Set for Life: An All-Out Approach to Early Financial Freedom

by Scott Trench

Retire early from your nine-to-five and reach financial freedom with the actionable advice in this personal finance best-seller—now completely revised with new content from the author!


 Building wealth is always possible, even while working full-time, earning a median income, and paying off debt. By layering philosophy with practical knowledge, Set for Life gives young professionals the action plan they need to conquer their financial goals early in life. With more than 130,000 first-edition copies sold, this anniversary edition gets a refresh with new content, updated numbers, and even more valuable tips and tricks learned over the last five years.



Scott Trench—real estate investor, co-host of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, and CEO of BiggerPockets—demonstrates how to accumulate a lifetime of wealth over a short period of time. Even starting with zero savings, you can go from a five-figure income to six figures, from an active job to passive income, then finally to the ultimate goal of financial independence.



Set yourself up for life as early as possible, and enjoy life on your terms!


Inside this book, you’ll learn how




Save more income (50+ percent of it) while still having fun




Double or triple your income in 3–5 years




Track your financial progress in order to achieve the greatest results




Build frugal and efficient habits to make the most of your lifestyle




Secure “real” assets and avoid ”false” ones that destroy wealth




Use real estate and stock investing to generate passive income




And much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance, Personal Finance, Money

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 12, 2022

Reviews

[Katherine Nally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my mental “to read” list for years, since I found Bigger Pockets and learned about it. My library didn’t have it and I dragged my feet on buying it or getting it from Audible.

I finally pulled the trigger on it, and it was definitely written for the me of a few years ago, so I kinda wish I had read it then. I haven’t strayed far from the path, though, and my goal is no longer the same thing it was a few years ago. It still provided me interesting food for thought, overall I enjoyed it. He does recommend very extreme action, and it’s definitely not for everyone.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Track spending, calculate net worth, save emergency fund of 1000 dollars

2. Drastically cut expenses with the goal of saving %50 or more of your paycheck, get roommates, shop a discount goods and make food at home so as to not eat out, cut out useless luxuries that hurt your goals like Netflix, gaming subscriptions ect.

3. Save 6 months to a years worth of expensives

4. Find higher paying jobs by learning valuable skills

5. Invest excess saved money in real estate, stocks, bonds, gambling. The normally stuff

[Jaxon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anybody wants to learn about “Financial Freedom” or “Financial Independence”, start here! Great advice all around the board.

[Ahmed Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the single greatest book on what 20-somethings should do to reach early financial freedom. Clear, frank, and logical.

Step 1: Frugality. Save $25,000 cash, use that as a fund for emergencies and a 5% down payment on a duplex. The #1 wastage of money is rent, since it does nothing for your net worth - on the other hand, paying that same amount as a mortgage on a house you own increases your net worth by that amount every month ($1000/m mortgage pays off your house, increasing your equity by $1000/m and also paying off debt). Rent out the other side and provide housing for someone else while using their rent to help pay off the mortgage. This stage is the most difficult and most crucial - your first $25k is the hardest.

Step 2: Career capital. Now that you have a good attitude towards frugality/budgeting and have a mortgage, use your substantial emergency fund to provide cushioning. Find a job with more opportunities and salary, or even quit your job to start a business. Take calculated risks by considering what you’d like to do long-term and how much it could gross - then, execute and save most of the money over the years.

Step 3: Invest. Aside from your emergency fund cash (6-12 months of spending), everything should be invested. Scott Turner overviews real estate and index fund investing in this book, but he extends the definition since he (obviously) can’t cover the entirety of investing in a few chapters. Accumulating wealth should be easy and precise at this point, and by this point in life you have a general idea of what you’d like to do in retirement, so set a retirement lump sum goal which approximately follows the 4% withdrawal rule:
Required Retirement Savings = Yearly Expenses/0.04

[Lyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard personal finance information, leaning more heavily into house hacking. I think the most useful thing he said is that he learned after publishing the first edition, that there is more than one way to FIRE and not to disparage those who do it differently.

I was super surprised that he said retirement accounts (particularly 401ks) were "false assets" and was ready to dig into that in my review. But in the appendix he clarifies it and acknowledges the truth: that tax benefits are absolutely useful. But to him, they're false because most people won't educate themselves on things like Roth conversion ladders and therefore use the accounts as an early retirement asset. To me, that's all the more reason to SHARE that information, not lead people astray by mislabeling them as a "false asset." But his primary thing seems to be using real estate to achieve financial independence, so this just isn't his forte.

My other issue is his definition of passive income. Passive income is not something that continues to require a little maintenance here and there, as he paints it. Passive income is a variable amount of work upfront to produce something that continues to generate income. Managing real estate, the way he describes it (with managing tenants and maintenance etc himself) is not passive income. That's a job. It might be super lucrative and it might be comparatively low hours to a regular job and totally worth it. But it's not passive income.

Anyway, probably a good read if you're pursuing FIRE via real estate (not me). My two favorite FIRE books remain on their pedestals: Quit Like A Millionaire and Work Optional.

[Kevin Gartner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first audiobook I’ve listened to and found it pretty easy to digest. This is a standard intro to personal finance book, but with a heavy slant on real estate (specifically house hacking). The concepts introduced aren’t difficult to understand and many finance influencers tout similar mantras (e.g. live on less than you make, save and invest aggressively, etc).

One of the core ideas of the book is early financial freedom allows you to do want during the better part of their day, during the best part of their week, throughout the best years of their life. I find this to be very compelling and something that most people would seek.

One area that he discussed that challenged my own paradigm wad his view on retirement accounts and how you can’t include them in your net worth calculation. I will likely continue contributing to these accounts, but will keep an appropriate allocation to my after tax brokerage accounts to continue building my “financial runway.”

This is an easy listen on 1.5x speed and most people would probably find some value in this book.

[Andrew Caulfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book lays out in the introduction that it is really only for people in their 20s and 30s—in other words, people who have most of their compounding years ahead of them. It makes no provision for those of us who are older—not even a scintilla of a hint as to what to do if you’re over the hill. And as with so many other books in this genre, the secret—so to speak—is to invest in real estate, lots of it, so that it can generate income for you, without any acknowledgment that not everyone is able to manage a real estate portfolio, for any number of reasons. There is also an admonition to live on $20,000/year. That wouldn’t even cover rent where I live!

Ultimately while there are nuggets of good advice throughout, there just isn’t enough here to make this worth reading for most people.

[Gustavo Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overall approach from RE background

I have read many personal books from Dave Ramsey, Ramit, Tony Robins, etc and I liked this one in particular a lot because it discussed many of the strategies that can be implemented from a real estate background such as house hacking. Does not get into keep with budgeting but gives an overall simple great view financial freedom. Will enjoy this and future books from the Bigger Pockets Team.

[Sharee Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to see if it would be helpful for my 18 and 20 year old nieces. YES!! I bought it, sent it to them and have made it mandatory summer reading for them (and their mom)!

I consider myself a fairly seasoned investor and like the way the author engages the reader and speaks in an understandable fashion. I hope this helps many young people!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Very helpful first read as I learn about financial independence. The book is definitely aimed at 20 somethings already in jobs they hate. But lots of information helpful for anyone trying to get in charge of their own savings.

[Alicia Geddes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better books I have read about Retiring Early. Scott was very extensive in the material he included. Had some great ideas that got me thinking. I'll have to go back and read it again sometime because there is probably some good info that I missed.

[Anna Pata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of dense information that anyone with a strong interest in finance/retirement will love. For me, it was a little too dense and lengthy, but I enjoyed the read and will read other books by Scott Trench!

[I · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the portion of the book where he talks about living frugally. The rest of the book was extremely annoying and really looks down on the way many people live without any mention that many are much more privileged than others

[Travis reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks Scott

I listen to Scott on his podcast fairly regularly and finally had a chance to read his book. A great read that I strongly recommend. These principles have me almost at financial freedom at 36. Thanks Scott.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got interesting around chapter 9. Definitely a bit outdated. But some useful info as well.

[Brian tipdawg20 · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re in your 20’s, looking for some different ideas on how to make money, and are willing to implement some potentially risky challenges then this book is for you.

House hacking and real estate is the main push of this book. My complaint is that doing it the way suggested in this book is pictured as extremely rosy, fun and easy when in my personal experience real estate can be torturous and very unforgiving especially if you don’t have a cash cushion. BUT I do agree with the message that you should learn while you can. Just try not to have foreclosures, short sales, and bankruptcy happen in the process by pulling a Braveheart move trying to be rich and financially free lol.

Also I have an issue with the fact that the author seems to dismiss the idea that you can work your way up in a great job with awesome potential. Entrepreneurship I agree is the best way to bring in serious cash for those willing to accept the challenge, but to seemingly dismiss all other methods of income building is short sighted and off putting for anyone who is doing just that while living on a small portion of their income and saving a large chunk for FI.

This book is for a very narrow and specific type of person. Could it be helpful? Sure. But unfortunately for a majority of people it’s just not worth reading.

1/1/24 edit: I remember holding back a lot when initially writing this because I never want to discourage someone from pursuing their dreams and work hard to grow their potential. But I was going through last years goals today and found a note I wrote about this book. Just being painfully clear, the ideas in this book can be dangerous and I have seen too many new investors jump all in to the housing hack/rental property situation and be 100% unhappy about their decision and end up losing way more than they gained - wife, family, wealth, etc.

I wrote these four “tips” that were presented in this book immediately after reading as well as my sometimes slightly sarcastic response 😂

1. Tip #1 - Don’t buy a house because it likely won’t appreciate in value and you’ll be stuck paying to fix stuff all the time. Counter tip example: buy a house you can rent out that will magically increase in value, immediately cash value because nothing will need to be fixed and will be a breeze to own not to mention making you tons of cash from the likely increase in value.

2. Tip #2 - House hacking is the easiest way to be a landlord because you live right next to your tenants! Reality check: when you live right next to your tenants it’s a toss up on whether or not they will be bothering you all the time over little stuff. If you’re willing to take the risk of having a horrible tenant then sure house hacking isn’t necessarily a horrible idea but not the piece of cake idea presented in this book. My wife is a property manager and the horror stories are literally horrific.

3. Tip #3 - Don’t climb the corporate ladder where you can work your way up to a $100k salary in 5 years or so because that’s dumb. Somehow living on $50k and saving $50k a year isn’t an option here like it is in other sections of the book Instead spend lots of money to go back to school to develop a specialized skill and work your way up to $100k in less than 5 years! (This was literally presented)

How about you just do what you’re good at and look for another job if your company doesn’t recognize your hard work instead of assuming you’ll be automatically taken advantage of. Don’t settle for the annual 2% raise. If you are worth it and work hard then go where your skills are appreciated. A smart company will recognize your skills and pay you for them. And again if they don’t, then go somewhere else.

4. Tip #4 - don’t start a side hustle. That’s just a waste of time and stupid, BUT do start a business on the side that synergies with your skill set because that’s 100% different somehow.

Lastly I recognize that the author was successful at something flashy and wants to make money off the ability to tell others to do this same flashy thing. Can said flashy thing work for some? Yes! Definitely! Possibly! Maybe maybe not! But you should 100% go into this with eyes wide open completely aware of the high risks involved.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great foundational book to set your path in money and real estate investing.

I plan on applying this information along side Dave Ramsey’s philosophy so that I can put myself in a position to achieve financial freedom in real estate investing.