Book Review|| Money Won’t Make You Rich

The problem is not in how much you earn but in how much you spend. To the extent to which you’re able to reduce your expenses, you’re able to accumulate wealth – Sunday Adelaja

Author: Sunday Adelaja. 

Genre: Christian, Personal Finance.

||How I came across the book

On a visit to one of my friends last year, I stumbled on the title and decided it’s a must read.

||Expectations 

While I’m familiar with the Author’s name, it was my first time reading any of his books…so I had my fingers crossed about what to expect. 

||Lessons

A lot of good lessons to be honest…let me highlight a few without copying out the entire book…lol.

What Money is:

– Money is a good slave but a bad master.

– Money is a reward for the production of goods and services. 

– Money moves in the direction of value. The more value you add, the more money you’ll make. 
– If money means to us more than a piece of paper, we are depending too much on it.

What Money is NOT:

– Money is not the same as wealth. If you could have all the comfort that wealth brings, you won’t need money. 

– Every money that comes your way has a source. In actual sense there’s no free money.

Money vs Wealth:

– Wealth is not a miracle, it must be created. It is wickedness to desire what you did not work for.

– Wealth is not a matter of gamble or chance. Lottery is a fool’s way of making money.

– Wealth does not come by working harder or longer, it comes by applying the right principles.

– Income does not determine wealth, knowledge does.

– Knowing the secrets of wealth creation is more important than any monetary handout.

– One principle of wealth creation is to seek to resolve problems and give good service.

On Saving & Investments:

Fools waste money, the mediocre spend money while the wise invest money.

– Savings always add up if we are committed to it.

– Your savings plan should be simple and definite.

– Concentrate on having more assets and investments than you have liabilities.

– Gain takes time. Don’t be in a hurry to reap the benefits of your investments.

On Discipline, Budgeting and Lending:

– Money doesn’t tame desires, only discipline does.

– Personal Integrity is measured by how much you are able to hold on to the promises you make daily to yourself.

– Any amount we put aside from our salary is the only amount we actually get.

– Develop a budget and live by it. A good budget brings order, plan, and focus to your finances. 

– Budgets help you keep your expenses in check. They remove unexpected expenditure from your life.

– Never lend out what you’re not ready to lose or donate. You’re not a bank. 

On Greed and Contentment: 

Greed is the enemy of contentment. It makes you want something so badly that you are willing to violate the rights of others to get it. 

– Greed makes us want more than we can handle. 

– Money will not make you happy, value makes you happy. 

– Godliness with contentment means having a deep gratitude and appreciation to God for what you currently have. 

The Rich vs The Poor: 

True millionaires shun get-rich-quick schemes!

– Rich people have an investment mindset while the poor have a consumer mindset. 

– The rich acquire more assets while the poor acquire more liabilities. 

– The rich are accountable for their money while the poor spend carelessly.

– Successful people love work, the poor only believe in luck.

– The rich do not really work for money, their money works for them. 

– The rich take note of opportunities but the poor overlook them.

– True millionaires live below their means. They would rather live without than buy things on credit.

– A true millionaire knows how to maximize time, talent and resources.

– While the poor are obsessed with having more money, the rich often trust in their own riches rather than God. 

The Christian and Money:

– God is not a philanthropist on a poverty eradication campaign, he is a businessman who entrusts wealth to his faithful stewards. 

– God wants to meet our needs, not satiate our greed. If we measure our lives only by our possessions, we have no more hope than an unbeliever. 

– Money will destroy us if that’s all we are seeking. Money is just a means, not an end.

– God’s kingdom principles apply to money as much as they apply to anything else. 

– God wants us to be rich so we can carry out his purposes, which includes reaching out to the unsaved.

– When God blesses us with money, let us remember it’s God’s.

– If we are not faithful with little, God cannot entrust us with much.

– We can’t blame God for being poor if we refuse to make use of the opportunities he brings our way.

– When you have money working for you, you have the time and opportunity to work for God. 

– A believer should be content living with little as well as with much. 

Personal Finance Rules:

– Do not take a loan if you don’t have a capital that exceeds the loan.

– Never spend on what you can do without.

– Save at least 10 times of whatever you spend on pleasure. 

– The quality of your life is the quality of your thinking, you cannot make a lot of money if you think you can’t.

On Financial Knowledge and Opportunities:

Prayer will not save you from financial ignorance, knowledge will.

– Financial knowledge is like a magnet that attracts more riches. 

– Never stop learning. Continuous Education is the minimum requirement for achieving success.

– Opportunity comes when it comes, and often unexpectedly. We cannot guarantee opportunities, but we can guarantee our preparedness.

– The amount of money people make is a direct result of the amount of knowledge they have.

On Hardwork, Vision and Fulfilling Your Calling:

Master your field. If you’re casual about life, you’ll remain a mediocre.

– Every time you meet a need, you fulfill your calling.

– You alone have the ability to share the knowledge you have gained, for no one else has lived your life.

– Each individual was uniquely designed to meet another individual’s need. No man was created an island.

– Hard work should be enjoyed not endured. Only after you’ve worked hard, should you make time to relax.

– Great people become great by discovering other people’s problems and providing solutions to them.

– What gives us ultimate joy is not the profit of our labor but our contribution to mankind.

– Vision leads to provision. Money flows in the direction of vision. 

– People who achieve success in life never postpone or procrastinate with their vision.

– Don’t compare yourself with others. Compare yourself with your calling and destiny.

On little beginnings and overcoming obstacles:

– Just like a ladder, the higher you go, the more effort it takes to acquire success.

– Those who can minimize the distance between decision and real action are those who become great. 

– The person who does the barest minimum while expecting to accomplish the maximum, is setting himself up for failure. 

– An excellent spirit causes you to go the extra mile. 

– The best way to attack fear is to go ahead and do what you’re afraid of doing.

– Problems can be powerful tools that push people into discovering new ideas and hidden potentials.

The Three Laws of Money:

The first law of money is multiplication.

The second law of money is retention.

The third law of money is investment.

||Conclusion

If you do not already know what you need money for, then you really do NOT need it.

||Challenges

This was a moderately voluminous read and I think in trying to emphasize some points, the writer was quite repetitive. 

While he made many great points, I do not agree with everything he wrote (maybe because I’m yet to get to that level of financial understanding). 

||Recommendations

A good roadmap for every young believer commencing the journey into personal finance.  
***

I hope you enjoyed this review. 

:::requ1ne:::

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