Today I finished All Your Worth - The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. The reason I finished it so fast was because I really did not read it all. A lot of it did not pertain to me and my financial situation. It also was not a very good book. The authors have one theme, and they stick with this theme throughout the whole book. The book is meant for anyone without a financial plan or a financial plan that is not working. The book gives little investing advice. They mainly focus on how to get your income on track so you can start in on their plan.
The authors plan is very simple, in theory. You spend 50% on your Must-Haves, 30% on your Wants, and 20% on Savings. This plan seems very simple, in theory. Must-Haves are the bills you have to pay all the time, like mortgage, car payments, and insurance. Wants are the things that are just for fun, like vacations, computers, and beer. Savings include retirement, emergency fund, and debt repayment. Although this seems like a good idea, a lot of items blur the line between categories. The authors have a few of these items that they put in both categories, and it is very hard to tell what belongs in what category. Cable TV goes in the Must-Haves in one chapter, Wants in another chapter, then back to Must-Haves in another.
I did the calculation, and I have around 65% of my income devoted to Must-Haves. The authors have a whole chapter related to trimming down your Must-Haves, but absolutely none of it pertains to me. They also give recommendations that everyone should already know. Shop for a better mortgage, or if you pay too much for a car, sell it. My biggest problems are things like my cell phone bill which is only around $80 a month, but that was the best plan I could find at the time. My cable is also around $95, but again, that is the best deal I can find. I am going to call these companies and look for discounts, but none of this is mentioned in the book. The discounts will MAYBE bring my percent down to 64%. If I have 65% related to Must-Haves, then the whole program is screwed up for me. Seeing that I had 65% really scared me because I did not know how was I going to save, but then the book offered no remedy for me.
The only thing I really pulled away from this book was the fact that Must-Haves are MUST HAVES. This will just help me manage my budget better. I can take the money I make, subtract all the things that I HAVE to pay for, then come up with a savings budget from there. I finally became at ease when I realized that there was not much I could do about these must haves but maybe chop a few dollars out here and there.
Overall, I think everyone should PASS on this book. It had a decent concept, but I do not think this concept could work for a lot of people. I know that it doesn’t work for me. It was also very confusing and gave very interesting tidbits. Also, if you think the 10% Compounding Myth is bad, this book uses 12%.