The DFW Virtual Book Club

amosworks · 22 April 2006 at 10:30PM

OK folks, hope you're all well. I was in chatting to MinnieSpender in this thread and we got talking about book recommendations. Then this happened:

amosworks wrote:

Thanks for all the recommended reading you guys, maybe we should start a recommended reading thread and details books we've read, what it did to help us and the sort of people we would recommend them to? Like a DFW virtual book club I suppose?

So here it is. So far here are the recommendations:

heppy23 wrote:

I've read a book called "The luck factor" by Richard Wiseman. He basically says that so called "lucky" people tend to attract good things happening to them because of their outlook on life and their attitude to risk.
So called "unlucky" people miss out on things because they have a negative outlook.

donfanatico wrote:

A great book that will give a more positive outlook on life is "The Power of Kabbalah".
It made me think a lot about how I live my life etc...

MinnieSpender wrote:

I would highly recommend two books by Richard Templar:
The Rules of Work
and
The Rules of Life
Very shrewd, very clever.

I would recommend "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J Stanley, and "Transforming Debt into Wealth" by John Cummuta. Both will turn you upside down when it comes to how you perceive money, debt and all things fiscal.

You thing snowball is good? Wait til you cop a load of Cumulative Accelerator Margins

So any more for any more?

System · 22 April 2006 at 10:32PM

Recommend The Money Secert

D&DD · 22 April 2006 at 10:33PM

Hi Amos are we having just financial books on here or lifestyle etc etc?? Thanks

nearlyrich · 22 April 2006 at 10:40PM

There is a MSE "Book club" thread here started by Martin so please keep this thread on topic with only finance related books.

Any other recommendations for a good read can be discussed on the other thread.

I hope you have all read Martin's book??;)

amosworks · 23 April 2006 at 6:01PM

Thanks for re-opening the thread nearlyrich

Just to clarify with you guys, the recommended reading here isn't fiction like in the other thread but for good books (and maybe not so good books!?) that us folks have read that deal with becoming debt free, attitudes and approaches to money, savings and spending, and any similar "self help" genre that may be of use to anybody in their debt related situation.

I'm a book buff and love reading this sort of material, as it appears lots of others do (and we think maybe more should!!

) so we can recommend things for people to look at that might be useful.

As I mentioned to nearlyrich, whilst Jane Austin might be a great author, reading her material isn't going to help me become debt free

I think it would be a good idea if people who make any recommended reading suggestions (or dare I say "book reviews" :eek:) might do better to include a description of the book and suggest the sort of people it might benefit rather than just to list its title and author. I think this way we cam maximise the benefits of our collective fiscal literary knowledge to help people most.

On a personal note, I am always keen to read books that other people swear by and sometimes you find that hidden gem and you wonder how such a book could be so well a kept secret!! I look forward to consuming as many recommendations as people care to make!

I think it's taken for granted that everyone should have read the latest edition of Martin's book The Money Diet! If not, I think you should definitely get that book as it will pay for itself within just a phonecall to cut the cost of something!!!

The book that got the idea for this thread started was heppy23's suggestion for "The Luck Factor" by Dr Richard Wiseman. I too have read this and wholeheartedly recommend it to anybody who ever feels like everybody else always gets the luck. The book shows you how you can actually become luckier in life by changing your behaviours and reactions to certain things, and actually has exercises in that you must complete weekly. It doesn't guarantee you to win the lottery or anything but does show you that a lot of the luck we have is determined by ourselves rather than some unknown mystical force. You keep a luck diary and after following the exercises you will find that you actually become a luckier person! It might sound like witchcraft, but it's actually very scientific and well worth its weight in gold. If you were "born unlucky", this is definitely what you need to make you realise that people really do create their own luck!

Dr.Lou · 23 April 2006 at 6:15PM

'A Girls Best Friend is Her Money: Jane Mack and Jasmine Birtles' is a good book for dealing with your finances, mainly written to deal with womens finance but useful for all really..its not dull and written in quite a humorous way. I borrowed it from the library and it was so good, I went and bought a copy myself.

dippy-dora_2 · 23 April 2006 at 6:25PM

Thank you for this thread :j

I will jot down the titles you all suggest and see if my library has them.

I am reading the money diet and had to pay 20p to have it ordered in!

spaghetti_monster · 23 April 2006 at 9:01PM

I like Shakti Gawain's books. I guess "creating true prosperity" would be most relevant for this thread.

It might be a bit hippy-dippy/new-agey for some - but I like her basic ideas.

For example, she lists 3 attitudes to money:
Materialistic (external - you need lots of stuff to be happy)

Spiritual (internal - you don't need to get anything, happiness within, god will provide etc etc)

New Age (money is your mirror, so think positive and that'll sort it)

She explains why none of these is really the right way, but how they all have some truth and relevance and how we can balance these things.
Makes you think about prosperity, what "having enough" is.

I guess I also like things that make me think differently about life.

Alex x

Ali-OK · 23 April 2006 at 9:16PM

I've just read 'The Automatic Millionaire' by David Bach and am currently reading 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki.

Moral of the Automatic Millionaire is pay yourself first (I know we're DFWs, but this will be my mantra when I'm DF!). Take your gross hourly wage and work out how many hours a week/month do you pay yourself (save). This is biased on putting it in a pension to get the tax relief added.

It still talks about DFW things - don't have that latte and cappucino on your way to work as it costs £x and this could be better put to use.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad is about what a rich guy taught his kid and the kid's friend wanted to learn (as he had a real Dad and a step-Dad that said opposite things about money). Haven't finished it yet, so can't give you the moral of this story, but looks similar to Automatic Millionaire.

amosworks · 24 April 2006 at 11:16AM

dippy-dora wrote:

I am reading the money diet and had to pay 20p to have it ordered in!

Best 20p you've ever spent

Ali-OK wrote:

I've just read 'The Automatic Millionaire' by David Bach and am currently reading 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki.

Moral of the Automatic Millionaire is pay yourself first (I know we're DFWs, but this will be my mantra when I'm DF!). Take your gross hourly wage and work out how many hours a week/month do you pay yourself (save). This is biased on putting it in a pension to get the tax relief added.

It still talks about DFW things - don't have that latte and cappucino on your way to work as it costs £x and this could be better put to use.

David Bach is one of my gods

The Latte Factor is something on here most people understand and have actually managed to get rid of IMHO, it's just dressed up slightly differently under the guise of old-style I suppose

Most DFW's realised they have their latte factor and I think everytime someone posts and SoA, others pickup on it without them even realising

Doing away with budgets was the best thing David Bach ever taught me, and the concept of paying yourself first is something I've told other people about before as it never occurs to people they should be the first once to get the fruits of their labours :rolleyes:

I've known about Rich Dad, Poor Dad and really want to look at but not got round to it yet, so when you've finished it I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on it

Snich · 24 April 2006 at 1:00PM

The Automatic Millionaire was what triggered my Lightbulb moment. It caused me to buy the money diet. It's a brilliant book and has changed how me and my BF treat money and paying off debt.

Obviously Martin is still the Guru though...

Snich x

The DFW Virtual Book Club

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free