Review of: 7 Steps to Financial Freedom

7 Steps to Financial Freedom – A Practical Guide to Building and Protecting Your Wealth by Anton A Ivanov.

Summary:

The seven steps are:

• Commit to Becoming Financially Free – Addresses overcoming fears and doubts as well as setting goals.
• Spend a Lot Less Than You Earn – Addresses net worth, budgeting and spending less than you earn.
• Become the Enemy of Debt – Addresses paying off debt using the avalanche strategy of paying off high interest debt first and then discusses staying debt free by saving and paying cash for large items.
• Protect Yourself and Your Wealth – Addresses building an emergency fund, getting adequate insurance coverage and touches on protecting yourself with legal entities.
• Buy Assets, Not Toys – Addresses why you should buy assets that grow in value instead of things that don’t and then does pro/con comparisons of stocks, bonds, real estate and your own business.
• Maximize Your Income – Addresses ways to make the most including being great at your job, diversifying income streams and starting your own full time business.
• Grow and Nourish Your Investments – This section pulls the seven steps together into a system and then addresses ways to grow your investment nest egg through reinvested dividends, types of investments and tax saving possibilities.

Read this book to understand and address:

This book is great for the young adult just starting out on their own or someone who has just begun their journey out of debt and into wealth. The concepts are clear and concisely stated with clear examples.

What I liked:

The consistent use of a recap, action plan and additional resources in each of the seven steps wrapped up each step tightly.

As of this date (11/18/13), the book is being offered free as an incentive to join Anton’s newsletter subscriber list.

What I wished for:

This book appears to be meant for the beginner in personal finance. If you have some sophistication in the area it will be too shallow for you, except perhaps the resource lists at the end of each chapter.

Favorite quotes:

 “Wealthy people use their positive cash flow to buy assets that grow in value or provide passive income. They own stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate and thriving businesses.” p. 32

“Inaction never leads to success.” p. 53