Debt Is Slavery: Ten Lessons
J.D. Roth at GetRichSlowly reviews Michael Mihalik’s 2007 book, Debt is Slavery (and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money), by providing ten lessons he learned from the read.
You would have come across these ideas before, but this roundup is good because it’s simple and each lesson is important to staying out of debt and generating wealth.
Save 50% of your salary. This is the most ambitious advice in the book, but I like it. Mihalik writes, “Have you ever asked yourself how people who immigrate to the United States can come here, get a low-paying job, and open their own business five years later? How can they do that, making around minimum wage, when you can’t, making more than minimum wage? They save. They save 50 percent or more of their salary. They don’t go into debt, they work hard and make other sacrifices, so they can buy their own business and control their financial destinies.”
Book Review: Debt is Slavery - [GetRichSlowly]
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Comments
drainweb blog says on August 7th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
does selling pure-cut columbian blow count as salary? i mean geez - you’d have to be extremely well off or even live with your parents to save 50% of your salary.
christopher says on August 7th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Currently I spend 50% of my net salary to keep a roof over my head here in San Francisco. If I was prepared to rent a room in a shared house, only cook and eat at home, etc I could probably save 50% of my salary. Is it worth it to me, no it isn’t for other people ….
Peter says on August 8th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I work 2 jobs (Real Estate Broker and software Engineer) in the Bay Area. I pretty much take lunch to work and don’t spend much. Actually if you work 2 full time jobs 7 days (and nights) a week, it’s hard to spend a lot of money so I invest the rest. I would say I spend about 50% of my income and invest 50%. I am 31, I started from scratch 4 years ago (thanks to the dot com bust), have 2 investment properties and have my own home and I plan to retire in less than 10 years. Is it worth it? Yes to me. The feeling that I don’t have to work, but working because I am helping people in the future beats worrying about not having enough for retirement at 65 or 70 hands down.
Twinkles says on August 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I’d love to be able to do this, but with children and associated costs it’s not always a practical idea. My husband has a good job, I am self employed and work from home, but still, saving half of what we earn? Once we take out bills and house payments it’s just not possible.
Michael Mihalik says on September 5th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Thank you for your comments about my book, “Debt is Slavery”.
The book contains 10 chapters, each describing a separate idea. “Save 50% of Your Salary” is Chapter 9. It’s necessary to read the previous 8 chapters to build up to the possibility of saving 50% of your salary. To look only at Chapter 9 without reading the preceding 8 chapters is like trying to play Rachmaninoff on the piano without first learning your scales.
It’s not easy, but it can be done. You just have to change the way you think about money, which takes time and effort.
My suggestion? Read “Debt is Slavery”. I kept it short on purpose so that it’s a quick read. But it doesn’t lack for content. If you don’t want to buy the book, save your money and check the local library.
Good luck!