Quit Like a Millionaire is a book that I’ve bought five times, once on Audible and four times in paperback form. I’ve given the book to multiple people as a gift and refer to it as my “personal finance/financial independence bible”. Yeah, it’s just that good.
To help the reader appreciate to the importance of the meat of the book, Kristy starts off by outlining her financial independence “why”. As a young girl living in extreme poverty in China, Kristy had a very difficult upbringing. Going so far as to make toys out of discarded medical supplies scavenged from the local dump, Kristy had the “scarcity mindset” ingrained within her from the start.
From there, Kristy recounts her immigration to Canada. The absolute shock she felt when she got her first teddy bear and tasted her first Coca-Cola were humbling, and her journey to early retirement was inspiring. Kristy was helped along due to the “scarcity mindset” she developed as a child, consistently spending less than she earned so she would have money for emergencies and retirement before she even knew that retiring in your 30’s was a possibility.
The best part of this book, though is that Kristy provides amazing detail into her struggles, victories, calculations, and thought processes as she weaves an engaging narrative for us to enjoy.
Some of the highlights?
The 4% Rule is explained in detail, along with the logic behind the Trinity Experiment that provides the reasoning for this magic number.
The POT Score helped her determine what career field would provide the most value for the cost, and is perfectly applicable to you as well.
The Cash Cushion and Yield Shield provide great options to hedge the risk of running out of money in a down market in retirement.
The fact that you can travel the world for a year, living a very comfortable lifestyle, for less than $40,000.
All in all, this book is absolutely fantastic. It reads like the authors are having a fun, engaging discussion with you! They provide an amazing guide to financial independence without bogging you down with technicalities, jargon, and boring financial data. What more could anyone ask for than the important information without the yawn-inducing delivery?
My rating: 5 Stars, hands down. You couldn’t find a better book to read if you want to learn about improving your financial footing and are curious about financial independence or early retirement.
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Which concept do you apply most in your own life?
Oh man, let’s see. The most applicable concepts for me are the cash cushion and yield shield. I was familiar with FIRE concepts before reading the book but, outside of reducing my expenses, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to the solution for weathering a down market. The cash cushion and yield shield are an incredible way to hedge the risk and improve the Trinity Experiment’s success rate (the likelihood of you NOT running out of money over a 30-year period) from 95% to 100%.
I think the most impactful part of the book for me, though, was the personal narrative. Kristy and Bryce’s story reinforced the fact that early retirement is realistic and attainable while taking me on the journey that brought them to their own early retirement.