I don’t usually read financial “self-help” books. And it was obvious with this book also since
it took me so long to read and to write a review for it (sorry Advertisewithbloggers.com).
Now, I’m not saying that financial books are boring. You can ALWAYS find new ideas on how to save
money/build wealth in them and this book provided that. I got some recommendations on two other
financial books “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Richard Kiyosaki and “The Millionaire
Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley. Both
helped the author changed his perception on how to build wealth. I’ll admit it-the latter has been sitting on
my bookshelf for YEARS and has never been opened.
“The Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom” provides
the author’s approach for how to (eventually) live without a full time job
using passive income streams. His
approach is real estate and the book focuses on this. Unfortunately, real estate isn’t for
everyone. The author lists a couple of
different passive income, but never recommends information about or where to
find out more about these other ways of generating passive income. Just a spot I thought was missing from the
book.
The author also reminisces on how he got to his point in his
life. I think this was a great
story. He and his wife were willing to
take a chance and move away from family to get to where they wanted in
life. This resonated with me as I moved
over 300 miles from my family, alone, when I was 20 because of a job
opportunity that I knew would never happen in my hometown area.
There were points in the book I agreed with and some I
didn’t. One was using a financial
planner. I disagree that a person should
not use a financial planner. I agreed
with the statement that you should use a good one if you do and learn about
investing. My husband and I use a
financial planner. Luckily, in our
opinion, he’s a good one. We make money
on our financial investments and we are “the millionaire next door” because of
the “old fashion way” of earning a paycheck and saving money.
I also agree with the goals portion of the book. One of the biggest goals that my husband and
I had was to pay down debt. We are now
(and have been) debt free besides our mortgage for many years. “The Average Joe’s Pursuit to Financial
Freedom” provides a great layout for setting financial goals; whatever they may
be.
I would love to have more passive income, but like the
author mentioned. If you and your spouse
are not on the same page with goals, it won’t happen. We agree on the “old fashion” way, so that is
our financial plan until retirement. Our
house is an asset (our home as appreciated since we’ve had it), our spending is
under control and our credit scores are in the high 700s. With that being said, half of the book didn’t
pertain to me.
HOWEVER, that’s not to say that it’s not a good book. It’s just not the book for me. If someone is looking to learn from an
average guy how he is achieving his financial goals through real estate (and if
you watch HGTV’s Income Property), you would like this book. It gives you the basic structure on what you
need to create that “team” who supports you with your properties.
I was a landlord/property manager for my childhood home for
11 years after moving away. What a pain
in the butt – and I had the support system I needed (handyman, plumber,
etc.). Word to the wise: If you do get into real estate, either have
the houses close by or use a full service property management company.
As I first mentioned, there is ALWAYS something that can be
learned. So even if you aren’t into
using real estate as a passive income, I would still read it. It might give you some ideas that you haven’t
thought about yet – or maybe you will get into the real estate game!
The above review is my opinion. I was not paid for this review, but was given a copy of the book.
From back of book cover:
An Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom offers a different perspective on money than what is traditionally taught by our parents and in our school systems. The reason there is such a discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor is due to the difference in the way money is perceived. We are not born with the ability to maintain wealth: it is something that is learned. The knowledge of knowing how to make money work to generate passive income is something that anyone can learn as long as they are disciplined. An Average Joe’s Pursuit for Financial Freedom is based on practical concepts and discusses the problems that the majority of us face with our personal finance. The concepts in this book are based on theory by an author that practices what he writes about.
AUTHOR BIO:Website http://www.freeaveragejoe.com/
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