Aaron Clarey has come out with a new book, Bachelor Pad Economics, in which he explains basic financial planning for young men. He wrote the book as a reference to be used when needed rather than reading it cover, I ignored this advice and read it cover-to-cover. It didn’t really hurt the book.
As usual, Clarey writes in a straightforward, but engaging manner. Despite the subject matter, it never becomes overly dry or dull. With this and Enjoy the Decline, Clarey has begun proof-reading his books, I didn’t notice any of the grammatical errors and sloppy editing that plagued his earlier books.
The book comes in at about 500 pages divided into 15 chapters covering all the aspects of basic financial planning you’d expect and some you wouldn’t. He covers the normal things like budgeting, career planning, and retirement planning, but he also goes beyond this into covering things like girls and family. I didn’t notice any important area of financial planning he missed; it look like he covered all the basics.
On the other hand, I knew most of the basics of financial planning and have read his other books (parts of Enjoy the Decline overlap with this book), so I didn’t get too much new information out of it, but the basics are good and worth repeating.
One thing I like about the book is it goes beyond just financial planning and establishes beforehand the reason you need to financially plan. Clarey makes the point it’s not stuff, but people that make life worth living and financial planning should be geared not towards accumulating more stuff for not reason, but towards creating a better life.
As with Clarey’s other books, there’s a stream of amoral hedonism throughout and he again advocates his Smith & Wesson retirement plan. So, some people might not particularly agree with morality of the book.
Recommendation:
This is a solid, engaging guide to financial planning for young men. If you’re a young man and need to get your financial house in order or don’t have a financial plan, I would heavily recommend getting Bachelor Pad Economics; it’s probably the most boredom-free way to get this kind of advice. It could also be useful to young women, but a lot of the advice might not be as applicable.
If you’re already knowledgeable of financial planning, this book won’t really impart much new. If you’re older, you might get some value out of it, but its market is primarily young men.
Previous Reviews of Clarey:
Enjoy the Decline
Top Shelf
Behind the Housing Crash
Worthless
After facing death and a long recovery from injury this year, I agree. Men should have a copy the latest Aaron Clarey. It’s not just for young men. I met in person with the author of http://www.dangerandplay.com (D&P) yesterday… some ‘men’ of certain belief systems will find fault with he and Aaron Clarey, and that is foolish. Instead of saying negative things about what you do not understand, you should learn from them. Do not live in fear and do not choose the safety of living in a false morality. Learn from those that do what brings greatness in the world, changing the course of human events. Any man that has any complaint about these men is simply always going to be destined to a life that does not leave a positive legacy. That’s sad. http://wp.me/p3P5mL-px … Discussed B&D with D&P yesterday mentioned here: http://wp.me/p3P5mL-6u – More time spent with the ones truly making the world a better place is more proof that FreeNortherner is correct about the book ‘Bachelor Pad Economics’ … confidence matters, learn from the masters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzxIx3lZBrs
I enjoy Clarey’s blog as well. I just gifted BPE to my younger brother in hopes that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that I did (i.e. get a worthless degree).