It is no secret that I hold a special place in my heart for Dave Ramsey and his team, they have changed the direction of my life tremendously. One thing that I have learned from listening to the financial gurus that come from Financial Peace plaza is to seek advice from someone who has the heart of a teacher. This way when you need to, you can make an informed decision. Chris Hogan’s book does just that. He provides you the , information along with the personal and professional stories to back it up.
Prior to picking up the book, I expected to hear lots of talk about becoming debt free. Chris, being a Dave Ramsey personality, I expected to read much of the same material that I could find from Dave Ramsey. My hope, however, was that the material present was not presented the same. Chris did not disappoint! He maintained his own theme of creating a retirement movement. Giving a brief synopsis of how our current retirement system became age focused, Chris wants to spread the message that we should not look at retirement as an age, but as a financial goal that we can reach before we can enjoy our golden years. For some of us, that means working well into the 8th and 9th inning (using Chris’s analogy)!
The point was clear! It is never too early, or too late to start thinking about what retirement looks like for you. The goal should be to actually put some thought into forming that picture (and keeping it at the front of your mind) so that you can create a roadmap to get your there. Breaking it down into a baseball analogy, this book provided a layout of what each decade should look like. Without looking at your specific information, though, Chris often referred readers to seek the advice of a professional.
After finishing the book, I would have liked more of an explanation of the RIQ tool, such as an example of it’s use, but I didn’t mind going to the website to find out more information. There were also a few instances that I felt questions that were brought up, were not answered as fully as they could have been. The answers that Chris did give, however, lead me to further investigate and come up with an answer for myself.
On my visit to ChrisHogan360.com and the RIQ tool, I entered my information my information and received exactly what the book said I would. A financial number based on my goals and vision for my future. If you change, the goal and vision of your future the number changes as well. The tool gave me an overall figure as well as a monthly saviings goal in order to reach the overall figure. It also provided a checklist, with everything that I still needed to complete and a contact form to get in touch with a professional to help me reach my goals.
Overall, I consumed this book! I had a hard time putting it down. Even though, I sat on the bench for many of my run day’s while completing this book, the time that I spent listening to the audiobook was well worth it. This is definitely a book that I’ll keep on my bookshelf.
Corey Stokes 