Well, maybe not EXACTLY an idiot. But, one of his key pieces of “personal finance” advice is just stupid. At least for most people.

David Bach is the author of a series of personal finance books like “The Automatic Millionaire” and “Start Late Finish Rich”.

I’m not quite sure why these books have caught on since they don’t seem to be much different from the same basic information you’d find in any personal finance book. It’s the same message you’ve heard before: save 10% of your income for a long time and you’ll get rich.

Bach puts a modern spin on this advice by appealing to the Starbucks crowd by calling it “The Latte Factor”. Basically, his point is that — if you skip the $5 latte every day — that’s $150 a month you can save. And, invested at 10% interest (yeah, right) then you can wind up with a million dollars in 40 years.

There are two problems with this formula as I see it:

  1. This is great advice for a 20-year old. But, the largest demographic in America are baby-boomers who are already in their 40s and they’re trying to figure out to solve their financial dilemna. They don’t have 40 years to save up. They want a solution now.
    And the second problem is…
  2. It’s the same old “deferred living” formula that requires you to hoard like a miser for the most productive years of your life….so that by the time you get to the end of your career, you’ve got some money but you’ve missed out on all the lattes!

David Bach isn’t really an idiot. He’s just immersed in the 1950s fairy tale about how saving money for retirement is the best way to create wealth. And it’s not.

Go make your money now. Make so much money that you can drink 5 lattes a day just for spite, if you want.

The solution to creating an abundant life for you and your family isn’t deferred living. Or working your ass off for 40 years.  The solution to creating an abundant life is to make sure that you’re engaged in a business that will pay you handsomely for your efforts…and which will allow you to enjoy all the sunsets, cruises, vacations, family time and lattes you can stand WHILE you’re doing it.

Seriously.  Read that again.  And then read it a third-time.

If you’ve got the sense to understand the words I’m typing, you have the ability to earn AT LEAST $20,000.00 PER MONTH.  At least.  I kid you not.

That’s what’s possible for you.  But it will never happen as long as you’re in the mindset of “skipping lattes” and “turning off the cable” so you can save enough money to save an extra $6 a week.

Start focusing on wealth…and abundance…and prosperity.  And you can create as much as you want….AND drink all the lattes you want.

Life is a choice. Choose well.

Tony Rush

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