The Wealthy Barber Summary

Money makes the world go around. It brings us joy, it makes us laugh, and allows us to live. Personally, I love money. In fact, I would love to have more money. Unfortunately, like many people, a month ago I knew nothing about finance or investing. I was faced with a pressing predicament. I felt all hope for my financial future was lost, until I picked up David Chilton’s The Wealthy Barber. This book provides the easiest way for people to go about learning the basics of money management. Through the lessons of a fictional millionaire barber, Roy Miller, the book’s characters and readers are given a comprehensible step-by-step analysis of personal financial planning. Chilton himself boasts an impressive resume as the former president of a consulting firm, multi-millionaire entrepreneur and current television personality on CBC’s Dragon’s Den. His philosophy: Everyone should be informed on how to manage their personal finances. This way, we can prevent “raising generations of financial illeterates” (Chilton 14). Chilton recognizes that the average citizen is not educated on monetary
The personalized nature of the book is extremely appealing and allows the reader to relate to the material. The narrator; a young, married father-to-be, is a slightly fictionalized version of Chilton himself, giving semi-autobiographical stories of his financial problems. Discussion of family dynamics, relationships, and the lives of the book’s characters allow for the text to flow easily through a basic plot.
However, at times the book may feel slightly dense on financial terminology. When Chilton goes deep into content, characters begin to sound cheesy as they recite numerous facts. This then loses the illusion of a narrative, and becomes a less realistic conversation between characters. Thankfully, this inconsistency is rarely seen, as Chilton quickly picks up the pace to avoid losing the reader’s