Brochures and tomes with seductive headlines "How to make a million for an hour" or "How to stop working and start to grow rich" are as popular as the "Help yourself" publications, the writings of various healers and guides on choosing a diet. The Internet is full of absolutely wonderful success stories after reading financial guides - there are funny and sad: "I dropped the institute, started a farm for 50 pigs, took off weddings, opened my own TV studio in the village, now in the two nearest villages my own TV also appeared, I'm going to buy a new television tractor". The main thing is that a person is happy, his life is on the rise. Another case - almost from the series about the new Russians: "I left the province, I found a job in the capital, I got a salary increase, found another job, moved to a high-rise building in the center, bought shirts for 400 dollars, found a beautiful girl, invested money in business , the head was spinning, in the end everything was lost, it should remain 100 thousand dollars. Life is not a straight line, but a sinusoid, "the author concludes philosophically. It seems that the works from the series "Become a billionaire for a year" serve not so much as a textbook, but as a source of motivation, and there - how lucky you will be able to dispose of this "fuel".
All such books are good because they make us think about how we earn and spend, how we build our relations with money, what money means to us. A friend of mine, a successful production worker, somehow admitted that he earned the first million thanks to the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, the first such publication that appeared in the mid-90s. He exactly followed the principles listed by Hill, and it turned out that it worked. This book is not suitable for everyone, and not everyone will become millionaires after reading some work. But the majority of people who really approach the matter creatively and will be ready to work, first of all mentally, will certainly be able to increase their incomes at least twice. And this is already a good result. All publications on the topic of rapid enrichment can be divided into several groups. Autobiographies or books created on the basis of biographies of real successful personalities. Examples: George Soros "Soros about Soros"; Richard Branson "Naked Business", "Take and Do"; "Losing virginity: an autobiography"; Benjamin Graham "Reasonable investor"; Elena Chirkova "The philosophy of investing in Warren Buffett."
Descriptions of the life path are good in that they contain real details from the life of specific people, as well as their thoughts on this matter. For example, George Soros talks about how he earned, how he went through bankruptcies and made conclusions from his mistakes. He shares his thinking strategies. And this is the most valuable. For example, Soros says that while playing in the financial market, he generally moves to the same place as all the players, but he looks for an error in every common hypothesis, finds it and at the crucial moment departs to the side with money, and the remaining players fall into the abyss. Such confessions are valuable if the reader ponders: "And how do I act when everyone is running somewhere, following, for example, advertising or fashion? I'm running with everyone? Or on the contrary, I stand in place out of a sense of protest? For example, Soros does not feel either protest or admiration, he is neutral, just looks where the crowd is going, and enjoys it. Another valuable advice that can be learned from the books of a billionaire is to listen carefully to yourself, trust your body and your own intuition. For example, Soros noticed that whenever he took wrong business decisions, his back ache worsened. Having learned to calculate the early harbingers of pain, which arose even at the moment of deliberation, he thereby reduced the number of wrong decisions. The economist and investor Benjamin Graham, the author of classical works on investing, gives the most important advice: invest only in what you know well. If you are a programmer - in software products, a medic - in medical companies. Many other authors call on everyone to invest in real estate. Before the crisis, it seemed obvious to any newcomer, and it was these newcomers that went wrong - unlike the authors of books, who, being real monsters of the exchange, cut their coupons in time, and stepped aside.
Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgine brand, shares the main principle of his success: "Realize your dream!" Oleg Khomyak considers this approach to be the most productive. In many such books, in particular, in the books of Donald Trump, the idea is advanced that, for the sake of wealth, it is necessary to work hard and hard, renouncing one's desires. You want to be rich to be happy and enjoy life. So what is the point of denying yourself many years of happiness and pleasure in order to find them in the next life? Such a refusal inevitably leads to demotivation, illness and early aging. Branson advises: be happy now, do only what you like, embody your dream, and it is on the energy of happiness and satisfaction with your work that you will succeed. Pros: there are no tips and ready solutions, there is a story about mistakes, doubts and search. This experience, resonating with the reader's own experience, can lead to unexpected and valuable conclusions. Cons: it is not always obvious how sincere the author is.
Books of manipulation
Examples: Donald Trump "Thoughts on a large scale and do not brake!", "How to become rich", "Think like a billionaire"; Robert Kiyosaki "Poor Dad, Rich Dad", "Cash Flow Quadrant". If the author earns by selling books about wealth, he can already be suspected of dishonesty. He is interested in getting as many people as possible of his books, and therefore, remained poor. For Robert Kiyosaki, this is a huge business, in addition to books he created a board game and established an organization that conducts trainings around the world. In general, Kiyosaki's advice boils down to investing (and most often in real estate). This can also be considered a method of manipulation: massive investments in real estate raise prices, which Kiyosaki-investor earns, only he, as already said, leaves the market in time, leaving millions of his followers with his nose. For Donald Trump, books are a way of moving forward, because he is a media personality who constantly needs to "shine". His main recipe is the same investment in real estate. Pros: rational grain can be found here: for example, Kiyosaki makes us think about how we spend and invest. Although his call to "invest only in what can make a profit" can hardly make a person happy (imagine what it's like to live forever in houses and surround yourself with things that are only considered an investment, that is, something temporary that you need to sell soon with profit!), nevertheless, it is worthwhile to think about how "extra" money is spent, whether they go into emptiness and whether they can be profitable to invest. Cons: if you treat such books uncritically, you become a victim of manipulation and feel very bad at the same time.
Psychological books
Examples: Napoleon Hill "Think and Grow Rich", Antonio Menneghetti "Psychology of the Leader", "Woman of the Third Millennium". Such publications are designed to create a suitable inner spirit for success. Their main messages are: give up internal installations like "Money is dirt", "All the rich are bandits and thieves". Define a specific goal, honestly answer to yourself the question of what you are willing to pay for achieving this goal, to design the main stages, write them down in a diary, repeat them every evening or every day, like a mantra, and so on. There are elements of time management, as well as meditation, but mostly they are textbooks of positive thinking. Pros: an emphasis on the reader's personality. The authors urge you to understand yourself, to understand what exactly you want from life. Money is not a goal, in fact, the goal is the benefits that you want to receive, so concentrate on them. Cons: not every approach approaches positive thinking, some they terribly annoy.
Training books
Actually, this is a "psychological" group, but the distinctive feature of such publications is that they contain practical exercises. Think about your dream - and write about this half a page of text. Define the goal - and explain why it is exactly this. Pros: The exercises are mobilized. Cons: no, except the time spent.
Books on home accounting
Examples: Bodo Schaefer, "The Way to Financial Independence". Despite the tempting names, in fact, they practically do not give advice on how to increase the revenue side of the budget, but focus on spending - it does not need a creative approach, but a little math and willpower. On American television, there is even a program on this topic like "Supernyani": a home finance expert comes to the American family's stunned by loans and teaches the spouses how to make things work out. Break up expenses into categories (food, loans, utilities, clothes, medicines, entertainment), spread out over envelopes, never use money from one envelope for other needs and so on. Quit smoking, and on the money you get, buy energy-saving light bulbs, and save money saved in banks and live on interest. Pros: obvious. Control over expenses never hurts. Cons: you definitely will not get rich, although, perhaps, avoid a debt hole. So, there are a lot of books, they are all different, some are clearly far from our realities.
How to choose the one that will help you?
Read at least one of the above in each of the sections (it is not necessary to buy, many manuals of this kind are already laid out in the internet for a long time, as well as video recordings of their authors' lectures). Listen to the impression the publication makes on you personally. Annoying, angry, it seems meaningless - hence, not yours. Has forced to reflect, has caused passion, desire to argue with the author? Good. Someone is close to Trump's idea: "To become rich, you need to plow and save." Someone preferable to Branson's appeal: "Realize your dream, and get rich." If the advice of the author lies with your soul, if you feel that you are willing to spend the time and energy to act according to this strategy, then this is your book. But it is very important to remember that resources are not contained in the book, but in you. Only if the author's thoughts resonated with your thoughts and feelings, you can get the result.