Buy This, Not That: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom

When a book is titled 'Buy This, Not That,' you're led to believe you'll learn great ways to save. This very chatty book is really about maximizing your top line.

While the author offers some sound (but certainly not original) advice, there are also numerous shortcomings:

* The author's stats and charts are not empirically supported unless you have to go to the financial samurai website to find his sources.
* No financial advisor worth his/her salt would tell someone in their 60s to only have 20% of their money in stocks and bonds as this author does. That's the road to a miserable retirement.
* The author's discussion of where to buy a house completely misses the importance of buying a home in a good school district. This factor has a tremendous impact on home prices.
* Very disappointing was a chart showing a family of four pulling in $300K and only giving 1% to charity. Seriously? The author never really addresses how much of our income we should give. Later in the book, he does suggest that giving your time is more important than giving money. Giving your time is important and much needed by the US not-for-profit sector, but time AND money are needed. Some religious denominations suggest 10% of salary given to income. Imagine if this family had given even 5%--that's $15K. After all, donated time doesn't buy food, equipment, or facilities.
* Closing the book with a discussion of Stealth Wealth made no sense. The author spent the whole book about the importance of making money. Money, money, money. Then, he advises the reader to in no way enjoy the fruits of your labor in public? He's right we shouldn't flaunt our stuff. But if I work my tail off for 30 years, as he'd suggest, and amass $3 million liquid, can I only enjoy a Rolex while watching TV at home or rev my BMW while it sits in the garage?

If you're in your 20s and early 30s, you'll get some sound advice in this book. Just don't rely only on this book as you build your future.

This book doesn't follow the classic set of FIRE formulas (if you do want that, I would recommend JL Collins’s “The Simple Path to Wealth”). Sam approaches things in his own unique way. The results of which are a large collection of rules and frameworks for how you should approach life decisions in the most optimal way on your path to financial independence.

He pushes you to think in terms of probabilities of success and focus on making decisions where a positive outcome will happen at least 70% of the time while still being humble enough to accept failure 30% of the time.

The book challenged me a lot in the first section. Sam’s advice on how much you should target to FIRE is extremely different to the more common calculations and those I personally use. Sam pushes on an income focused approach as well as emphasis on passive income.

I like reading books that offer me a different way to think about a problem. I know the core of a Bogel Head or Mr. Money Mustache type FIRE approach. Reading another book about this wouldn’t incrementally add to how I already think. Sam accomplishes that for me perfectly with this book, highly incremental. If you strictly follow his advice you will end up with way more money than I think you would ever need… but that’s not exactly the worst outcome in the world. He also has me thinking harder about my own Real Estate exposure (nearly 0% at the moment) and other options at generating passive income vs just relying on a portfolio withdrawal rate in FIRE.

Everything I have covered thus far is not even 1/3rd of the book. The rest of the book goes deep into thinking about where to live throughout your life, how to approach your career, job hopping vs sticking around (has a really good analogy of being like Nick Saban and not John Wooden), severances, side hustles, education, love, children, stealth wealth, and so much more that I really learned from.

Sam writes from the experience of someone who FIRE’d at the tail end of The Great Recession. For those in Tech in 2022 there are a lot of parallels to what Sam went through in his finance career in 2008-2012. I was also able to relate more since he actually lived (lives still) in San Francisco after working in New York and talks from experience the benefits these VHCOL locations can have on your career.

Some people think in images, most people think in words, Sam Dogen thinks in numbers.

TL;DR - Read the blog instead.

I'll start by saying that I am a regular reader and fan of the Financial Samurai blog. I don't sign on with every idea that's posted there, but I like the topics that the articles discuss and the forum for exploring the free space in the upper echelons of personal finance. That said, I think this is a good read for anyone not familiar with the blog who can also understand personal finance at a 401 level. There is a lot of wisdom in here, but it's buried beneath stacks of charts, formulas, and rules. The first half of the book is all numbers: 50% savings rate, 70/30 probability, 30/30/3 housing rule, Level of Joy/Interest rate, FS DAIR, BURL... It's just too much. And there's no cadence. Just do this all at once. There's a reason that Dave Ramsey's simplistic baby steps are still popular after 30 years.

Two stars is a low rating, so I'll defend my perspective. 1) There's nothing in this book that isn't explored in greater depth for free on the blog. A more accurate, albeit less catchy, title for this book would be The Collected Works of Financial Samurai: 2009-2022: Vol 1. If you're a regular reader of the Financial Samurai blog, this entire book will be familiar to you. 2) There are so many rules for your money, that if you put them all in a list, most people would have 130% of their income to allocate. There's so many rules, you can't see the forest for the trees. 3) You have to get through the 1st half of the book before the wisdom starts to pour in, and even then, it's hit or miss. There indeed are some genuine gold nuggets there, but there's also advice that is either anecdotal or punches above the author's level of expertise. For example, the author explains use of sunk cost in a bad marriage, and even recommends getting a divorce if you can't work things out after a year. I get that personal finance is just that: personal. But I'm really surprised that there wasn't the wherewithal to stay away from advice like this. 4) It's a book for a specific moment. You can tell that the book was written around 2019-2021 from the references it pulls like a low-rate environment. The past 6 months have dated the book already, and I fear that over time, it just won't be as relevant.

In summary, I think the topics discussed in the book are interesting and on point when sparsed-out in blog articles, but they don't meld cohesively in the medium of a book. Read the blog, skip the book.

I have been in investing in Real Estate for 40 years. I started once I knew that inflation was a reality and that investing in what goes up was critical to be able to retire. I started learning this when I was 7 years old, when I needed a penny to buy a 6 oz coke. It was 6cents. The week before it was 5 cents. I suddenly realized that I was helpless to buy something to quench my thirst at the little league game. I did what every little kid would do, I looked in the dirt and found one after 10 minutes. When I was done, I got the 1cent back and laid it in the sand right where I found it. That one lesson was worth 10 PhD's from any college.
From there I watched and learned how prices went up (1960's-1970's). I stated buying real estate, home after home, as a teacher, who made little money. This went on for years. Now I own real estate in Hawaii, California, and Arizona.
The discussions in this book ( I just bought 3 of them), are important to your thinking process. I own over 2,000 other books on real estate and finance. I never read them I just look at the titles of the chapters and pick out what motivates me from there. That is because many of them are repetitive. This book isn't. It presents thinking that the others don't. We are in trying times. Things will not work as before...just look at inflation and the dollar. Stocks will tank soon, and real estate will be the bedrock to plant your wealth on. If we get through this, you will have something that is real. That is why they call it REAL ESTATE! Read and learn, and at the same time (don't wait - time is critical), get out there and explore real estate in different cities and states. A Great migration is happening out of the coasts and big cities and into less populated areas. Do your own research, and take action at whatever level that you are capable of. Read, learn, and go see it yourself. Trust yourself and prosper!

As a long-time reader of the authors blog, The Financial Samurai, I am a huge fan of the authors enjoyable, informative, and digestible writing style. When I purchased this book it was more of a "thank-you" to the author for the years of excellent and free guidance. Expecting a re-hash of prior blog articles I wasn't expecting to learn anything new. How wrong was I. This book is full of surprises and for those interested in the subject of finances quickly becomes a real page-turner. Sam Dogen never ceases to surprise. Buy This, Not That has now become my new #1 recommendation ahead of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and I have already purchased copies of this book for two friends who reached out to me for financial advice. The author talks about how this book will generate 100x more value than it costs. I am in my 30's and with that runway, I believe that is an underestimate.
Thank you Sam Dogen for a decade of solid blogs

Maybe it was the pandemic, but for the first time in our lives we asked ourselves, “what if we wanted to stop working our day job”? If you have ever asked this question, this book is for you.

I’ve been consistently reading Financial Samurai newsletter and posts since late 2020/early 2021. There is so much great information on the site, but it might be difficult for some readers to know where to start. What I liked about Buy This, Not That, is how Sam put all the Financial Samurai wisdom and experience into one book.

Sam does a nice job of walking the reader through chapter by chapter how to build financial independence. While doing so, Sam provides principles, charts, and draws on real life experience.

For me I found the Sam’s thoughts surrounding passive income, real estate, and risk tolerance the most helpful. My spouse and I are mid-career, and we’re not planning to engineer our layoff anytime soon, but things could change. After reading the book we were inspired to update our financial plan and super charge our passive income in preparation for the day we want to engineer our layoff.

Parents with young children and those in their teenage years should read the book. The earlier children and young adults can obtain this knowledge, the further ahead they’ll be.

This book provides a much-needed alternative perspective on how we value our time and manage our money.

Maybe it was the pandemic, but for the first time in our lives we asked ourselves, “what if we wanted to stop working our day job”? If you have ever asked this question, this book is for you.

I’ve been consistently reading Financial Samurai newsletter and posts since late 2020/early 2021. There is so much great information on the site, but it might be difficult for some readers to know where to start. What I liked about Buy This, Not That, is how Sam put all the Financial Samurai wisdom and experience into one book.

Sam does a nice job of walking the reader through chapter by chapter how to build financial independence. While doing so, Sam provides principles, charts, and draws on real life experience.

For me I found the Sam’s thoughts surrounding passive income, real estate, and risk tolerance the most helpful. My spouse and I are mid-career, and we’re not planning to engineer our layoff anytime soon, but things could change. After reading the book we were inspired to update our financial plan and super charge our passive income in preparation for the day we want to engineer our layoff.

Parents with young children and those in their teenage years should read the book. The earlier children and young adults can obtain this knowledge, the further ahead they’ll be.

This book provides a much-needed alternative perspective on how we value our time and manage our money.

Maybe it was the pandemic, but for the first time in our lives we asked ourselves, “what if we wanted to stop working our day job”? If you have ever asked this question, this book is for you.

I’ve been consistently reading Financial Samurai newsletter and posts since late 2020/early 2021. There is so much great information on the site, but it might be difficult for some readers to know where to start. What I liked about Buy This, Not That, is how Sam put all the Financial Samurai wisdom and experience into one book.

Sam does a nice job of walking the reader through chapter by chapter how to build financial independence. While doing so, Sam provides principles, charts, and draws on real life experience.

For me I found the Sam’s thoughts surrounding passive income, real estate, and risk tolerance the most helpful. My spouse and I are mid-career, and we’re not planning to engineer our layoff anytime soon, but things could change. After reading the book we were inspired to update our financial plan and super charge our passive income in preparation for the day we want to engineer our layoff.

Parents with young children and those in their teenage years should read the book. The earlier children and young adults can obtain this knowledge, the further ahead they’ll be.

This book provides a much-needed alternative perspective on how we value our time and manage our money.

Get the book — your future self will love you for it! Life is made up of so many decisions that can either propel you to success or set you back. Make enough of those poor decisions and it may take years to get back to even. I wish I would have had this book in my 20s to guide me through some of those tough financial decisions. One of the best parts of the book are the recaps at the end of each chapter that remind readers of actionable steps to take to improve their lives. This is certainly a book to keep returning to as one makes their way through different stages of life.

I love that this book is not just about money and numbers (which would be hohum). It's about how does money relate to your life. Dogen asks us to think about the WHY. WHY do you want financial freedom? Because you want to travel Asia? Because you want to spend all your time making art? WHY do you want your sixth grader to go to private school over public school? Or vice versa? WHY are you living in an expensive city when you work remotely? In asking readers WHY, he reminds us that money is just the means to an end and focuses us on life goals. It keeps me motivated in my financial education. My financial advisor is always trying to enlighten me, but it's like listening to a foreign language. BUY THIS, NOT THAT has been so useful in helping me fill in the gaps and understand money and investment principles.