One of the surprise benefits of re-reading “Money: Master the Game” is to really own what it means to me. I have repeatedly written about it in glowing terms (here and here), yet recently I realized that I have in fact been self-conscious about how much I love it. This seems to have begun when I first read and saw other people’s take on this book (on online blogs and discussion groups). Said feedback was overwhelmingly negative. Incredibly, some people hate this book!
Case in point: last week I searched online for information on one of the ideas* Tony mentions in his book. Sure enough, I went to a financial discussion site where someone else mentioned reading “Money: Master the Game.” Several people responded not only by rejecting Tony’s ideas as bad advice, but also by insinuating that Tony is only recommending something because he is getting “kickbacks.”
In other words, don’t trust this guy, he’s just out to get your money!
This upset me. Clearly these people haven’t read Tony’s book. The idea that he is just in it “for the money” is pretty ludicrous, especially considering that Tony donated 100% of his book proceeds to feeding people.
There are a lot of personal finance books I’ve enjoyed, but “Money: Master the Game” is the one that opened the door into the world of savings and investing. More importantly, it (and this video Tony created at the time) convinced me that I can master this area of my life. This is a big deal. Taking care of our finances has given me a lot of peace of mind and personal well-being.
Turns out this book has deeply emotional meaning to me. No wonder I got upset seeing people knocking it. To be clear, I’m under no illusions that I can change someone’s mind. As the Taylor Swift lyric goes, “Haters gonna hate, hate, hate!” This post is more about me owning how I feel, and letting go of caring what someone else thinks 🙂 My message to such people: It’s ok, you think what you want to think. I’ll think what I want to think.
Lastly, for the record, I want to list some of the main gifts this book has given me. Notice also just how many of these ideas have ended up as blog posts on this blog:
- Buy low-cost Vanguard index funds.
- You’re not going to earn your way to wealth. Rather, invest your way there!
- Pay yourself first: a portion of what you earn is yours to keep… start building your money machine!
- Utilize the power of compounding by staying invested for the long haul
- Don’t try to time the market. Instead, focus on “time IN the market.“
- You can do it! No matter what your financial world looks like, you can get started on your investing journey. You will be glad you did!
- Learn from the masters! This book introduced me to the likes of Jack Bogle, David Swensen, Ray Dalio, John Templeton, and Warren Buffett. All of whom I have since read their books or read books about them!
- The secret to living is giving (Tony donated 100% of his book proceeds to Feeding America, an amazing and generous fact that helped win me over to reading the book in the first place)
Once again, many thanks to Tony Robbins for a fine endeavor to help the individual investor. Speaking personally, you’ve done well, my friend. I appreciate you.
*The specific idea is about “Private Placement Life Insurance,” or PPLI. It’s something I know nothing about, but I was curious to find out more. At this point it’s not an idea I’m likely to pursue. As with anything, there are ideas in the book that resonate more than others. Some will, some won’t. So what?