Book Review: “Five Wealth Secrets 96% of us Don’t Know” by Craig Hill
How did I get this book?
My brother, Ben, and I have a mutual friend named Dave. We’ve all gone to church together for almost 2 decades. Ben and I were having a conversation a couple of weeks ago about money and investments and Ben told me that Dave was willing to give him some advice, but only after he read this book.
Well, I value Dave’s advice, so, I bought the book. And, I saw where instead of buying it from Amazon (boo… hiss…) I could buy it directly from the author for free. All I had to do was pay the shipping. So, I did that.
When it arrived, there was a $10 bill in it. I thought… man, this author really wants to drive a point home! I found out later, that my youngest daughter had slipped the $10 bill in the book (for a reason I still can’t understand).
Anyway, that’s how I got it.
What’s it about?
Well, according to Craig Hill, these 5 wealth secrets are a mindset shared by only 4% of the population, mostly Jewish, and they hand them down to their children in each successive generation.
The secrets actually come from the Old Testament, which is why Jewish people know them. Christians don’t really read or follow the Old Testament and so they don’t know them.
The Five Secrets are:
1. Divide up your income into “jars” with some for tithe, some for charity, some for savings, some for investing and the rest for spending.
Focus on your vision (instead of your provisions)
Invest in things that multiply and people that multiply.
Understand Economic Cycles
Leave an inheritance for your children AND your grandchildren.
He lays out these secrets in a series of fictional conversations between a father and son. The secrets are shared over the span of several years from his youth into marriage and children.
What did I think?
There’s no way to soften the blow. This was an insult to my intelligence. I found the dialogue cheesy, predictable and patronizing. Let’s not even address the racial stereotyping. I know Jewish people that are not financially wealthy.
The chapter on economic cycles is troublesome. He’s right in saying that there are economic cycles. And, he’s right in sharing how a person would want to be prepared for them and change their investment strategies. However, the author seems confident in his ability to “time” the market. He probably lost a lot of money recently. The market is not doing what anyone predicted it to do.
This book seems to be written with the Charismatic Christian as the primary audience. It’s simplistic. Because of that, a person who has no financial training would be the ideal audience. It would help them. The author is most helpful in driving the point home that can’t spend everything you earn. That’s his biggest contribution. He aims to introduce a person to the basic concepts of financial literacy.
I preferred “The Ascent of Money” by Niall Ferguson.
I hope Dave will still talk to me!
However, if you’re a complete novice, or you have a friend that has a short attention span, but knows they need to learn about money, this would be a good book.
Maybe that’s why Dave recommended it to me! LOL
