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You Deserve to Be Rich: Master the Inner Game of Wealth and Claim Your Future
A revolutionary playbook for achieving financial freedom within a broken system, from the founders of the explosively popular educational platform Earn Your Leisure
Growing up as best friends in New York, Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal witnessed both the boundless creativity of young Black men and the systemic barriers that too often kept them from turning that ingenuity and hustle into lasting wealth. It became their mission to level the playing field. So they joined forces on a podcast, mixing “barbershop conversations with Wall Street," that would eventually draw tens of millions of fans, garnering the attention of celebrity moguls from Tyler Perry to Barbara Corcoran.
Now, for the first time, Bilal and Millings reveal their blueprint for financial earning enough passive and residual income to control your time, working conditions, and lifestyle. The key is to see money as a strategic tool for wealth development rather than an end in and of itself. You Deserve to Be Rich breaks down strategies
Understanding the psychological toll of growing up living paycheck to paycheck, healing from financial trauma, and reframing your relationship with money Exploring income-building strategies outside of your 9-5, from long-term and short-term investing in often-overlooked sectors to side hustles with passive income potentialMastering the complexities of the tax and insurance systems and identifying the (legal) loopholes you need to maximize wealthNavigating the family expectations that can complicate financial planning and finding sustainable ways to support your community
In their signature style, Bilal and Millings funnel finance, investing, and entrepreneurial lessons through the language of pop culture, with chapter titles drawn from hip-hop lyrics and quotes from TV shows—a first-of-its-kind playbook for beating the proverbial money game, whether you grew up knowing the rules or not.
Growing up as best friends in New York, Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal witnessed both the boundless creativity of young Black men and the systemic barriers that too often kept them from turning that ingenuity and hustle into lasting wealth. It became their mission to level the playing field. So they joined forces on a podcast, mixing “barbershop conversations with Wall Street," that would eventually draw tens of millions of fans, garnering the attention of celebrity moguls from Tyler Perry to Barbara Corcoran.
Now, for the first time, Bilal and Millings reveal their blueprint for financial earning enough passive and residual income to control your time, working conditions, and lifestyle. The key is to see money as a strategic tool for wealth development rather than an end in and of itself. You Deserve to Be Rich breaks down strategies
Understanding the psychological toll of growing up living paycheck to paycheck, healing from financial trauma, and reframing your relationship with money Exploring income-building strategies outside of your 9-5, from long-term and short-term investing in often-overlooked sectors to side hustles with passive income potentialMastering the complexities of the tax and insurance systems and identifying the (legal) loopholes you need to maximize wealthNavigating the family expectations that can complicate financial planning and finding sustainable ways to support your community
In their signature style, Bilal and Millings funnel finance, investing, and entrepreneurial lessons through the language of pop culture, with chapter titles drawn from hip-hop lyrics and quotes from TV shows—a first-of-its-kind playbook for beating the proverbial money game, whether you grew up knowing the rules or not.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 14, 2025
246 people are currently reading
3499 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
March 16, 2025
4-4.5 - It was really interesting and the information was laid out in plain terms. It’s definitely written for black and brown young people/others who didn’t grow up with access to or surrounded by healthy conversations on personal finance. I appreciate what they’re doing!
July 16, 2025
Full of overly grandiose statements with no evidence to back them up.
"Excessive spending is shopping without a list." Honey, I haven't shopped with a list in my entire life, and yet I have the best finances of everyone I know on the smallest salary (teacher).
"Don't buy an Audi, buy a Toyota." And if the person doesn't have a car and uses public transportation, how will they downsize this category? The authors assume everyone has a car, no matter how much they make.
"Only spend 55% of your income. The rest should be savings, investing, and charity. (I am not a fan of the "tithe 10%" demand that is so popular among religious authors, as it already presupposes that someone has more money than they do. No one who needs budgeting advice is going to be able to afford 10% donations every month, much less the shockingly out-of-touch demand to live on only 55% of your income.) The authors also seem to think that all Christians are doing this: 'Traditionally, Christians give 10% of their annual earnings." As someone who grew up exclusively around Christians, I can tell you that not a single one is doing this, including the many preacher families. I know they have a vested interest in making their religion look good, but I'm pretty sure that lying is against the Ten Commandments....
Among their suggested strategies to invest? Give a start-up food truck business $25,000 and buy multiple income properties. They say this after noting how out of reach home ownership is for most people these days, so not sure why they're telling people to buy multiple homes for themselves and to rent out. (With what money? They don't say.)
Their go-to annual income for examples? $75,000 AFTER tax, which is a pre-tax income of around $105,000. The authors are writing a book for the top 10% and pretending they are writing for the working class.
And then they tell readers to make an investment plan USING CHATGPT. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. AI doesn't reliably know what year it is, much less can tell you what to invest in. This by itself is a truly horrifying thing to tell people to do and would be disqualifying all on its own. And that's all before they go on to say people should be investing in Bitcoin, despite accurately describing the extreme value fluctuations that Bitcoin experiences.
They also tell people that if offered $500,000 or one dinner with Jay-Z (at least I think it's Jay-Z; the header of this section says Jay-Z, but the passage itself only refers to someone called Hov and I have no idea what that means), they should take the dinner instead of the life-changing amount of money.
They also don't understand how taxes work, which is pretty basic stuff. If you make $1 million, you do NOT get taxed 37% on the entire amount. You get taxed 37% on only about the last $400,000. I was taught marginal tax brackets in an 8th grade personal finance class. Grown men charging people for financial advice should DEFINITELY know this.
"Excessive spending is shopping without a list." Honey, I haven't shopped with a list in my entire life, and yet I have the best finances of everyone I know on the smallest salary (teacher).
"Don't buy an Audi, buy a Toyota." And if the person doesn't have a car and uses public transportation, how will they downsize this category? The authors assume everyone has a car, no matter how much they make.
"Only spend 55% of your income. The rest should be savings, investing, and charity. (I am not a fan of the "tithe 10%" demand that is so popular among religious authors, as it already presupposes that someone has more money than they do. No one who needs budgeting advice is going to be able to afford 10% donations every month, much less the shockingly out-of-touch demand to live on only 55% of your income.) The authors also seem to think that all Christians are doing this: 'Traditionally, Christians give 10% of their annual earnings." As someone who grew up exclusively around Christians, I can tell you that not a single one is doing this, including the many preacher families. I know they have a vested interest in making their religion look good, but I'm pretty sure that lying is against the Ten Commandments....
Among their suggested strategies to invest? Give a start-up food truck business $25,000 and buy multiple income properties. They say this after noting how out of reach home ownership is for most people these days, so not sure why they're telling people to buy multiple homes for themselves and to rent out. (With what money? They don't say.)
Their go-to annual income for examples? $75,000 AFTER tax, which is a pre-tax income of around $105,000. The authors are writing a book for the top 10% and pretending they are writing for the working class.
And then they tell readers to make an investment plan USING CHATGPT. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. AI doesn't reliably know what year it is, much less can tell you what to invest in. This by itself is a truly horrifying thing to tell people to do and would be disqualifying all on its own. And that's all before they go on to say people should be investing in Bitcoin, despite accurately describing the extreme value fluctuations that Bitcoin experiences.
They also tell people that if offered $500,000 or one dinner with Jay-Z (at least I think it's Jay-Z; the header of this section says Jay-Z, but the passage itself only refers to someone called Hov and I have no idea what that means), they should take the dinner instead of the life-changing amount of money.
They also don't understand how taxes work, which is pretty basic stuff. If you make $1 million, you do NOT get taxed 37% on the entire amount. You get taxed 37% on only about the last $400,000. I was taught marginal tax brackets in an 8th grade personal finance class. Grown men charging people for financial advice should DEFINITELY know this.
November 14, 2025
Financial literacy books can be really difficult to digest but this book breaks down everything into bite size pieces. I really enjoyed the mindset part of the book, it’s been soo impactful so far. There is nothing new in the book but the presentation is nice for people who might not have been aware of some of the details. Thanks to Goodreads!
January 17, 2025
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
This is a personal finance book that also specifically talks about financial issues faced by Black and Brown people. There's a lot of solid advice in here that's explained thoroughly, and I also appreciated that the authors talk about financial trauma and a lot of the emotional aspects of personal finance that many other books do not discuss. But I also felt like the book suggests some unorthodox, risky strategies that don't seem broadly applicable.
There's a lot of solid advice in this book that is often repeated in personal finance books and blogs and such, but the fact that it's repeated in so many places means that it's worked for a lot of people and it's probably worth repeating. Things like paying down your highest-interest debt, making a budget, spending less than you earn, diversifying your investment portfolio, etc. are all good pieces of advice, and the authors do a good job of explaining these in a way that's easy to understand, while also going into a fair amount of detail, especially with investments. There's also discussions about financial trauma and money in relationships, which are important topics that other books often don't really cover.
But the book also discusses some things that stray from what I have considered more traditional advice. They talk a great deal about entrepreneurship, and while it's understandable that because the authors have had great success in their Earn Your Leisure business that they think that being an entrepreneur is a good way to becoming rich, I would think that the people who are suited to becoming entrepreneurs is a pretty small minority of the population, and it's also a very risky strategy for building wealth. They also talk about a wide range of investments, including things like vineyards and flipping houses, and while I'm sure these can be profitable for a lot of people, they're also not as good of a fit for the average person as something like investing in index funds.
I also fundamentally disagree with their stance that everyone needs more than one income in order to reach some definition of wealth. While I suppose it really depends on your definition of wealthy, it seems like whether you need a second income or not is highly dependent on how much income you have in total, whether it's from one income or several. Their mantra is "One income is too close to no income," which is true in the sense that if it's a traditional job, you're just a layoff or a termination away from having no income, but it's a common situation and it still works for a lot of people. When they say "we believe that every person has to have more than one income," I do feel like they're being a bit unrealistic with the amount of time and energy and ambition people have.
I do think it's interesting to read about all of these less common investment strategies, though, and in general I was impressed with how much ground the authors were able to cover in this book. They go from the very basic things like setting up automatic payments and sticking to a budget all the way to advanced topics like CAGR and the Treynor ratio, which I've never heard of. The material on financial trauma, relationships, and legacy wealth really make this a comprehensive book on personal finance.
This is a personal finance book that also specifically talks about financial issues faced by Black and Brown people. There's a lot of solid advice in here that's explained thoroughly, and I also appreciated that the authors talk about financial trauma and a lot of the emotional aspects of personal finance that many other books do not discuss. But I also felt like the book suggests some unorthodox, risky strategies that don't seem broadly applicable.
There's a lot of solid advice in this book that is often repeated in personal finance books and blogs and such, but the fact that it's repeated in so many places means that it's worked for a lot of people and it's probably worth repeating. Things like paying down your highest-interest debt, making a budget, spending less than you earn, diversifying your investment portfolio, etc. are all good pieces of advice, and the authors do a good job of explaining these in a way that's easy to understand, while also going into a fair amount of detail, especially with investments. There's also discussions about financial trauma and money in relationships, which are important topics that other books often don't really cover.
But the book also discusses some things that stray from what I have considered more traditional advice. They talk a great deal about entrepreneurship, and while it's understandable that because the authors have had great success in their Earn Your Leisure business that they think that being an entrepreneur is a good way to becoming rich, I would think that the people who are suited to becoming entrepreneurs is a pretty small minority of the population, and it's also a very risky strategy for building wealth. They also talk about a wide range of investments, including things like vineyards and flipping houses, and while I'm sure these can be profitable for a lot of people, they're also not as good of a fit for the average person as something like investing in index funds.
I also fundamentally disagree with their stance that everyone needs more than one income in order to reach some definition of wealth. While I suppose it really depends on your definition of wealthy, it seems like whether you need a second income or not is highly dependent on how much income you have in total, whether it's from one income or several. Their mantra is "One income is too close to no income," which is true in the sense that if it's a traditional job, you're just a layoff or a termination away from having no income, but it's a common situation and it still works for a lot of people. When they say "we believe that every person has to have more than one income," I do feel like they're being a bit unrealistic with the amount of time and energy and ambition people have.
I do think it's interesting to read about all of these less common investment strategies, though, and in general I was impressed with how much ground the authors were able to cover in this book. They go from the very basic things like setting up automatic payments and sticking to a budget all the way to advanced topics like CAGR and the Treynor ratio, which I've never heard of. The material on financial trauma, relationships, and legacy wealth really make this a comprehensive book on personal finance.
January 1, 2026
You Deserve to Be Rich by Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings came at the perfect time for me. I picked this up intentionally as a way to close out the year with clarity and step into the new one more grounded in my financial goals. This book has quickly become a personal reference — almost a “financial Bible” — for reshaping how I think about money.
What I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t just talk about dollars and strategies; it addresses the mindset behind money. The authors do an excellent job breaking down the psychological impact of scarcity and how it shapes our decisions, habits, and beliefs. They reframe wealth as a tool for freedom, not excess or greed, which felt both affirming and empowering.
The book offers a strong foundational approach for beginners looking to build a financial plan, with clear explanations and real-world examples that make the concepts feel accessible rather than overwhelming. Topics like building multiple income streams, understanding ownership, and leveraging community wealth are presented in a way that feels realistic and motivating.
What stood out most is how practical and encouraging the tone is — it’s not preachy or judgmental. Instead, it meets you where you are and pushes you to think bigger while still taking actionable steps forward.
What I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t just talk about dollars and strategies; it addresses the mindset behind money. The authors do an excellent job breaking down the psychological impact of scarcity and how it shapes our decisions, habits, and beliefs. They reframe wealth as a tool for freedom, not excess or greed, which felt both affirming and empowering.
The book offers a strong foundational approach for beginners looking to build a financial plan, with clear explanations and real-world examples that make the concepts feel accessible rather than overwhelming. Topics like building multiple income streams, understanding ownership, and leveraging community wealth are presented in a way that feels realistic and motivating.
What stood out most is how practical and encouraging the tone is — it’s not preachy or judgmental. Instead, it meets you where you are and pushes you to think bigger while still taking actionable steps forward.
April 9, 2025
Rating 8.1/10
# 🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
This book focuses on shifting your mindset around money, aiming to break limiting beliefs and build the internal foundation needed to attract and sustain wealth. Its standout quality is how it blends personal development with financial principles, making complex ideas feel accessible and emotionally resonant. That said, readers looking for step-by-step financial strategies may find the advice too abstract or overly focused on mindset over actionable tactics.
# 🎨 Impressions
A really good book divided into to parts. The first primarily dealing with the mental side of this and budgeting so that you can actually take account of what’s happening in your financial situation. The second half of this book deals with building wealth. I’m glad they took the vast majority of the book on this second half just as much as I’m glad that the first half of this book exist. I would say if you are really struggling with the first half of this there are better books out there like the book Get Good with Money by the Budgetnista. Just these 2 books alone will probably have you more than armed enough to go to war with your finances and get your life headed in the direction you want.
## Who Should Read It?
Anyone looking to build wealth.
# 🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
This book focuses on shifting your mindset around money, aiming to break limiting beliefs and build the internal foundation needed to attract and sustain wealth. Its standout quality is how it blends personal development with financial principles, making complex ideas feel accessible and emotionally resonant. That said, readers looking for step-by-step financial strategies may find the advice too abstract or overly focused on mindset over actionable tactics.
# 🎨 Impressions
A really good book divided into to parts. The first primarily dealing with the mental side of this and budgeting so that you can actually take account of what’s happening in your financial situation. The second half of this book deals with building wealth. I’m glad they took the vast majority of the book on this second half just as much as I’m glad that the first half of this book exist. I would say if you are really struggling with the first half of this there are better books out there like the book Get Good with Money by the Budgetnista. Just these 2 books alone will probably have you more than armed enough to go to war with your finances and get your life headed in the direction you want.
## Who Should Read It?
Anyone looking to build wealth.
June 7, 2025
my husband is reading this book out loud so I'm involuntarily listening to a book I would never pick up. but I'm familiar with the brand. these "experts" are telling people to to leverage their home equity to pay off credit card debt and other consumer debt
this is the worst financial advice ever. RUN away from this book and don't recommend this clown advice to anyone who seriously wants to get their finances in order. dave Ramsey baby steps offer way better advice on how to pay off debt and fix the behavior that gets people into debt in the first place. the budgetnista does too. but come on yall. taking out a heloc for cc debt is not paying off debt and it definitely isn't fixing the behavior. gah. can't believe this got published. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
this is the worst financial advice ever. RUN away from this book and don't recommend this clown advice to anyone who seriously wants to get their finances in order. dave Ramsey baby steps offer way better advice on how to pay off debt and fix the behavior that gets people into debt in the first place. the budgetnista does too. but come on yall. taking out a heloc for cc debt is not paying off debt and it definitely isn't fixing the behavior. gah. can't believe this got published. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
September 7, 2025
I am a financial professional (CFP®, ABFP®, CRPC®) with a Masters of Science in Personal Financial Planning. I was thrilled to see a book written by and for members of a community that experiences a disproportionately high population of people struggling with money in America.
However, I was so disappointed when I read the book and found it to be full of awful financial advice that could risk financial ruin and even jail for those who follow it. It provides terrible investment advice, recommends clearly illegal tax evasion strategies, and absolutely horrible budgeting and money organization planning.
Do not read this book.
If you do read this book, only read the parts that talk about money mindset and absolutely run from anything that claims to be teaching you about money.
However, I was so disappointed when I read the book and found it to be full of awful financial advice that could risk financial ruin and even jail for those who follow it. It provides terrible investment advice, recommends clearly illegal tax evasion strategies, and absolutely horrible budgeting and money organization planning.
Do not read this book.
If you do read this book, only read the parts that talk about money mindset and absolutely run from anything that claims to be teaching you about money.
March 13, 2025
Some good tips for an experienced investor who already works with a financial planner. But this book is best suited for a person who is just starting to organized their financials and learn the basics.
I bought this book for two reasons: 1) get a free month access to their university program as I wanted to learn about option contracts. 2) I listen to their Market Mondays podcast and really enjoy it. There are tips and specifics on stocks they recommend to buy and overall financial and economic outlook based on current events. I was expecting the book to be more structured along those lines.
Disappointing for an intermediate financial connoisseur.
I bought this book for two reasons: 1) get a free month access to their university program as I wanted to learn about option contracts. 2) I listen to their Market Mondays podcast and really enjoy it. There are tips and specifics on stocks they recommend to buy and overall financial and economic outlook based on current events. I was expecting the book to be more structured along those lines.
Disappointing for an intermediate financial connoisseur.
February 5, 2025
3.75/5
Would recommended this book, especially for those with minimal financial literacy. Personally, I got a few gems out of this book and think it’s a great starting point that covers a lot of ground in regard to personal finances. It covered plenty of topics I have learned about previously from other books/podcasts or through the authors YouTube channel ‘Earn Your Leisure’. The authors cover lots of different areas from mindset, financial conversations with spouses and family members through to different types of investments in a comprehensive and easy to read manner.
Would recommended this book, especially for those with minimal financial literacy. Personally, I got a few gems out of this book and think it’s a great starting point that covers a lot of ground in regard to personal finances. It covered plenty of topics I have learned about previously from other books/podcasts or through the authors YouTube channel ‘Earn Your Leisure’. The authors cover lots of different areas from mindset, financial conversations with spouses and family members through to different types of investments in a comprehensive and easy to read manner.
February 26, 2025
This book has been an energizer for me to really start tackling my financial goals. It felt like a financial literacy reference book for my entire fam. It also felt very down-to-Earth and avoided being condescending. There was often reassurances about fears and encouragement about areas of financial ignorance. Great starting point! I already bought one for two people in my family as we start to address are financial trauma! It feels like it should be accompanied by a workbook with more visuals.
May 27, 2025
Very solid book. Things have already been spoken about within this book, but what’s unique about it are the authors the fact that they put in so much work for what they do in their mission is beyond themselves. I was compelled to read very solid wisdom on finances and a clear blueprint. One of my favourite parts of the book was the chapter about what to do when you make your first million I love how they projected that. Well worth the read.
July 16, 2025
If you have even a basic knowledge about budgeting, investing, and saving, please skip this book. It covers these topics in a very simple and basic way I’m sure anyone out of school would already know a lot more about. You would be better off saving your money without buying this book than spending money and buying this book to learn about saving. Not a good use of your time. I learnt zero new things from this book.
June 8, 2025
I received an advanced copy for my honest review
This is a fantastic book for anyone unfamiliar with budgeting or investing. It delves into social constraints and why it is hard for "normal" people to get ahead in finances.
Great straightforward advice and easy to follow- it is not too deep or overwhelming.
This is a fantastic book for anyone unfamiliar with budgeting or investing. It delves into social constraints and why it is hard for "normal" people to get ahead in finances.
Great straightforward advice and easy to follow- it is not too deep or overwhelming.
August 28, 2025
Earn your leisure
As a financial literacy book, it was enjoyable to read. The book provides a starting foundation to help build a financial plan for beginners. You Deserve to be rich is filled with examples of how every step can be taken to ensure that you earn your leisure. Overall it's a good, and helpful stepping stone for people trying to set up financial freedom
As a financial literacy book, it was enjoyable to read. The book provides a starting foundation to help build a financial plan for beginners. You Deserve to be rich is filled with examples of how every step can be taken to ensure that you earn your leisure. Overall it's a good, and helpful stepping stone for people trying to set up financial freedom
November 26, 2024
I recieved an advanced copy from a giveaway. Great tips, happy I won it. Well organized and thought out, it differs from other self help books as it highlights the scenarios via a story like format from the perspective of 5 different social situation people and families.
February 7, 2025
I listened to this on audio and every other chapter was very hard to listen to. But the mindset and exploration of societal preconceptions was excellent. A little hard to connect to the investment chapters with audio but overall, a good read and look at financial literacy.
February 10, 2025
A lot of books like this just preach high level stuff that you already have to be well off to accomplish. I love the EYL guys, and it's great to see them put their knowledge into easy to follow steps for all different levels.
February 16, 2025
The chapter that gave me the most information was chapter four where it provided insight on different types of investments. That chapter alone i felt made reading the rest of the book worth it. #GoodreadsGiveaway
February 21, 2025
Big fan on the EYL group. Got the book simply to support their lasting efforts to educate those that haven’t been exposed to financial literacy. There’s always a new way to think about/approach financial improvement. This is a great start for some and maybe a refresher for others.
March 15, 2025
excellent book
Excellent copy …planing to reread over and over again ..as a minority with financial trauma..this book helped me to understand what’s been holding me back from a financial freedom …
Excellent copy …planing to reread over and over again ..as a minority with financial trauma..this book helped me to understand what’s been holding me back from a financial freedom …
Read
July 21, 2025read the first 67 pages before I had to return it to the library. so far, so good! the first and only financial book I've read that I can relate to - it's the only book I've ever read that sounds like it's written by someone who knows what it's like to work really hard and get nowhere
November 7, 2025
This is a comprehensive personal finance book geared towards POC’s & would be beneficial if you aren’t familiar with budgeting or investing. For me it wasn’t anything new, but I got through it anyway.
December 23, 2025
I think this book did a good job with an overview. I think four or five more in-depth books on the topics cover will be helpful. I really enjoyed the portion of the book that dealt with lending to family and/or friends.
January 13, 2025
I won this book in a giveaway and it was so good to read and see perspectives from different views. It really helped open my eyes and I can benefit from it.
Read
January 28, 2025This book is definitely a must read if you are looking to improve your financial literacy.
February 19, 2025
Great read
February 24, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. Easy read. Lots of gems to begin a life of wealth and financial freedom.
March 2, 2025
What a great book. It was a straight forward simplistic book, outlining the principles needed to become financial free, while planning out a legacy to leave behind for future generations.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews