Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

How to Be Smart with Your Money

Rate this book
Time - unlike money, opportunity or good looks - is the one resource that is allocated equally to all of us. No matter what our financial or family situation, we each get 24 hours a day. In the practical and straightforward style to which his Dragon's Den contestants are accustomed, Duncan Bannatyne explains how we can make the most of our time to get the most from our lives, and not just our working day. What do you really want to do with your life? This book will help you identify the goals and aspirations that really matter to you so that you can make them happen. It will give you the confidence to make your ambitions a reality and teach you how to focus on the things that count. In a series of short chapters, illustrated with examples from his extraordinary career in business, Duncan will show you how to make quicker, better decisions and how to make things happen - fast. Duncan knows more about what can be achieved in a day, a year and a lifetime than most and in this book he shares how you can achieve your ideal work/life balance.

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2009

12 people are currently reading
104 people want to read

About the author

Duncan Bannatyne

20 books10 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
30 (23%)
4 stars
43 (33%)
3 stars
43 (33%)
2 stars
10 (7%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Mihai Rosca.
181 reviews11 followers
June 22, 2020
Being raised in a normal family with traditional East European values, my folks sent me to state schools. I was taught respect for the teachers, how to read, write, think analytically (though I might still have some hiccups on that) and, I also learned that a bunch of science made all of the progress possible. However, never once did I learn why my parents never really passed the point of living from one paycheck to another. Financial astuteness, I believe, is only learned, and my educational environment lacked financial knowledge altogether. Still, so many years later, a crushing majority of my friends and people I know are bewildered by one's ability to actually make money, so it's a good guess that nothing really changed.

As more and more internet challenges become popular in the name of "awareness" so does the word lose it's actual meaning. It becomes more attached to gestures that have more to do with showing people their own desire to be seen than the actual awareness that the cause they support needs. Yet I can't say it better than this: If you read "How to be smart with your money" you become more aware of the financial environment and hidden forces that act upon your life as we speak.

This book does indeed teach you about being smart with your money. It wakes up that curiosity to go and find out more, especially that you become aware pretty fast of the consequences and the stops that you missed along the way. Duncan Bannatyne doesn't go deep into any of the following categories that the book has: Earning, Spending, Borrowing, Saving and Investing. Instead, in order to avoid the book having lost its value before it hits the shelves, he teaches you how to navigate your way into these waters and give you a fairly big boat that you can do that in.

Even if you don't necessarily like finances, read this book, make your own plans and open your visual ears to what the author has to say. Chances are, you may have lesser time than you think to secure that pension and, at the same time, a lot more time than you feel to do something worth it for you and your family. Sooner than you know it, you'll realize the word "finance" is much like "awareness": it has just been used too much and by the wrong people and there's actually nothing wrong with you using the right way.
31 reviews
March 12, 2017
3.5 STARS

This book is great for people struggling with debt and also gives you great insights what you can do with your money and how to restrict yourself from buying depreciating objects.

After reading the whole book, I think it is helpful but only very few things applied to me at this time in my life , though I think if I read this when I am older I would understand it much more and use more of the techniques in my dad to day life.
Profile Image for William D. Nguyen.
33 reviews8 followers
August 23, 2020
Too much theoretics. Duncan gave an overview of how to get your income stable and piled up through time with 5 main factors put into consideration: Earning more income, Spending, Loaning, Saving, and Investing. Those are well covered but personally I prefer the Investing part to be more in-depth while in fact, it's cut short.
Profile Image for Oliver Tran.
24 reviews
June 20, 2021
Bạn càng sớm giành quyền kiểm soát tài chính cá nhân càng tốt. Hãy kiểm soát nó ngay khi bạn càng trẻ càng tốt
Profile Image for Thu Nga Le.
98 reviews26 followers
March 22, 2024
pretty basic and outdated.
random pick from friend's bookshelf, but it is a good book for beginner
5 reviews
August 11, 2011
Read this because i wanted a few ideas on budgeting and managing my money better. Not relly impressed as it didnt give many more ideas or advice than i had found on the internet. Gave it three stars as it may be helpful to someone who hasnt looked on the internet for advice.
Profile Image for Kerensa.
34 reviews
March 14, 2012
Some of the best advice for me: There is a difference between whether one can pay for the item and whether one can afford it; take control of your finances by making a conscientious decision to do so, he became rich by making the decision to be rich then working to that end. I found it helpful.
Profile Image for Linda.
16 reviews2 followers
October 7, 2014
THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE. You can read about what to do, or you can actually do it. I put his advice into practice and it works.
4 reviews
March 3, 2015
Guides your financial planing and educates how to maintain bank accounts, how to improve assets.
41 reviews
March 23, 2015
Great primer for those who have little knowledge in personal finances.
Profile Image for Plamen Kozhuharov.
10 reviews2 followers
May 12, 2016
Some of this stuff is really common sense. Don't expect in-depth science. Nevertheless, I find the book very practical when organizing your budget and planning your financial future.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.