Simple Wealth Summary

Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth by Nick Murray is a simple, yet profound

Book that discusses different information that could help obtain and achieve wealth. On the cover is a tree; this tree can represent your “wealth tree” where the longer you nurture it and continue feeding it, the larger it will grow and set an individual on the path to financial freedom. Chapter one is premised around what a financial advisor can and can’t do for you. One of the more popular sections of this chapter was the different reason’s why we need an advisor. I agree with Nick in this statement, an example of this is a brief conversation I held with a co-worker a couple years back. This was during the time I was beginning to take some of the beginning finance

The answer I received was “it’s just a savings account that people use for retirement.” While I am nowhere near an expert in the field, I logged into my 401(k) account online and showed him the different funds that it’s invested in, invested meaning the stock market and not just a simple savings account like he previously mentioned. While some people can simply jump into the stock market and not have any issues, others like the co-worker mentioned above, struggle with the idea of using the stock market. Financial knowledge is rather weak in today’s age. That’s why Nick is correct in saying that it is a must to have a financial advisor. Throughout chapter 1 he also mentions the word “trust” frequently. “Trust the process”, “mutual respect and trust is enduring wealth built” and “try not to worry, the investor is doing that for you.” To me personally, Trust is so hard to earn, yet so easily burned. In class we’ve mentioned how we should interview CFP’s to find one that we are comfortable with. I find it ironic how when it comes to saving, investing and financial planning a typical person is so skeptical of advisors, yet when they are out at a restaurant, it’s normal and acceptable behavior for

Nick puts it as “Equities don’t make people wealthy; people make themselves wealthy. The most important variable in your equity quest is also the only variable you ultimately control: your own behavior.” I’ve read a few of Dave Ramsey’s finance books from both him and his team members that he endorses. They were intriguing so I decided to attend one of Dave’s “Smart Money” events. While most people either have a love-hate relationship with Dave’s plan, to me, his main premise is centered similarly around Nick Murray’s that behavior plays a huge role in it. Dave always says, “finance is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge” this quote is what lead me down the path of finance and trying to understand it better. By simply changing my behavior I had the opportunity to pay off my car. I used to have credit cards that I would rack up frequently. They have long since been paid off and rarely ever get used. (big emphasis on the rarely word) I also cringe when people think of them as an emergency fund, to me, having more payments or deeper amounts of debt doesn’t solve an emergency fund. I avoided taking out student loans until this, my senior year of college. Although I will graduate with around 10k in student loan debt, I feel lucky I don’t have the substantial amount that many of my peers and generation