Review: Vague Content Poorly Written
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 23, 2013
This book had almost no useful information in it; possibly the only helpful part was the section in the beginning where it reassured readers that not all minimalists are hippies living in self-imposed poverty. There were ridiculous typos that should have been caught by basic editing, and self-contradictory sentences like this little gem: "Cutting back is often the easiest way to improve your finances but it can also be the most difficult."There was almost no actual instructional content; readers are consistently advised to look up (unspecified) blogs and consumer websites to teach them about critical concepts like how to create a budget. Readers are also advised to "invest in budgeting software" to automatically link credit cards/bank accounts help track their spending and to "perform weekly checks" on where their finances/budget stand. None of the tools a reader would need to implement any of these vague suggestions are ever provided and personality styles are never accounted for in any fashion.This is decidedly not worth anyone's time or money. If you're looking to get your finances under control, I strongly suggest The 5 Money Personalities: Speaking the Same Love and Money Language by Scott and Bethany Palmer and Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. If you're looking for insights into minimalism specifically, go to youtube and look up TED talks about money. You'll learn infinitely more in ten minutes than you will from this entire book.