The Average Family's Guide to Financial Freedom

by Bill Toohey, Mary Toohey

Bill and Mary Toohey are average middle income people from a small Iowa town. Bill has been employed for 23 years as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and Mary has worked for 20 years as an Office Manager for a small psychological firm. They started saving and investing in 1991 when their net worth was $63,000. Eight years later their net worth was $467,000. In other words, their assets increased by an average of more than $50,000 per year during that period while their income (not counting dividends and capital gains) averaged about $65,000 per year. But it wasn't always easy. They have three children, Colleen (24), Tim (22), and Meghann (14). Tim has been severely disabled since birth and despite the challenges of helping Tim cope with his chronic illnesses, the Toohey family has been able to achieve financial freedom on a modest income. They were able to build a sizable nest egg in eight years while encountering some of life's biggest expenses during the period. They helped to pay for their daughter's college education and wedding, paid cash for a new car, and made several expensive home improvements. Despite those major expenses the Tooheys still managed to save 46% of their gross income and were listed among the "Best Personal Finance Managers in America" in the December 1994 issues of Money magazine. The Tooheys' story, in an article written by Bill, appeared in the April 1997 issue of Money magazine. Mary co-authored an article published in the February 1998 issue of McCall's magazine. In May, 1997 Bill was invited to speak at Money magazine's Elgin Project seminar series. Money magazine "adopted" Elgin, Illinois and brought in speakers with expertise in personal finance. Former President Bush kicked off the event.

How did they do it? How do they think? How do they live? Is it possible to save so much and still have a decent life? Can my family do this? Get the answers to all these questions and more in a book written specifically for families with children who don't earn big bucks.

Genres: Finance, Personal Finance, Nonfiction, Money

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Joe Cassada · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in the late nineties,so it's a bit outdated, but don't let that scare you away. Good advice is timeless, and they have some solid wisdom and an experience to back up what they recommend. It's encouraging to read financial advice from regular people who managed to build a substantial nest egg on a modest income.

This is a good entry-level book on personal finance. The Tooheys do a good job of explaining complex investment lingo for laymen to understand.

In a nutshell: reduce your standard of living and save a great deal of your income. This means buying a modest house and learning to hold onto a car for 14 years (among other things). This book will help motivate you to save your money instead of spending it.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my goals this year is to work on my personal finances. This is the first in a series of books I will be reading. These modest Iowans managed to build their retirement funds by about $400,000 in less than a decade. They don't make a lot of money, live a simple life, and want to be able to retire early and each work 10 hours a week while they live in a lake cabin. They decided in their late 30's that they wanted to be financially secure and take control of their financial life. They took a week off from work and read lots of finance books and did tons of research. They share with readers their process step by step and are honest about what they have discovered over the years. One of the biggest lessons of the book - cut your expenses! Instead of trying to make more money you should reduce the amount you spend. They also spend a lot of time talking about how investing in mutual funds is one of the best tools available for low and middle income people to build their wealth. And, oh yeah, buy a $40,000 house in rural Iowa so that you can pay it off quick and not have a mortgage :)

I already do a lot of the things in this book, but they were good reminders and I picked up a few new tips.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up after seeing it recommended on a couple of personal finance websites.
The good: This couple gets IT! They understand family, parenting, debt elimination (who else tells you to pay off your student loans and mortage ASAP--love it!), and happiness in marriage. (They must be from Iowa.) They encouraged me not to raise my standard of living quickly (explains why we are taking our 14 year old car to Houston with us). They really put forward the idea of living simply to save money. They begin with getting a 6-12 month emergency savings (sounds familiar), getting out of debt (have they met the prophet?), and avoiding credit card debt. When we get these things accomplished, I will need to re-read to see their thoughts on investing. I enjoyed their thoughts on parenting, living in a one-bathroom house, and grocery shopping.
The bad: this book is OLD, especially for a book on finance. They built their fortune in 1991, and wrote the book in 2000. Things have changed significantly.
I'm glad to have found people who feel the same way we do about debt as we do.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm on a big personal finance kick right now, and this book really started me going....now i am on my way to financial freedom!! you have to read the book to understand. but i've always been a minimalist when it comes to consumer choices, and this book solidified my philosophy that saving now will pay off later.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a dated book (published 2000) so the numbers given and some of the ideas (ex. get/use a computer) aren't that useful. I would be willing to look past this, in some cases. However, in this book the writing was really bad, the arguments seemed inconsistent, and I just couldn't get past this to complete this book.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree that some of the ideas of saving money are a little far-fetched, but I'm also amazed how this simple, average couple managed to financially change their lives in just eight years. I definitely think more about my purchases than I did before, because of this book, and I'm glad that I do.

[Mer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's written by a couple who could be my neighbors they're so average. They promote appreciating what you have and keeping things simple. It gave me hope that with some work I could stop stressing over those minimum payment amounts that at times were too big to pay.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some good information in it, but not enough details on the things I wanted to know more about and too much extra info on stuff I wasn't wanting from this book. Got me thinking about money and saving in a different way which is essentially what I was looking for.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit outdated (the copyright on my version is from the year 2000), but it has good information. I like how the perspective is from the average family with a modest income, and not from a financial professional. I found this book to have good, solid, practical advice.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and down to earth.

[surfurbian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff. Lower your standard of living, take time to enjoy your friends/family, and quit trying to show off by digging a bigger hole of debt that your neighbor.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! A must-read for anyone wanting to secure their financial future and possibly cut back to a single income or part-time work.

[Jeffcharie Charie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. It really made us think about having less and enjoying life more.

[Warren Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that I stumbled across that started it all! It's really good, explains a lot of things and helps you to make actionable steps. It is very reasonable.