Have More Money Now

by John Layfield

So you're holding this book in your hand, Just what does this WWE Superstar know about the world of finance? Have you ever been down to your last twenty-seven dollars, out of a job, and wondering what you were going to do? If anyone needed to learn about finance, it was that person -- and he was me. I've had to learn through my own mistakes, and now you can learn from me. I break it all down for you in easy-to-understand

I might not work on Wall Street nor have a finance degree, but I've learned how to save, how to invest. And you too can Have More Money Now.

Genres: Finance

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

Reviews

[ReadinRasslin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The always divisive John "Bradshaw" Layfield's lone literary effort leaves little to be desired. Beware if you're expecting anything more than a financial help book with a few stories sprinkled in - this is not a part memoir, part finance book. Around the dawn of the JBL character comes Have More Money Now, a book where the self-proclaimed wrestling god tells all his tips and tricks. To keep the wrestling fans hooked, he'll occasionally tell a story or two about Ron Simmons or Bobby Duncum, Jr., but most of this is targeted towards a specific audience - the ones who want to, well, have more money now. I'm not a finance expert, but even I could tell that this was incredibly repetitive. JBL uses the same phrases and taglines repeatedly, stuff like "you should know what your money is doing" - good advice, but he'll say it three more times in the same chapter just to make sure you were really listening. And then there's the football stories, which come back into play well after the first chapter, which is filled with them. This could potentially be a 3 star review if the book was just a little more organized. He jumps from story to story, going from a backstage tale at a Raw from the year prior and then going back all of a sudden again to a football story from college. With JBL's long and windy career, this only made me wish for a proper memoir. I'm not entirely equipped to be a financial book reviewer, but I do know wrestling books, and this wasn't enough to keep me interested.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next Monday (November 29th), WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield will celebrate his 55th Birthday. In honor of JBL’s birthday, the Literary Squared Circle blog reviews his 2003 memoir/finance book Have More Money Now: A Commonsense Approach to Financial Management by John “Bradshaw” Layfield (Gallery Books, 2003).

Have More Money Now is an odd book. It starts out as your typical wrestler memoir. Layfield describes his life growing up on a Texas ranch, his collegiate and semi-pro football career, and his getting started in the world of professional wrestling. Once he gets into discussing his wrestling career, the book is full of entertaining stories from Layfield. He is a gifted storyteller, as is evident on his current podcast with Gerald Brisco, Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw.

Where the book becomes odd is when it tries to double as a finance book. It begins with Layfield giving advice at the end of each chapter. The advice begins simply enough, “Being poor ain’t fun; staying that way is stupid”. But, by the end of chapter seven it has become, “An index fund and a large-cap mutual fund are the two best investment vehicles when starting out.”

There is a Net Worth Financial Worksheet, an Authorization Chart, a Monthly Expenditure Worksheet, and an entire section on Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). I appreciate what JBL is trying to do. I applaud him for making his book a unique one. I just would have preferred a straight-ahead wrestling memoir, especially from someone with so many great stories to share.

On the back of the book, Layfield admits that he is not a financial expert. “I might not work on Wall Street nor have a finance degree, but I’ve learned how to save, how to invest. And you too can Have More Money Now.” I don’t know. I think I’ll leave the financial advice to professional financial advisors. Much like I don’t want Irwin R. Schyster preparing my taxes, nor Isaac Yankem DDS filling my cavities, I’ll pass on having JBL give me advice on how to invest my money.

As a wrestling memoir, Have More Money Now is very good. Lots of entertaining stories. As a finance book, I would look elsewhere for investment advice.


3 Stars out of 5

[Alejandro Heracles al-Mu'minin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this but I think need to preface this review as it is not going to be that objective.

I am a huge fan of JBL's work in WWE and consider him the greatest heel and champion of the modern era, so I had a certain level of hype going into this book. I was also seeking out an easy read just like this. I wanted an intro book on investing that embraced the mindset suggested in "The Millionaire Next Door" which said what you should do, but failed to expand exactly on what steps are needed to reach that end goal. I also needed a light read after the tortuous tome that Obama called Dreams from my Father.

It offers some good advice in setting up your portfolio, most of which is common sense, inline with the goal here of making investing more approachable. When I say this book is fun it might be my nostalgia at play, even for non wrasslin' fans unfamiliar with references the stories are still funny, and more importantly relatible to the advice and make for a well paced book and like I mentioned before makes it more approachable. Did I mention that this book makes investing really easy and approachable yet?

JBL begins the book writing about how he was flat broke about my age and the lessons he's learned along the road. He shares his experiences here so that us aspiring young achievers can learn from his mistakes and more importantly highlights what works and success stories and examples set by his peers along the way. Where as others tend to celebrate defeat and blame past events JBL takes no excuses and tries to motivate to always look forward to the road ahead. I guess you could call it a motivational/investing/autobiography. This is a book a 22 year old O'Bamer desperately needed to read.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it but this is really a biography bundled with financial advice. If you want to hear some stories about other WWE superstars and JBL's life mixed in with financial advice, this is the book for you.

[Aaron Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love it. This was entertaining at points, but for financial advice there are better options available.

[Ben Burhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really easy to understand concise book on financial help and management. Will give you some excellent tips into investing your money and how to get out of debt.

[Mau]

A commonsense approach to finance, and a collection of stories from John Layfield's life and career (including a lot of the American Football stuff, which I didn't care for). Overall, a good read.