50 in 2010 — Book 5 (You Don’t Have to be Rich)

As part of a New Year’s conversation about our financial situation, I picked up You Don’t Have to Be Rich off the shelf and started reading. I’ve had this book for a long time, purchasing it sometime during my stint at the Barnes and Noble in Charlottesville. I’d picked it up and read bits and pieces before, but never made the effort to read the whole thing. I plugged away at it this month in between my other books and finally finished a few days ago.

The financial advice contained in You Don’t Have to be Rich wasn’t anything new, but it was good to have it reinforced. The interesting thing about Chatzsky’s book was it was based on lots of survey data, so you’re able to compare your own financial habits with those of average Americans. The statistic that inspired the title was that, while happiness increases as more money is earned, that increase stops at around $50,000. After that, more money doesn’t mean more happiness (according to the survey).

No word on the BIG corollary, though. Mo money may or may not equal mo problems.