The Average Family's Guide To Financial Freedom

Okay, so the title just doesn’t grab you, but the content will. This book is worth buying and worth reading at least once every 2 years. It talks about contentment, controlling your spending, avoiding debt, living in a smaller house, college scholarships, the value of sleep, recreation ideas, parenting and a lot on investing. They don’t adhere to the common wisdom of most money experts that you should “pay yourself first.” The Toohey’s advocate cutting expenses, living less expensively and getting rid of debt so that you can create an excess of money. By following their own advice they were not only able to invest the money they saved, but the money they would have paid in consumer debt generated interest. Some would call them extreme, we call them extremely smart.

The Toohey family’s values parallel our in amazing ways. Bill and Mary are middle-income people from a small town in Iowa. In 1991 their net worth was $63,000 and their household combined income was about $60.000. Through frugal living, careful saving and wise investing, eight years later their net worth exceeded $450,000. To add to the story of their careful lifestyle, you’ve got to know that they have three kids — one who suffered from a severe disability from birth and chronic illness since then. So many stories of extreme savers don’t include children — but not this family — they’re the real thing. You need to meet this family in their book and be encouraged that you too can live a full and happy life while saving for the future. It was written in 2000 and published by John Wiley & Sons.