Everyday Millionaires

During my recent flight, I read Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan. The same Google feed article on personal finance that I mentioned in my earlier post also recommended this book, and I borrowed it from the library at the same time as Baby Steps Millionaires by Dave Ramsey.

Long story short, Everyday Millionaires contains the same information as Baby Steps Millionaires, so reading it from a purely intellectual perspective would be redundant. The book basically repeats the baby steps, which are

1. save $1,000 for a starter emergency fund,
2. pay off all debt except mortgage,
3. save three to six months expenses in an emergency fund,
4. save 15% of pre-tax income into retirement accounts by first maxing out company match in 401(k), then Roth IRA, and then tax-deferred plan, all in a diversified stock mutual fund,
5. fund children’s college fund through a 529 college savings plan,
6. pay off mortgage early, and
7. be generous and give.

In fact, the author, Chris Hogan, was an employee at Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions, and worked on the National Study of Millionaires.

However, I really enjoyed reading the book. Here are the positives.

1. The writing style is very entertaining. It’s written without using fancy words, and you get the impression that the author is talking to you and coaching you to be successful.
2. There is not much digression with the bible or Christian values, unlike Baby Steps Millionaires.
3. Compared to Baby Steps Millionaires, there are more episodes of ordinary people achieving the millionaire status, which are all inspiring.

Next are the negatives.

1. There is no new information relative to Baby Steps Millionaires. To be fair, even Baby Steps Millionaires doesn’t have much new information (at least conceptually) relative to classics like The Richest Man in Babylon.
2. Not just the book contains no new information, it repeats the inaccurate statements in Baby Steps Millionaires that I already pointed out in my earlier post.

That said, about 90% of what is written in the book is great advice, and I highly recommend reading it, especially for young people who haven’t thought much about how to achieve financial independence. I might buy the book to my kids as a birthday present.

After reading the book, I got interested in the author, so I googled. Apparently, after publishing the book, the author had an affair with a coworker at Ramsey Solutions, got fired, and got divorced. We, mortals, all make mistakes. I wish the author all the best in overcoming the adversity.