The One Page Financial Plan Book Review

Planning and investing just aren’t simple. But they can be.

That’s just part of the message from Carl Richards new book, The One Page Financial Plan. This is the second book I’ve read from Mr. Richards, the first being The Behavior Gap (Loved that book by the way). He’s taken a detailed process and subject matter and reduced it to a simple idea.

Richards’ idea: reduce your financial plan down to 3 or 4 major financial goals. Write it down and display it. That’s it.

The book is very well written with many of Richards’ signature Sharpie Marker illustrations that I love. I thought it was a very easy read. It wasn’t full of financial industry jargon, so the average person will be able to get a lot out of it.

The book is divided into four main sections:

1. Discovery. This is where you figure out where you are, where you are going and exactly what’s important about money to you.

2. Spending and Saving. I loved this section. It talks about budgeting, but it also doesn’t beat you up for not saving.

3. Investing. This section covers everything from insurance, spending wisely to actual investing like a scientist. Tons of incredible info here!

4. Strategies for Avoiding the Big Mistake. This part covers hiring a real financial advisor and controlling emotions. This section alone is worth the price of the book.

Can you really reduce your entire financial plan down to 3 or 4 sentences on a piece of paper? I think you can.

The whole point of the book is that most planning and investing is really confusing and that’s why people avoid it. Reducing it to a more simple exercise allows people to at least identify their goals and start somewhere.

Again, I tip my hat to Mr. Richards for trying to bring people to financial planning and make it simple.

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