This was a book that kicked me in the teeth. It is a powerful indictment of how society has come to view the use of debt to buy worthless consumables to satisfy its insatiable need to appear successful. But when you’re a slave to anything, how can you even remotely consider yourself successful?

When I first saw the subtitle, “…and 9 other things I wish my Dad had taught me about money,” I thought to myself, “His father must feel terrible with that being out there in the marketplace.” But then I read that his father had passed away when the author was only 13. It drives home the point that we ALL need teachers and mentors to help us navigate the pitfalls of life ^[2], and especially the pitfalls of money.

He begins the introduction with How to Choose a Teacher. The author, Mihalik emphasizes two questions that you should ask anyone who is going to teach something:

• Have they done what they are teaching?
• Do they have your best interests at heart?

Those two questions are keys to insure that you’re not being taken for the proverbial “ride” and to find out whether or not someone has an agenda different from yours ^[3]. He answers those questions by the way.