Rich Is a Religion: Breaking the Timeless Code to Wealth

by: Mark Stevens

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Reviewed by Connie Anderson

Being/thinking/acting rich is a religion–it’s a way of looking at money differently than most of us do–and we’re teaching our children about money. Now that’s a problem.

Today author Mark Stevens is rich and treats being rich like a religion–but he grew up very poor. His father died young, leaving his wife and children with $87. His dad lived paycheck to paycheck and spent what he earned–and more.

The dichotomy of this book’s message is that you can best understand this philosophy when you are more mature, but you need to believe and live that philosophy from young on. Many of our first paychecks goes to wants, to impress others, for example.

Stevens is a Business Week bestselling author of a Your Marketing Sucks and several other books. This is not a business book, but a life book. He doesn’t talk about the proverbial “keep up with the Joneses,” but with the Buffets, Gates, etc. What’s that all about?

With this thinking, just because you have money doesn’t mean you have to spend it on stuff to impress others. Stevens says, (pg. 40):

— Don’t buy anything you don’t need.

— Don’t care whether you are perceived as being rich or being poor.

— Have assets that appreciate where others have fashion and toys.

Stevens fills his book with stories of people like Sam Walton (Walmart/Sam’s Club) and his humble way of living. Steven learned lessons from every job he every had, starting from hen he had to work to support his family as a teenager.

We all want money and work to earn it, but those for whom “rich is a religion” use money to achieve financial independence from it. They:

— Learned the importance of making money while you slept.

— Stopped spending money to impress others.

— Think the most important money they have is money no one else sees.

People who only look at money for what it can buy don’t respect money. They lack discipline, control, and with it a sense of judiciary responsibility for protecting what they have earned.

So much of the 21st Century is about stuff–have more. Is that what got us where we are today in this national and global financial crisis?

Armchair Interviews says: A most interesting and much-needed look at what money should mean to us.

Author’s Web site: http://www.RichIsaReligion.com