the only thing That Guy demonstrates about finance is the old truth: it’s a lot easier to get rich selling financial advice than by _following_ your own advice.

Without careful planning, risking everything you have can be a disaster. Of course risk-reward levels are linked, but a higher risk of failure due to foolish planning does not increase reward. He definitely advocates pulling out all the stops of safe and “stupid” retirement vehicles and going full risk. He also mocks those who don’t choose his path and thinks himself superior.

And of course he wrote it that way to rile people up and get them talking. He’s a salesman after all, not a writer. The question now is, could he have written a book that shook people up but didn’t have the negatives I mentioned? Perhaps not.

Ok I’m done.

This was really a great article for me. Thank you for posting it. When I read RDPD, it solidified the investing as a way to wealth idea for me. (Luckily growing up, I grew up on a dairy farm and the idea of having more dairy cows to produce more income was one I had already seen in action, and as a result I did not have the ingrained 8-5 paycheck reward mentality that so many grow up with). Anyway, my weight is something I have struggled with from the age of 12. Sometimes successfully, more often (and currently) not. I think your post really points out the error in my thinking. I naturally refrain from spending money, because of the future opportunities it represents to me (wealth creation, security, the ability to quit working for someone else). However, I have always looked at eating as something I get to do at the next available opportunity (similar to how some people automatically go to the mall once they have received their paycheck-or often before they have… ie credit card purchases). Often I will eat before I “need” more fuel, because it is fun, I enjoy it. Your post really points out that I need to change how I think about food and what it is for. Until I do that, I will never be permanently successful with keeping the weight off. It also explains why I have been able to lose the excess weight three times, but always gained it back plus extra. For about three years in my early twenties, I was able to stay at a fit weight. I remember at the time I would always ask myself how much was the least I could get away with eating and I would consciously try to eat nutrient dense (in comparison to calories) food.

If I could successfully change my mindset about food, then it would not be a case of depriving myself from food… but more of the feeling of mastery over my food. I feel this way about money now. I may not have the bank account that represents my wealth -yet-, but the mindset is in place and financial independence is only a matter of time.

Anyway, thanks for an insightfull post. Success in many areas of life depends on outlook and then action.

This is utterly ridiculous. Go tell a bodybuilder who made all his gains naturally or an Olympic lifter they’re not fit because it doesnt match your definition of arbitrary tests of muscular endurance. They will probably dead lift your car and drop it in a ravine. In fact the negative view of strength training your article inadvertently perpetrates is one of the biggest problems in terms of the way people view health today.