I will teach you to be rich
by Ramit Sethi · first published 2009
78% recommend16% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Practical, rational personal finance overview that gets the core right: automate saving and investing, tackle the biggest costs first, and spend energy on bigger things. Suits young people with high income potential.
Common criticism: Title and marketing feel scammy, though the content is solid
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
At last, for a generation that's materially ambitious yet financially clueless comes I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi's 6-week personal finance program for 20-to-35-year-olds. A completely practical approach delivered with a nonjudgmental style that makes readers want to do what Sethi says, it is based around the four pillars of personal finance— banking, saving, budgeting, and investing—and the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship.Sethi covers how to save time by not wasting it managing money; the guns and cars myth of credit cards; how to negotiate like an Indian—the co
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…lot better applying energy to your start-up or whatever you're working on than dwelling on ticker prices. . You're probably not playing with enough money to make it worth worrying about Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" book is a great overview of personal finance. He convinced me to automate my investments and not worry about following the market day to day. (UPDATE: fixed formatting, thanks davidw)
on “Ask HN: How did you learn about stock market/trading investing ?” ↗…this is where the author found out about his own subconscious blocks. Two other books that helped me were "The Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach, which taught me to put my savings on autopilot, and "I Will Teach You to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. Ramit is an author and blogger in his twenties who I've found to have the best day-to-day info and motivation to keep me on track. No matter how good you are at anything else in your…
on “How to hack the beliefs that are holding you back” ↗…with my Roth IRA provider) saying that you can withdrawal from your Roth IRA as long as it's only capital invested, and not money earned on that investment. As spammy of a title as it is, Ramit Sethi's "I will Teach you to be Rich" book is a great no-bullshit look at understanding your personal finances.
on “To retire comfortably, under-40 workers need to seriously bulk up savings” ↗Read "I Will Teach You To Be Rich", Ramit Sethi. 500x better than the title would suggest.
on “Ask HN: Money management” ↗"I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi (http://amzn.to/2aF1vjF). It's a fantastic, easy read that takes you step-by-step into automating your finances and making smart decisions toward not necessarily being rich, but being…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…off my credit cards in full each month, carrying no debt. (I was lucky enough to get a full ride to college, so no student loans.) My finance automation strategy is largely based on Ramit Sethi's book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich", which I highly recommend. Spending-wise, I do the Marie Kondo "Does this bring me joy?" about things that I'm going to spend money on. I will almost always spend money on food and experiences, but…
on “Ask HN: What are your rules-of-thumb for personal finance and saving?” ↗…to go and is probably still your best option (at least for the majority of your savings). I’d read the little books by John Bogle (Vanguard founder), the Simple Path To Wealth (book or blog) and maybe I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramith Sethi (book). That said, the future isn’t as certain as it was in the last 200 years. I doubt we will see the same levels of economic growth with the various crisises intensifying over the…
on “Ask HN: What are your best and safest investment options?” ↗…24.99%+ APY on five figure balances. If there's _any_ risk of that happening I'd stay the hell away from levered investments and reach for the automatic-monthly-credit-card-payments of Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You to be Rich". Another risk is the hedonic treadmill -- if you're used to an elevated standard of living in your early 20s, it can be hard to get out of levered spending later in life. Probably would need to choose…
on “Life at the Margin: How I got $25,000 in debt” ↗Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich was nicely written and has a lot of supplementary stuff, mostly centred around managing personal finance well. Probably not one of the "seminal" books - it's new - but a decent read.
on “Ask HN: Books on getting rich?” ↗I hate the title of Ramit's book, because I have to add an explanatory sentence every single time I recommend it to a friend. "You should really check out this book... it's called I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I know, it really really really sounds like a scam, but it's actually the exact opposite. Just trust me. No seriously, really. Please just trust me and get the book. Come on."
on “What kind of traffic is driven by a single mention of a domain on network TV?” ↗…are some of my personal favorites: 1) The Millionaire Next Door 2) The Intelligent Investor (must read!) 3) How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously 4) Your Money or Your Life 5) I Will Teach You to Be Rich (relevant to you at your age) 6) Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, and How to Correct Them (short and sweet) 7) The Rational Optimist (not specifically about personal finance but a great read…
on “Ask HN: A good book about personal finance?” ↗…basically a fad diet book. There's some good advice, but it's mixed with bad advice and illegal schemes, slathered with a thick layer of inspirational bullshit. For a better personal finance book, try "I will teach you to be rich", despite the clickbait title: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
on “Rich dad, poor dad – the story that formed my views on making money” ↗…good habits, organization, etc. Think "Wellness" but with possibly a more tech-focused spin. I get much satisfaction from books like Spark Joy (Marie Kondo), Four Hour Work Week (Timothy Ferriss), and I Will Teach You To Be Rich (Ramit Sethi). Your post about researching, doing, and reflecting really speaks to me. And I feel like I should jump in... but I'm hesitant because I'm not sure I can easily come up with 20-25 starting…
on “Ask HN: Starting blogging when you're not an expert?” ↗I Will Teach You to Be Rich. Bad title, but this helped me to automate saving and put my energy into more important things.
on “Ask HN: Which books made you the most money?” ↗The Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. In my mid twenties, this book helped me pay off all my student loans and build an emergency fund with 4-6 months of runway. It changed the way I think about money. I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. This built on top of Dave Ramsey’s by helping me create a system to build my wealth through investing and still continue to save towards future goals/emergencies.
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?” ↗