Book Review: I Wish They Taught Money In High School - Cebu X-Geeks

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Monday, January 20, 2014

Book Review: I Wish They Taught Money In High School

I was given a complimentary copy of a book aimed on promoting financial literacy for Filipinos - the youth, recent college graduates and young professionals in particular.

The book entitled “I Wish They Taught Money In High School” is actually a back to back book by authors Clarissa Serina-de la Paz and Sharon W. Que.


In this blog post, I’m going to write about my thoughts about this book or should I say two books?

Part 1: I Wish They Taught Money In High School So I’m Not Dependent On My Paycheck

First of all, the cover artworks and the titles of this back to back book are very catchy. If this was displayed in bookstores, it would have caught my attention easily and younger people too. I think the artwork, choice of colors and titles was a good move from the authors and their publisher considering their target audience.

Now I’ve read a lot of financial literacy book so I had low expectations. I thought, I was only going to learn the same things. Nothing new. However, to my surprise, I discovered new information and insights from this book.

The first part of the book which I read is the one which talks about generating passive income so you won’t have to rely from paycheck to paycheck.

This topic is very timely for a great number of Filipinos today always end up short with their salary. I don’t have the numbers to verify this claim, but I see this problem all the time and I have personally experienced the same.

Here, Clarissa dissects highly technical financial jargons and explains them in very simple terms so that even high schoolers will not have a hard time understanding them. If one was to advocate financial literacy, then one must start with the basics.

She also encourages her readers to dream. With all the problems people face today, a lot of people have forgotten to dream and set goals.

"Before you can make your dreams come true, you have to have a dream."

Bullseye!

This part of the book reminds me of something I learned from someone I can’t remember. According to him, the reason why our prayers are not answered is because we are not specific.

In her book, Clarissa shared her “specifics” on what would make her feel rich. And I must tell you that I was really inspired to set my own financial goals. I was so giddy that I grabbed my notebook and wrote my own version.

She also explains Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow quadrant. Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is quite a lengthy read so if you are looking for a shortcut, this book is it.

You will also learn about common money myths and her idea of using debts and credit cards as leverage to help build your investments was life changing for me. If that got you curious, you should get this book.

There are many more helpful topics explained in this book to help you start generating passive income. The only thing I found missing is the emphasis on building an emergency fund.

Part 2: I Wish They Taught Money In High School So I Can Start My Own Business Right Away

How many of you thought of starting your own business? Well I do, many times. The idea of starting a business is both exciting and scary.

In this part of the book the author, Sharon, shares her personal experience in business.

The business they've (Sharon and friends) ventured was more on real estate but the strategy they have used can also be used for other ventures.

Is it possible to start a business with little or no capital? Find the answer in this book.

After reading this part of the book, I gained lots of inspiration for my future business. Maybe you will too. Aside from that, Sharon gave the list of requirements and steps on how to register a business. And if you want to earn income from real estate, Sharon also shares their data and computations from some of their past ventures.

Conclusion

I completed reading the whole book within half a day. For such a short book, I believe they have covered the fundamentals so that people will start handling their finances well and lead them to the kind of life they wanted.

You can grab your own copy here: HTTP://LIFESTYLEUPGRADE101.COM/SHOP/

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