Book Review: Spend Smarter, Save Bigger

Margot Bai, the author of this new book kindly agreed to send me a copy for review. The idea behind the book is to show people how to save money by spending smartly on their biggest expenses like a home or a car, unlike other popular books that suggest that you should cut out small expenses like a daily latte.

Ms. Bai covers an astonishing range of topics in her book ranging from safe driving habits (reduces chances of collisions and results in lower automobile insurance premiums) to relationship advice (divorce has a devastating effect on finances too) to tips on getting lower premiums on life insurance (I wish I had known this when we obtained our life insurance). The book is targeted at a Canadian audience and its 297 pages are packed with practical advice.

The author gets extra points for offering, in my opinion, excellent investing advice. She discusses couch potato portfolios, stresses the importance of reducing costs and talks about low-fee mutual fund options. For example, to folks who are not comfortable investing on their own and would like a bit of handholding, Ms. Bai offers this advice:

By investing directly with a particular fund company, you can invest in a great mix of low fee funds that pay no commission and gain access to free, unlimited, expert advice on managing your investments!

The book is well-written, easy-to-read, provides sound financial advice and deserves a spot on the best-seller list. I recommend it highly and I am replacing The Automatic Millionaire with this book in my Recommended Reading Page. You can purchase the book for $20 plus shipping and handling from the Spend Smarter website or at a discount from Chapters.ca (non-affiliate link). The table of contents and a chapter summary are available here.