From Debt to Riches — Steps to Financial Success — Book Review
Hey!! It’s me again with another book review, and yes, it’s finance-related, again. Today’s review/financial literacy pep-talk is by Phumelele Ndumo on From Debt to Riches — Steps to Financial Success.
You guys already know the drill by now, but I’ll repeat it. I’m going to use a book review recommended by Ali Abdaal, one of my favorite YouTubers. So, let’s get into it.
How I discovered this book:
People that know me know that I started my financial literacy journey by binge-watching Nicolette Mashile’s YouTube videos. The more I watched, the more I wanted to know her better, so I would stalk her Instagram profile every now and again. One of her very old posts was a screenshot of this book. I screenshotted the book and vouched that I’ll buy it one day. So, I did, but many many months later. But that’s not the point — better late than never, right?!
The book in 5 sentences or less:
The title of the book says it all. I like to call it ‘The-Tell-It-All-About-Debts’ or ‘What-Creditors-Do-Not-Want-Us-To-Know’ because my outlook on debt literally changed when I was reading this book. In simple terms, this book teaches you how to manage debt, get out of debt if you are in one, and what kind of debts to take, and which ones to avoid. If this is a topic that resonates with you then this book is definitely for you. And it is a fun book to read, that I promise.
Impressions:
In all the books I have read up to date, this one takes the cup, simply because there were some decisions that I had planned to make but later learnt in this book that it would have been a terrible mistake. If you are wondering what that is, it’s buying furniture on credit. So, in a nutshell, this book was an eye-opener for me, and I have started advocating for other people to read it too.
Who should read it:
Now this is an interesting part. I know of people that don’t like ‘self-help’ books, but there is a saying that goes like ‘prevention is better than cure.’ The point I’m trying to make here is that I think everyone should read this book, regardless of your wealth status; whether you prefer to learn through your own experiences rather than other people’s, etc. But mainly, people that live hand-to-mouth, and people that like taking clothing and furniture credits a lot are the first group of people I’d recommend this book to.
How the book changed me:
I have said this before, but I am super grateful that I read this book before making some dumb decisions. I made better decisions while reading this book and will continue to practice all that I learnt from this book going forward. In addition to the furniture lesson above, the other lessons that mostly resonated with me are in the quotes below.
My top 3 quotes from the book:
- “There is bad debt — which is the kind that does not increase your wealth over time. And there is good debt — which is the money that you borrow to buy things that will pay you back over time” — Page 2
- “Prices of houses were going up so fast my savings were never going to catch up” — Page 5
- “We cannot afford to be adults and still worry about what the next person thinks.” “Some of the best things we can do for ourselves are those that no one can see.” -Page 80
Quotes from the book that I have seen play out in real life:
- ‘The quality of life we enjoy today is a result of the decisions we took many years ago” — Page 82
- “How our parents treated money influences how we think and act towards money” — Page 192
- “The unhappiest people are those who know they could have done better but they did not” — Page 203.
Conclusion:
I added the last part because I could write separate articles with the last three quotes above, mainly because I have witnessed them play out in real life, in different scenarios, and in different people. And I’m sure most of you have too, which just goes to show that people continue to make the exact same mistakes that have been preached about before, and this further shows that the secrets to financial freedom never change, ever!!
