Book Reviews

I Will Teach You to Be Rich
Ramit Sethi
Copyright 2009, 2019
Read: 4-26-2021
My Rating: 5/5



I've just finished the Automatic Millionaire and this was next on the list. At first read, they seem entirely different but under the covers they are more or less the same book. Yes Ramit Sethi has his "Conscious Spending" and David Bach his "Latte Factor" but these are more the icing on the cake than the meat and bones of the book.

So what do they both agree on?

  • Save at least 10% of your income, but more is better.
  • Invest this in your companies 401k plan. Preferably in a "Target Date", "Lifestyle", or similar plan.
  • Automate this savings.
  • Invest in Index funds if possible.

To say that everything else is "flavor" is a bit reductionary, but it's also a bit of a comfort to have two different books from entirely different viewpoints and vastly differing presentation styles essentially give the same recommendations. It lends one to think there may be some truth here.

Of course with the similar underlying themes, comes the differences and none is more striking than the "flavor" or "presentation style". Personally, I preferred and enjoyed Ramit Sethi's style, whit, and sarcasm and found David Bach's approach to be a little too much rainbows and sunshine. But personal preferences vary, so choose the book that suits your style best because the "best" book is the one that will inspire YOU to take action.

If you are the kind of person that wants motivation and inspiration in a positive and upbeat style without getting bogged down in the details I would recommend "The Automatic Millionaire".

If you like a drier whit, some tough love, and all the gritty details then I would highly recommend "I Will Teach You to be Rich".

As for some of the minor differences between the views, I've having trouble finding them. On first read I thought they were numerous, but on a closer look I had trouble finding them. Finally after listing out the major points of each book they disappeared. I'm thinking that between the presentation being so utterly different and the order in which things are presented, it makes it difficult to accurately match up the viewpoints.

For example, when Ramit Sethi states that "I'm not the nagging parent who tells you to stop spending money on lattes" it gives the impression that he finds no value in the "latte factor" at all. On a closer look, by the time he mentions this he has already talked about automatically saving a portion of your salary in a 401k, so it's not the Apples to Apples comparison it seems to be on the surface. And to again over simplify, I'll just equate "The Latte Factor" with "Conscious Spending" as a mental shortcut.