Why this book - "How to get rich and retire early"

Before I started writing this book, I went around to do a market survey – wanted to know what kind of books existed in wealth management space in India. I went to many book shops, searched internet portals - bought about 20 books and read them and browsed through many more in the books shops  in Bangalore.

 
Some of the books that I liked and surely recommend to my readers are:

·       One up on wall street – by Peter Lynch – this is an amazing book – Peter Lynch, a very known money manager in the US, has explained in very easy terms how to pick up stocks

·       The little book that build’s wealth –by Pat Dorsey – this is also a very easy to read book and can be a primer to stock selection.

·       Buffetology – by Mary Buffet – another good & easy to understand book - explains the thought process of Warren Buffet while evaluating stocks – this is a must read for those who want to know more about investing in stocks.

 

As you can see, most books did not go beyond stocks. When it came to Indian authors, either they were a compendium of information ( like the Savings and Investment year book – published by Value research) or they were general advisory, motivational  type of books (How to become a multi millionaire –by Subhash Lakhotia).

There was no single “good book” that went beyond stocks and I did not find a single book that shared tips on financial planning for long term

 I would like to mention one book that is a must read for all my readers  - “Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki – I had read this book years back and I re-read it atleast once an year – this is a book that changed me and I think it would change you too.

 
Having seen the kind of books available, I realised that there is no single book that covers the all the topics. The topics that I believe needed to be covered are:

1.   How do you define the word Rich – this is the starting point of the wealth journey

2.   How do you do a long term financial plan – a plan for 20 years? How do you visualise what would be your cash inflows and cash outflows 10 years down the line?

3.   How do you reach your definition of rich through financial planning? What investment actions do you need to take today and in the future to get rich?

4.   What the various investment options available for us in India?  How does one evaluate a Kisan Vikas Patrika? What about stocks and mutual funds? When do you invest in Gold? How does insurance fit into the overall scheme? And what about real estate? Overall how does one get rich in India?

So keeping these questions in mind, I split the book into chapters and then wrote it over a period of 4-5 months.

This book has a completely practical approach to this question – “How to get rich and retire early”. Every tip that is there in this book has been practiced by someone I know who has become rich.

This book addresses all the investment avenues - not just stocks.

The book uses Indian examples -for example, I have shared data on real estate prices since 2008 for about 20 Indian cities to discuss the price movement of real estate in urban India.


This book will hopefully change the way you will think about wealth. And therein lies the secret of getting rich – change the way you think about money and money will come to you. You will surely get rich and retire early.