Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps to Get You Back on Track in 2010

by David Bach

Let 2010 Set You on the Path to Wealth.
 
Believe it or not, recessions make millionaires!  Will you be one? In Start Over, Finish Rich, America's best-loved financial expert, David Bach, explains that 2010 will be the best opportunity for building wealth we have seen in decades . And, as the economy recovers, you must be set up to recover with it. Bach's easy, take-action plan will show you how.
 
Start Over, Finish Rich supplies the ten crucial moves you must make in 2010 to get back on track and recapture your dreams of a richer future. Learn how
 
* Get out of debt
* Fix your credit
* Rebuild your 401k plan
* Improve your 529 Plan
* Take smart risks
* Reorganize your financial life for the high tech age
* Update your real estate plan
* Change your thinking about money
* Recommit to wealth
 
As Bach says, "A recession is a terrible thing to waste—so don't waste this one! Use it instead to get rich." Read Start Over, Finish Rich and let David Bach put you and your family back on the path to financial freedom. 
 
 
 
 

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

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

David L. Bach is an American financial author, television personality, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and founder of FinishRich.com. Bach, is best known for his Finish Rich Book Series and Automatic Millionaire Series of motivational financial books under the Finish Rich Brand. He has written 12 books since 1998 with over seven million copies in print.
Eleven of Bach's books have been national bestsellers, including nine consecutive New York Times bestsellers, two of which were consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers (The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich). Bach has had four of his books Smart Women Finish Rich, Smart Couples Finish Rich, The Automatic Millionaire and The Finish Rich Workbook appear simultaneously on the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and USA Today bestseller lists. Eleven of Bach's books have been published from Random House (Broadway Books).
Bach's first book Smart Women Finish Rich was published in 1998, and appeared on the bestseller lists for a decade. His most recent book Debt Free For Life (2011) was published by Crown Business Books, and appeared simultaneously on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists.
Bach has appeared regularly on television dispensing his financial advice since 1994. His first appearance on television took place in San Francisco, on local cable channel BayTV, where he was "The Money Doctor", and answered personal financial questions.
He was a regular contributor to The Today Show, appearing weekly on the Money 911 Segments. He also has contributed to CNN American Morning, CNBC, Fox Business, ABC Good Money, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show over six times, including the shows "How to become an Automatic Millionaire" (2004), "How to become an Automatic Millionaire Couple" (2004) and "Oprah's Debt Diet Series" (2006). Bach has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, NBC's Weekend Today, CNN's Larry King Live, ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, and ABC's The View.
Bach has written, produced and hosted two public television specials, Smart Women Finish Rich and The Automatic Millionaire, which aired nationally. Smart Women Finish Rich was produced by Connecticut Public Television (1998) and The Automatic Millionaire by Chicago Public Television (2006). He has hosted two radio shows, Finish Rich with David Bach (Sirius Satellite Radio) and The Finish Rich Minute (Westwood One).

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

As other reviewers have noted, Bach has a tendency to rehash his financial theories in each successive book. This rehash is particularly suited to getting back on track after the recent economic meltdown--or a personal meltdown (Bach himself got divorced, and had to start over).

This isn't my favorite of Bach's books (that would be Smart Couples Finish Rich), but I'd recommend it as a great starting point for anyone in a financial pickle. It's short and sweet, and not overburdened with optimistic math or cheesy testimonials; I got through the entire thing in less than two hours. If you're in a monetary bind, and feel overwhelmed just reading the covers of most financial self-help tomes, this is the book to check out.

[January · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps to Get You Back on Track in 2010 by David Bach
202-page Kindle Ebook

Genre: Nonfiction, Business, Personal Finance, Financial Crises, Recessions

Featuring: Checklists, Step 1: Recommit to Wealth, Step 2: Find Your Money, Organizing Your Finances, Filing System, Websites, Latte Factor, Step 3: Deal With Your Credit Card Debt, Worksheets, Step 4: Fix and Protect Your Credit Score, Step 5: Rebuild Your Emergency Savings, Step 6: Re-energize Your Retirement Plan, Step 7: Make It Automatic, Step 8: Get Rich With Real Estate, Step 9: Rebuild Your College Fund (and Restructure Your Student Loan), Step 10: 25 Ways to Save, Bonus Step 11: Find Your Power, Give to Others, Charities, David's Story

Rating as a movie: PG

Quotes: "The point is that whether you waste money on fancy coffee, bottled water, dining out, cigarettes, soft drinks, candy bars, fast food, whatever it happens to be—we all have a Latte Factor. We all throw away too much of our hard-earned money on unnecessary “little” expenditures without realizing how much they can add up to. The sooner you figure out your Latte Factor—that is, identify those unnecessary expenditures—the sooner you can start eliminating them. And the sooner you do that, the more extra money you’ll be able to put aside. And the more extra money you can put aside, the stronger your financial position will be."

"The reason most people don’t have any emergency money in the bank is that they have what they think is an emergency every month. What’s a real emergency? It’s not just having to buy a new dress for that special party. Or finding an amazing set of wheels for your car at a once-in-a-lifetime price. Or deciding you’ve got to get a new dishwasher because the old one is making noise. A real emergency is something that threatens your survival, not just your desire to be comfortable. So unless your family is about to go hungry or be thrown out into the street, you shouldn’t be dipping into your emergency fund."

"When it comes to real estate, there are three kinds of people: those who own, those who want to own, and those who own and want to own more."

"Life is too short to stay down. So please take this book—take your dreams—and START OVER. I’m doing it today—and you can, too! I know you can."

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️🚥🤑

My thoughts: This was on my TBR for several years, like since 2017, so I decided to download it and get it done. I had the audio read by the author in addition to the ebook. It had some great ideas, but there were some misconceptions (like what he said about credit scores and the military, the truth is they don't care about your credit score; they are concerned about why it's low. A low credit score isn't a problem for the military, excessive debt and missed payments are a problem) and dated information, credit score, and credit cards. He really needs to update and revise this book.

Recommend to others: Maybe. There are definitely better books out there without dated information; including those by this author. This book has a lot of great ideas but for accurate information maybe consider The Latte Factor instead.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed Bach's books since Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams almost a decade ago. More smart and straightforward guidance for getting (and keeping) control of your finances. Plus, it's a quick read. Nice way to begin the new year -

[Madam Book Worm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite quote: "A real emergency is something that threatens your survival, not just your desire to be comfortable."

Favorite quote: "Research shows definitively that people who give of their time and money to help others live longer, happier, and wealthier lives."

Although this book was written in 2009, reading through this book during covid-19 was timely because the book did not feel outdated at all. Most of the principles applied can be used right now to recover after covid-19. I learned a bit more information on credit card debt, fixing and protecting credit scores, building emergency savings, retirement plans, the power of automatic withdrawals for bill payments, getting involved in real estate and the power of giving to others.

This book is just a brief introduction to the things listed above. There is not enough information to become a subject matter expert, but just enough to know a little about a lot in the financial world.

[Anthony McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

AUDIOBOOK. Free on Libby. I love David Bach and he delivered with this one. It's encouraging and informative. It's a little rehash in parts of The Automatic Millionaire but it's 5 years newer (written in 2009 vs 2004) but now that it's 2019 it's a little outdated now. The concepts are essentially the same though so definitely worth the read / listen.

[Nathan Mukoma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for a basic understanding and starter, but it's the usual stuff. nothing new added here

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, but this one had some good stuff.

[Major Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this book: dated; some good ideas, if you're not already doing them. Have to look in to using kids' 529 if they don't use it all - perhaps I'll finally finish my Masters...

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I continue to read these personal finance books. They are almost a guilty pleasure at this point.

Bach's effort is typical of the genre with a lot of Tony Robbins-like motivational writing (yes you can!) and a common sense plan to paying down debt and saving for the future. If you think you need a book like this, I'd recommend something by Dave Ramsey instead, personally.

At it's worst, this book tries to cash in on the recession hysteria and would have been more effective at that if it had been published six months ago.

As with all these books, you can save some time reading it if you just remember to spend less than you make.

[Nikki Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't do math, numbers, budgets, or finances, but my boyfriend and I read this together and it has literally changed our lives and wallets. It only took 2 hours to read, and everything he says and suggests is both easy and intuitive. I reccommend this book for EVERY0NE, whether you are just graduating high school, college, or have been living paycheck to paycheck for your whole life. Even if you have no discipline (ESPECIALLY if you have no discipline) with money, this is the book that will change you forever.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. Bach tends to say the same things over and over again in his books, and he assumes that the average reader is mired in debt and subscribes to premium cable at the same time. I read his "Smart Couples Finish Rich" book a while back and liked that, but this one reiterated many ideas he had already discussed so it was not that helpful. However--it is a good reminder and it discusses many concepts related to credit cards, stocks, savings and home buying that are useful to know.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was typical, sound financial advice, with lots of good ideas for 'regrouping' after the last 10 years of economic mayhem. I had to laugh though- all of the predictions (i.e., "suppose you have x dollars in the stock market for 40 years and earn x percent per year") were slightly more pessimistic than his 1998 debut, "Smart Women Finish Rich." Apparently we should count on 8% returns instead of 10% returns, and we should all save 12% of our income in stead of only 10%.

[Madonna Analla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by David Bach. I really like this book because it gives advice after the recession started and the stock market went to hell. It gives new advice for where to place your money for emergencies and gives a strategy for those who lost a lot to get it back. I've felt that finance books written before 2007 aren't too relevant today but this book showed that many of the same strategies are still useful today.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I'm living in Germany I probably couldn't get as much value out of this book as if I would be living in the US. There are some nice hints in it though and I guess this is a really great book for people who have a really hard time getting their finances right or have been struck by the recession and need some help to get back on track.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another awesomely helpful financial book from Bach. He repeats a lot of what you find in his other writings but makes it more timely by putting it in post-recession reference. I think it was a bad idea of the publisher to put a year on the cover; that may deter future use of this book. Rather, it is timely advice for anyone who took a beating in an economic shitstorm.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I toggled between a 2.5 and a 3 on this one, and decided to round up. I've read several of David Bach's books, and this is more of the same, really. But it's been a while since I read the last one, so some of the reminders are good, I guess.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book, this has many of Bach's original concepts, restated for those people that feel wiped out by the last 2 years of economic turmoil. Some information has been updated for 2010.

A good book to skim through and re-commit yourself to staying the course and attaining wealth.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Wanted a book that dealt with the current times & percentages of returns, even thought the logic and theory is all the same. I felt that with this book based on 2010 reflections, it was an outstanding read.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar material to Bach's other books, but with more of a focus on what to do with your saving goals during a time of economic turmoil. I like his writing style and can always use a reminder of money saving strstegies that are tried and true.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew most of this material already, but just reading a personal finance book gets me energized to save again.

[Dawnetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to the Automatic Millionaire. He does add a few different pointers in this one though.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

helpful.

[Danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a short little book that I read in a couple of hours. Most of the stuff it suggested was stuff I was doing. I got some good ideas though.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book. He has several good reference that would be easier to utilized if you have the written copy.

[Kelly Philpott · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some really useful information about organizing your finances.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as his Automatic Millionaire but quality advice yet again.

[Alyssa Stobaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information is outdated but the core such as The Latte Factor & FinishRich filing system still valid ideas.

[Daniel Fevrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a very good book of financial action

[Mohamed Tohami · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book targets the U.S. readers only. However, it contains some useful tips that anyone can use.

[J]

I'm a sucker for David Bach.