and pumped about living in a way that will set you up for the future, not just for yourself but to be able to use your money to benefit the lives of others.

That being said, it is basic. If you aren't living paycheck to paycheck and listen to Dave Ramsey regularly like I do, there isn't much meat here. That isn't really the point of the book, I guess, but it feels like fluff rather show more than getting down to the tactics and financial investing particulars that I would like to know more about.

This was a short, good read, but rather basic. show less