One of my new favorite people is Larry Winget. I first noticed him when I was shelving new releases several years ago. I pulled the book Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life off the cart and thought, "Oh, please, please, please, be a self improvement book!" There is a photo of Larry on the cover that is all tough guy. I will say that while I didn't ever read the entire book, I immediately thought of several people that I thought should read the book. Really, for me, the title said it all.
Then, one day some time later, I pulled a new release off the cart called It's Called Work for a Reason and recognized the tough guy on the cover as the "Shut up" guy. Again, I thumbed through it, looked around at some of my fellow employees and thought, if you were on my Christmas list...
Then, at the beginning of this year, I pulled You're Broke Because You Want to Be off the cart and smiled. I was really beginning to like this guy and I hadn't even read one of his books. I picked up the book that day.
Since last October, I've been reading more and more personal finance books. I worked my way through Dave Ramsey's books, one of Suze Orman's books and several that aren't worth mentioning. Larry's book was just the kick in the butt that I needed to re-affirm my No Buy project. If you're looking for kinder, gentler inspiration, this is not the book for you. If you are serious about making changes and need to face cold, hard facts of life, it just might fit the bill.
As I read Larry's book, I couldn't help but get my financial butt kicked. Some of the examples made me physically cringe as I read about people blowing thousands of dollars on clothing and keeping Neiman Marcus credit cards as their emergency credit card. Even if you aren't a living the "high life" of some of these people, you can see and apply these principles to your own situation.
There is not a bunch of new information in this book. There is no magical formula, no get rich quick scheme, or repair your credit in 30 days here. It's just a simple telling of the truth. Well, maybe not simple. It's a kick butt telling of the truth. If you want money, earn it. If you want to be rich, stop blowing it, save it and invest it.
I wish that I had A&E so that I could watch Larry's show Big Spender, but somehow, I think he'd be proud I won't pay for that much cable!
You can check him out on NBC's Today Show on March 24th. You can bet I will.
Heaven help me if he writes a diet book.
On the home front:
Last week, as the opossum slowly picked his way across my porch without a care in the world, I noticed a second opossum out in the honeysuckle bushes. The second opossum was behaving naturally, hiding in the shadows, avoiding human interaction. But, I am a bit concerned. Last time I saw two opossums was a few years ago, when Old Opossum was still alive and would surprise me on the carport. Then Old Opossum met his match with a car and the current opossum, just a tiny thing then, was spotted on my window sill just two nights later. Yes, it was very circle of life. Now, I am wondering if there will be little opossums soon.
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