The Wealthy Barber

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wealthy Barber: The Common Sense Guide to Successful Financial Planning
Author	David Chilton
Country	Canada
Genre(s)	Personal finance
Publisher	Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited
Publication date	1989
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	197 (Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-7737-5318-4 (Paperback)

The Wealthy Barber is a personal finance book by David Chilton. The book is structured around a story of three people in their late 20s visiting Roy, the title character, for lessons in financial planning. Each chapter of the book describes a different visit and a different element of financial planning. Each month along with their lesson the three students are required to start carrying out the actions prescribed by Roy. In addition to these individuals, Roy also shares his financial knowledge with the customers of his barber shop.

The story is set primarily in Sarnia, Ontario, where Roy has been operating a barber shop for several decades. As a young man, Roy had planned to become a lawyer, but those plans are derailed. He ends up taking over his father's barber shop. Worried about money, Roy visits Mr. White, one of the the town's wealthiest men, and asks for advice on financial planning. This advice paves the way for Roy's accumulating wealth.

The basis of the book is Roy's advice to "save 10 per cent of all that you earn and invest it for long-term growth." In that, it draws from the advice first set forth in The Richest Man in Babylon. Subsequent chapers discuss wills and life insurance, RRSPs, buying a home, income tax and saving and spending.

Roy (and thus Chilton) is not as harshly anti-debt as some other authors, like Dave Ramsey. However Roy does advise that extra money should go to pay off debt. And that credit cards are "anathema" to well-run personal finances. Roy does believe that if you are investing 10% and maxing out your RRSP, day-to-day spending doesn't matter too much to your overall financial picture.

According to the book's website The Wealthy Barber has sold over 2 million copies in North America.