Book Review: The Barefoot Investor

I got this book a couple of years ago when I was having another financial moment.

It sat untouched until the day after I bought my shares, when I suddenly I thought I had better do some due diligence and make sure that I actually understood my obligations etc now that I own shares.

On my first night reading this book, I got 117 pages in before I turned myself in for the night.

I wasn’t sure if I would like the very conversational and sometimes silly tone of the writing, but to my surprise, it didn’t deter me at all, and I quickly got used to it.

The book is helpful and I particularly like the very concrete steps and recommendations that are included in the book. I have read a few personal finance books in the past and always felt frustrated when the authors would give vague suggestions or encourage readers to see a financial advisor.

I love the level of unapologetic honesty in this book, and Scott’s obvious lack of concern with offending various organisations/whole industries. It’s refreshing, fair and wholly deserved.

He also does a great job of balancing accountability and firmness with empathy and zero judgement - a crucial thing because of how emotionally loaded people’s financial situations can be.

I will put into practise his suggestions and framework, but I’m not sure if it will work for me as I tend to be more of an all or nothing kind of person. I’m not especially good at taking reasonable and balanced steps towards things.

That said, I will do my very best to make it work and report back in a few months.

Content: 10/10 (excellent – great pace, surprisingly heartfelt/empathetic, helpful tips, plenty of additional context to help the reader fully understand things and also organised very well)

Writing: 7/10 (it’s not particularly sophisticated writing and sometimes the quality is sacrificed in favour of long winded jokes and passive aggressive jabs. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes, unless you are a millionaire and are financially independent.

You can pick up a copy here.

To our success! 🥂