RESET: How to Restart Your Life and Get F.U. Money: The Unconventional Early Retirement Plan for Midlife Careerists Who Want to Be Happy

by David Sawyer, Charlie Spedding (Foreword)

Are you happy? Is there more to life than this? What if there is another way? ~ “Hidden in plain sight within the 300 or so pages of RESET is an elegant synthesis of the latest thinking in financial independence, lifestyle design, and age-old philosophical wisdom – cunningly disguised as a breezy pep talk from your witty mate down the pub. In a world that's forever racing past us on a screen, it's a reminder of the potentially life-changing power of a book.” – MONEVATOR

What if that way doesn’t involve jacking in your job, leaving your partner, having a midlife crisis, uprooting your existence? What if that way just involves small actions, taken every day? With no more effort than you now spend tending your social media flock, superglued to a screen.

Best of all, what if that way costs you little? In fact, what if that way saves you a tonne of money and lets you retire a few years earlier?

“Sawyer’s RESET shows us how to achieve material wealth. It emphasizes discipline, sacrifice, and hard work…” – WILLIAM D. DANKO, PhD, co-author of The Millionaire Next Door

What if someone said that by following this way you will get:

An idea of what were put on this earth to do. Increased happiness, purpose and meaning. A practical plan to future-proof your career. A way to declutter your life, so you’re able to see and think clearly again. A fully costed route to financial independence (you can call it early retirement if you like). A system to manage your finances. An investing plan that will knock your socks off and explain how you can get your F.U. Money.

DAVID SAWYER is not a guru. He's just a middle-aged, married-with-two-children, Glasgow public relations guy who woke up one day and decided to change things. Six years later, the result is RESET – the unconventional guide for midlife professionalsthat will wipe the windscreen of life so you can see clearly again.

It's a page-turner (part story, part practical guide), which draws on the experiences and research of hundreds of academics, philosophers, Nobel prize-winners, actors, Olympic athletes, self-help authors, investors and personal finance experts. 

“A comprehensive introduction to things you didn't learn in school but should have. RESET is a complete program with enough motivation and details to make it easy to begin without being too complicated. You'll feel like doing one or two things right now.” – JACOB LUND FISKER, PhD, author, Early Retirement Extreme

“I don't say this lightly: this is one of my top, if not my very top, financial independence books that I've ever read. I absolutely loved it. I feel like it's the book if I had the guts to write my own book, that I would have written this.” – BRAD BARRETT, co-host, ChooseFI

“RESET is an incredibly detailed and comprehensive guide to planning and achieving the life you desire. But that’s only true if what you desire is to work on your own terms, to achieve goals that are meaningful to you, and to move rapidly towards your financial independence.” – JOHN KINGHAM, managing editor, UK Value Investor and author of The Defensive Value Investor

If you read RESET and carry out its recommendations, within a year, you will have transformed your future. It's never too late. Carpe diem. You are the master of your fate: you (and no one else) are the captain of your soul.​

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Finance, Personal Development, Money, Audiobook

375 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2018

About the author

David Sawyer FCIPR (45) is a United Nations award-winning PR man and 2:40 marathoner. RESET: How to Restart Your Life and Get F.U. Money is his first book. Sawyer is not a guru. He's a middle-aged family guy who woke up one day wondering "is there another way?" Six years later, the result is RESET – “the unconventional early retirement guide for midlife professionals who want to be happy” – that will wipe the windscreen of life so you can see again. Find out more at https://toreset.me/800.

A Fellow of the CIPR, Sawyer writes on digital public relations for Social Media Examiner, SEMRush, MuckRack, Business 2 Community, PRWeek and others. He owns Zude PR. In his late 20s he climbed Mont Blanc and traversed the Cuillin Ridge, twice. In his mid-forties he ran the Berlin marathon in 2:40:36. A willingness to leave no boulder unturned in the pursuit of knowledge is the common thread that binds these achievements, an approach he has applied to researching and writing his book. Sawyer has no God-given talents. Everything he has achieved has come through hard work. He lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with his wife, Rachel, young kids (Zak and Jude) and pet – Hamsterdam.

Reviews

[Jonathan Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly short, well written little self help guide both recent and UK-based.

However one I found of very little actionable use in my own life.

The financial section the author seems to build up to with some glee was the closest to interesting in a novel way, but not being in the position to have either a) a £100K 'stash' or b) the mental disarray to somehow spend £600 a month on frivolity, this still felt quite useless in my case.
The details on 'FIRE' and just precisely how to invest were the most notable in the book however, so maybe one day it'll be of some use.

The other sections of minimalism and being generally tidy I found just nodding along to -- and wondering just how good this Marie Kondo 'Spark Joy' book is -- while the 'Digital' section a bit dull for someone working in software.

The early section on Happiness full of quite relatable quotes, as most books in the genre manage as otherwise no one would buy these, but didn't find any particular gem to push me in a different direction.

Perfectly OK, a lot better than the majority in the genre.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reset: How To Restart Your Life And Get F.U. Money is an advice book, as the title suggests - David Sawyer’s early retirement plan for mid-life careerists. Based on his own experiences, Sawyer offers a mix of popular self-help strategies and his own financial advice schemes. For full review see here https://wp.me/p2Eu3u-cgo

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good summary of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) approaches with a UK angle combined with a sprinkling of Minimalism.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Location 256 What if that way just involved small actions, taken every day, compounded over time?
Location 361 You may not have this mythical willpower: no one does. But you are capable of taking small actions, which, over time, become routines and get stuff done.
Location 405 As Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, said: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have
Location 553 “The Affluenza Virus…a set of values which increase our vulnerability to emotional distress.” He adds: “It entails placing a high value on acquiring money and possessions, looking good in the eyes of others and wanting to be famous… [increasing] your susceptibility to the commonest emotional distresses: depression, anxiety, substance abuse and personality disorder (like ‘me, me, me’ narcissism, febrile moods or confused identity[30]).”
Location 596 Before we go any farther in this book, you need to understand something. No matter how much you thrive on your job (and if you’re one of those lucky 13%[40] that like to work, that’s great), the only intrinsic point of working for money is to be paid. No job gives you anything you couldn’t experience somewhere else free. There may be outliers: brain surgeon and astronaut come to mind. Even then, depending on your motivation, I would wager my last pound you could derive similar satisfaction elsewhere. And see your colleagues, those people you spend all that time with, whose moods, peccadilloes, hopes and fears you know more about than your own family’s? They’re not real. They don’t care about you. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have to. And neither would you. Once you realise this, it’s liberating.
Page 6 The second, true, pure, meaning of happiness is living a life in line with your purpose and values: being a good person. And the only way to do this is by showing up and doing the work; taking the right actions, day after day after day.
Page 8 I never let fear stop me doing anything.
Page 8 E.E. Cummings said: “To be nobody-but-yourself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight[49].”
Page 9 They come to realise that all they need is a good grasp of their subject matter and an intense desire to share their passion (admittedly difficult when you’re presenting the monthly sales figures, not freeing a nation).
Page 13 I’m at my proudest as a parent when my kids are brave; ditto
Page 18 “Find a good partner/spouse and network of friends. Find the community that has the right feel. Develop healthy life habits and get your finances in order. Nurture relationships and find a community that makes you happy. Figure out the big things first and the little stuff falls into place[68].”
Page 19 Last year, I saw one at TEDxGlasgow[70]. The best talk was by David Eustace[71], then 55, an internationally renowned photographer and director born in Glasgow’s impoverished East End. Reflecting on a 30-year career, he talked of a sliding-doors moment and urged us to seize the day; seize the moment, just as he had. To never let fear get in the way. To always act on the “what if”; never be left thinking “if only”.
Page 19 I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I wish that I had let myself be
Page 24 “The power of your why is what gets you to stick through the grueling, mundane, and laborious[78].”
Page 60 Then I explain them to others before I forget: the Feynman Technique[114].
Page 62 Seth Godin[124] or Gary Vaynerchuk, is much
Page 69 Show up at the same time every week. The best email newsletters arrive in my inbox on the same day at the same time weekly. They have three things in common: the author’s on a voyage of discovery, bringing me back gold nuggets from her or his adventures; they speak to me in a consistent way; and every week I know them better.
Page 78 “Give it all away for free. Reveal your secrets. Share without expectation of anything in return.” Whatever you want to call it, if you’re nice to people they’ll be nice back and good things will happen.
Page 226 Action (Yes, there is one.) Sit down. Whip out your laptop and google “Check Your State Pension[413]”. Have your passport number handy. If it’s your first time on the GOV.UK, you’ll need to sort the verification malarkey, and have your mobile with you for verification codes. Still sitting down? See how many years you and your partner need to make National Insurance contributions before you qualify for the full state pension. Please note, qualifying for the full state pension is different from getting at it. However, it does tell you, crucially, what age you both need to work until to maximise this additional (and huge) source of retirement income. This will depend on various factors: the government redid the state pension a year or two ago. It’s complicated[414]. All you need to do right now is go online and check.
Page 228 In the UK, Beagle Street[415] has a good reputation, and is RESET’s top pick.
Page 228 RESET favours decreasing term life insurance based on your mortgage value at time of purchasing.
Page 228 Last, make sure you place your life insurance in a trust: many companies such as Beagle Street offer this service for nothing. This is because in trust your life insurance doesn’t form part of your estate. This means it cannot be subject to inheritance tax. Plus, those you’ve left behind receive the payout much quicker if your life insurance policy is in a trust.
Page 232 Read the best FIRE books[425]. In this order: Your Money or Your Life, Early Retirement Extreme, The Simple Path to Wealth, The Millionaire Next Door, Rich Dad Poor Dad and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. All of them are American. All of them are excellent. Translate the non-applicable
Page 232 Monevator (amazing, all the UK translation you’ll need), Mr. Money Mustache, Mad Fientist, Budgets are Sexy[426], Millennial Revolution[427] and Physician on FIRE[428].
Page 245 Develop a system to deal with things. Here, I’ve found nothing better, as a framework, than David Allen’s GTD system[452]. My adapted version is as follows:
Page 266 Watch Susan Pinker’s TED talk[494], and the next time the old lady passes your house with her doddery dog, ask her how she’s doing. She’d like that.

[Dancall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that ‘money freedom’ ideas go in trends - a few years ago it was how to play the stockmarket, then how to be a landlord, and now it's how to (basically) live frugally while saving into passive investment funds, with a defined goal to aim for (reach £x by age of y, and retire on an annual income of £z). David Sawyer’s book is all about this, and also how to re-define who you are and what you do, resetting your life. It’s full of good advice, and serves as a review of lots of other books and ideas, including how to form good habits, and how to Marie Kondo your home. I’m fascinated to see how many people adopt the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) lifestyle, and what impact this has on the economy.

[Ashley Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book as I was looking for a UK “translation” of the American financial terms for pensions ISAs etc found in the many US blogs and books relating to the FIRE ( Financial Freedom Retire Early ) movement.

What I got was so much more , akin to Tim Ferriss’ The 4 Hour Work Week providing an end to end guide not just on the mechanics and demystification of the stock markets and index funds ( which will allow you to retire far sooner than you could imagine ) , but how to reset every aspect of your life to optimise your future ....in a fun and entertaining way.
Unlike many books that rely on one idea over 300 pages , ( at the end of which you realise that it is a great concept but not practical for 80% of people ) Reset is rammed full of simple and easy to implement ideas that together will make you look at the world through a different eyes.

There is so much packed into this book you will probably revisit it many times. Note making is essential!!

Highly recommended.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this self-help book does a pretty good job of defining the audience it's aimed at, so I shouldn't have been surprised that it wasn't entirely aimed at me. It's very much the author writing for people just like himself a few years back: a "midlife" (40s or 50s perhaps, although perhaps someone in his 30s) middle-management male with a family to support, in a corporate job, burdened with all the trappings of the "good life" such as a big house with a mortgage attached, cars, expensive vacations needed to relieve the stress, a working spouse, kids that are what an acquaintance in the States (not) charmingly called "cost centers", etc.

That ideal reader is also not very computer-literate, and this was the bit of the book that I totally skimmed; but if you want to get some clue as to how to even start to thrive in the digital world it might be a section you'd like. Also, the ideal reader is based in the UK and that makes this book stand out from other FIRE (financial independence/retire early) advice I've read, which is nearly all US-centered. Being UK-based myself it was refreshing to read about UK financial strategies and instruments, and I absolutely did not know that living in Europe has an impact on your SWR (safe withdrawal rate) once you're living on your retirement stash. I might well go back to refer to some of the specific advice in that section.

Otherwise, this is an author who has read just about every FIRE book and blog out there and is repackaging it for you around his own story, making it either a good place to start if you're completely unfamiliar with the FIRE communities or a slight annoyance if you've already read a fair bit. Guess which category I'm in. The author has also absorbed the infuriating self-help structure of starting out by telling your readers that what you're going to tell them will change their lives, then telling them what you're going to tell them, then telling them the thing, then telling them what you've just told them. Thus making the book about three times as long as it needs to be; I get particularly incensed at the recap sections, which the author calls "index cards" because he prefers actual index cards to anything 21st-century.

This is somewhere around a 3.5-star read for me, mostly redeemed by the specific UK-based advice. I am simply not the ideal reader for this book so YMMV.

[Martin A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book because it provides loads of sensible, practical and well researched advice that can be adapted to you own circumstances. Use it as a checklist to establish where you are and what still needs to be done. It won’t be a quick fix. The author makes clear that you have to work at it consistently over the long term and take responsibility for your own direction based on who you are and what you want. Also being towards the top end of the age range the key message for me was it’s never to late to start.

[Weenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good self-help book for those stuck in mid-life obscurity (work and personal) with no plan to become happy/happier with their lives.

Easy to read, this is a curation of interesting facts, with lots of pointers to useful links for further reading. It is a good introduction to FIRE, providing guidance to sort out your finances, including pensions, savings and other investments. There's also an interesting section on how to declutter your mind and your home.

Not all of the suggestions will be useful or something you may want to consider, but there's a lot in there which can be incorporated easily into your life to make a positive change.

[Alexander Sikorsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exceeded all my expectations

This book is so much valuable information, works as a guide to pretty much manual instruction change in your life. It has proper holistic approach to main issues in life and tackles more than just finance. Additional information and resources referring to create a deep pool of information and data being to get more knowledge from. I left it on my table to read, re-read and follow.

[Cynthia James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful, shall return to this

This is a useful book for me, one that I shall return to at one point. Lots of good advice.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this a few times now and each time I pick up something different. However the gist is be frugal now, save as much as you can into the stock market and pensions and live a long and happy retirement. Not sure if the information will go out of date in terms of the companies that he is talking about, but I am sure there could be an update at some point.

[Michael Pozdnev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will become your guide to a better and more fulfilling life.

If you are looking for answers to vital questions, then this is the book for you. But I warn you: You must be a good person! Otherwise, go away!

"There is no such thing as willpower or superheroes. Just action and inaction. You are capable of taking small actions, which, over time, become routines and get stuff done."

I was lucky enough to get to know the author three years ago. And I was one of the happiest beta readers who received an advance review copy. How happy I am that I wrote that email to a completely unknown person and this was David :)

Why listen to the author? Because He is You! All your fears, doubts, and dreams.

In this self-improvement book, you will find a concrete plan for a good and meaningful life. How to be different, what routines and habits are essential, how to use negative motivation, how to conduct experiments and better recognize yourself, how to read more, how to get new digital skills, even how to free your mind for more important stuff. You will receive not just a map, but a detailed instruction for action!

Not just What to do, but HOW and Why.

Thanks to the sparkling humor and professionalism, reading this book flies by unnoticed. You are always nodding your head. "Yes, yes, I understand, it's about me." Wow, now everything is clear. "

This book is about little everyday actions that must become a habit. It will not be easy. It will be exciting because now you can live the life you dreamed about and built yourself.

In-depth studies, quotes, and examples from the life of real people compliment his story. It makes RESET holistic.

This book will change your life. If... You'll start to take the first steps to your better future. One foot in front of the other.

Because now you have a friend who will be around and help you make these small steps. And you'll want to share this happiness with other people, making this world a more beautiful place.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I was looking for - not just a UK translation of FIRE but a much more rounded and actionable take on various important life topics.

Down to earth and one that really resonated strongly with me.

[Phil Szomszor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve bought four copies of this for myself and other people - I don’t think I’ve done that with a book before.

It’s ideal for midlifers who are at the “what next?” or “is this it?” part of their lives.

The two best parts of the book are the first chapters on getting your focus and the budgeting and investment parts, which - although credited thinking from others - is very well explained.

Finally, though a minor point, it’s nice to read this kind of book with a British frame of reference. This area is so often dominated by American authors.

[Sandy Morley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a big chunk in the middle that passed me by, (probably because I'm not yet a midlife careerist,) and a structure I'm not sold on, but there's also a lot of value and sound advice in here.

I want to read this again in ten years, and again ten years after that. I think by that point I'll get a lot more out of it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Mike Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found David Sawyer when he appeared on Pete Matthew's Meaningful Money podcast. His story and book intrigued me so I bought it on Kindle and Audiobook to read while holidaying.
A very good read if you are a follower of the FIRE movement and plan on retiring before 60. A lot of good advice on saving, investing and general advice on good financial hi-gene

[Brendan Gaughan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like RESET, I have been following the FI movement for the last two years, I'm based in Glasgow like the author and after listening to Pete Matthews podcast interview with David I thought that this would be a very relevant book. Unfortunately while there are some good parts to this book (in particular the FI section) the rest of the book is almost completely irrelevant for anyone under the age of 40 and doesn't work in PR/office environment. The book also does not seem to know what it wants to be, is it a self help book, a financial independence manual, a running guidebook, a motivational tool or an extremely long book review of the authors favourite self help and financial books he has read in the last 10 years?

The good things about this book:

it's short, the Financial independence sections are very good especially as they are focused on the UK, the glossary of terms at the back of the book and the index cards. If you want a good introduction to the FI movement with a UK focus I would definitely recommend it just for that, especially if you don't have time to trawl through lots of US based blogs and having to google what the UK equivalent of a 401K is.

Things I disliked:

While at the age of 31 I consider myself to be a midlife professional, at 45 the author is describing a completely different set of life experiences which I cannot relate to. For example everyone I know grew up with access to a computer and the internet so when the author talks about "going digital" as a new skill to enhance your career it's not particularly relevant for myself or most of my colleagues who made that jump 10 years ago when LinkedIn became a thing. The section on tidying your house using the Mari Kodo method and making the move from shopping at Sainsburys to ALDI and Lidl and was particularly galling. Unlike the author, I don't live in a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs with a basement and an attic conversion so tidying our two bed apartment does not take long, especially when you have moved twice in the last 3 years. You quickly learn what you actually need when it needs to fit into boxes for a house move. Similarly the talk of "Middle-class snobbery" when it came to shopping in ALDI and Lidl made no sense to me, possibly because I'm not British and no one I know has any particular prejudice against shopping in Aldi, possibly as I graduated University into the middle of a recession when cheap food would not be sniffed at.

I do understand why these sections are there, cutting costs and frugality are cornerstones of FI and retiring early. However it is very obvious that 10 to 15 years makes a big difference between the authors experiences and my own. Most people my age are on significantly lower wages post recession, the housing market has inflated prices everywhere and lots of people on "good" wages are struggling, not due to trying to keep up with the Jones but because of Uni loans, high rents and stagnating wages.

I would recommend this book if you are looking for information on FI and know next to nothing about it but if you have read a few Mister Money Mustache posts over the years you can safely avoid this book.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a strange mix of oddly specific advice, aimed at the "midlife careerist" who earns decently but doesn't take care of their finances, and solid but generic self-help. Much of the material on investing and lifestyle is just as relevant to younger people like myself, although being already quite familiar with financial independence writing, budgeting, and typical "millennial" topics like minimalism and avoiding lifestyle inflation there wasn't much new to me. The section on starting a blog and online presence felt uncomfortably close to the "escape the cubicle" movement of a decade ago, and likewise I feel it's just one option of many and not one that suits everybody, but at least it was proposed as a complement rather than replacement for a conventional career.

I did however like the way Sawyer linked the topic of financial independence to the more general self-improvement ones in a very practical way, showing that financial comfort is only one part of a happy life and other factors like not having excessive clutter in the house and being more conscious about how we spend our time also support the overall goal. It's also perhaps the first proper book to address these subjects specifically from a UK perspective, even if most of the info has already been easily available online for some time. This book has inspired me not to make a budget and get my bank accounts in order, since I was already on that years ago, but to spend a Saturday afternoon cleaning out my cupboard and to set up monitoring software to see how much time I'm really wasting on distractions. The citation have also given me points for further reading.

If you're in the book's target audience and are living a supposedly middle-class lifestyle yet don't know where your money is all going and don't have a plan for retirement, then this book could be life-changing. For the rest of us, it won't be quite as profound but there are a few tips to be picked up.

[Alex Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author comes across as likeable and has some good tips throughout the book. Yet, it just reads like a series of informal blog posts spliced together into a book.

My main issues surround the structure and financial advice elements. Regarding the former, chapters are full of rambling waffle and the advice given is more just personal anecdotes - over concrete steps that the initiated can take. Many who read this are likely to be very new to the idea of “going it on your own” and would probably expect more hand-holding.

The financial advice section is dreadful and dangerous to those that follow it. Saying that certain investment platforms are a necessity is plain wrong, especially considering that he references a popular finance website that refutes some of his platform claims. His advice about asset allocation (e.g., 20% to U.K. equities) is also full of conjecture and contradictory to the kind of passive investing mentality that he’s trying to get readers to get into.

[Dan Coman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's...okay. If the concept of FIRE is new to you, I could see this being useful. If it's not, it will be equal parts rehashing things you've already read and making bold claims about things you've likely little control over. I quickly realised I wasn't the target audience, and so I found it a bit dull and difficult to get through.

There's an irony in there being lots of advice about innovating and being different from the crowd, and yet the advice being the same as you get from any FIRE blog - cut costs, cut clutter, cut investment management fees, profit. I get that self-help books have to give one course of action, but there's little consideration given to different approaches - property, as an example off the top of my head.

Personally, I would read Mr Money Mustache, Monevator and Marie Kondo and move on.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you middle aged, middle class, with no retirement plan or clue generally about how to run your life? Then this book has collated the information you need. Essentially, get on LinkedIn, konmari your 4 bedroom house, and start shopping at Lidl so you can free up a grand of disposable income a month and start investing it. The UK investment guide is quite detailed.

Personally I found this book a bit frustrating as I am already quite frugal, and a lot of it was just recommending other people's books or techniques rather than explaining how to do or apply anything directly. And David, if you read this, rolling your socks is the best part of the konmari method - you don't know what you're missing.

[Shaun Steinberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best U.K. financial independence book!

Fantastic U.K. focused financial independence book packed full of useful information.

This book contains all the hints and tips you need to set you off on your FI journey including decluttering, saving, and investing.

I would recommend this to any in the U.K. WITH AN INTEREST IN financial independence but who aren’t too sure where to start. By the 50% mark in this book I had already fixed my budget, began paying down my cards and started looking in to investments once my cards are paid off!

This book lost a star for my simply because I am a visual learner and would have liked more graphs, charts and infographics to help get the information across.

A fantastic book! ****

[Harjeet Heer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t even know where to begin

This book includes financial advice even though the author is not qualified or regulated. We are not talking about ‘save more’ type of advice but lists of funds you should invest in. How to move final salary pensions even if the adviser tells you not to.

Whilst he covers his own **** by saying he isn’t an adviser he then goes on to make recommendations.

Can’t believe stuff like this is written. As a financial adviser who is qualified to talk about these things I recommend reading a better book.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out well, I thought this was a UK take on the FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement. However, it read as a rather unfocussed series of lists; a bit on wellbeing, a bit on efficiency, a bit on career adaption, a bit on minimalism and a bit on investing. I read the book just wishing the author would focus and dig deeply into one thing.

[Lisa Gemert · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're British, there's a useful section in the middle. If you're not, it's just a bunch of quotes and other people's ideas. I was really disappointed. The author was likeable, but I felt like it was a compilation of every book he'd ever read, with few if any original ideas other than the section on British finance. I wish I could recommend it, but I can't.

[عمر · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful book in managing life over all for persons in forties.

[Paul Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the shoulders of giants to us professional midlifers

Changing your life requires determination and dedication to a new vision you have, and this guy has all of the above. Beginning with his personal reasons for changing his life and by doing this is changing his family tree.
Starting with a few quotes, David shows why he has 'gone digital'.
One of the most interesting and booking aspects forbid book is his take on financial independence. The FIRE movement, as it is known elsewhere in the English speaking world, is explained for us here in the UK and broken down for our own application. This, to my mind, is one of the greatest selling points of the book.
If you're a professionally employed person aged 35-60, and concerned about your work\life balance and the ability to retire earlier than 68 This Is the book for you!
Seldom have I read a more informative book that has actual step by step parts that enable and encourage action.
Read it. Read it again.Act in its teachings.

[Kathiella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book and really, really loved it. I have been listening and reading to a lot of books on finance, fire etc. And this one popped up in my audible feed.

I found the author really relatable. Although he stepped out of his career earlier, I enjoyed following the thoughts that led to this decision and found many similarities with my own situation.

Some of the other chapters had me nod vigorously, having had several attempts konmari‘ing my house and never quite getting it to full declutter stage. Knowing the importance of this will have me tackle this again soonish.
Some of the finance stuff I am already doing, but for anyone in the UK interested in FIRE, this is a great alternative to all the US books out there that talk about 401ks etc that we don‘t have.

And finally he talks about running and how he gets some of his best ideas in the pool.
It‘s an all round helpful little book and I plan to order the paperback version to work through in more detail