last weekend, i finished reading david bach’s the automatic millionaire.  i saw this book while browsing in a used bookstore some months ago, and the title, admittedly, piqued my interest.  soon after, i ended up reserving my copy at the local public library.

in his book, bach explores how you and i can become what he calls ‘automatic millionaires’.  he tells us that the process is not hard to implement, one just needs to start.  we also don’t need to have a lot of resources, or give up that much money at a time.  it does not require willpower or discipline.  rather..

behind all his proposed action steps lies his one main point loud and clear:

automate it!

bach addresses a handful of main facets in our financial lives and outlines how to handle them in order to become that ‘automatic millionaire’.  the book is broken down into the following chapters:

1. meeting the automatic millionaire
2. the latte factor
3. learn to pay yourself first
4. now make it automatic
5. automate for a rainy day
6. automatic debt-free homeownership
7. the automatic debt-free lifestyle
8. make a difference with automatic tithing

so, what is an ‘automatic millionaire’ ?

the automatic millionaire is someone who automates all things financial in his/her life (or as much as possible) in order to achieve wealth.

the automatic millionaire DOES:

• pay himself first
• determine his/her wasteful spending in order to find the money to build savings with
• own his/her own home
• put savings away in a retirement account
• prepare for change by putting aside a rainy day fund
• does find good interest rates to compound money with
• borrow if to earn money, not to go into debt
• give back, is generous
• and of course, automate his/her finances

on the other hand, the automatic millionaire DOES NOT:

• do debt!
• do budgets!
• rent his/her home!
• pay him/herself last!
• not work for him/herself!
• earn low interest in savings or checking accounts!
• sign up for a store charge card!

in each chapter above, bach introduces and then explains his main principles.  he then offers action steps, and the resources available to the reader in the form of lists, tables, and graphs.  he speaks in a friendly, easy to understand,  and conversational tone.  as a result, one might quickly become engaged in the book and finish reading it in perhaps 2-4 hours.

i highly recommend this book.  although the book’s title may seem as if the author is about to divulge some novel get-rich-quick schemes, that is far from the case.  instead, his principles are common-sense and sound, ideas that we have most likely heard in other personal finance books that we have read, such as in the richest man in babylon (for instance, the concept of ‘pay yourself first’ comes to mind).  the difference though, is that he adamantly encourages the reader to automate all the steps that he discusses in order to ensure becoming a millionaire (gradually), and to make the whole pursuit as ’simple’ as possible while taking advantage of the various resources available to us (from banks to websites, bonds to retirement accounts) in our financial planning.

i could easily lay out right here more details of the processes.  however, i’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to discover them for yourself.  find a copy of the automatic millionaire in your local library or used bookstore today!  you may be amazed and amused at how ‘easy’ it can be to automate your way to becoming a millionaire!

have you read this book?  if so, what did you think of it?  did you have any favorite ideas or action steps?  what is your latte factor?

if not, why not?