cover image START LATE, FINISH RICH: A No-Fail Plan For Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age

START LATE, FINISH RICH: A No-Fail Plan For Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age

David Bach, . . Broadway, $25 (368pp) ISBN 978-0-7679-1946-3

The seventh book in seven years of the Finish Rich series (two million in print) is aimed at older readers who have neglected their savings. It reads like an infomercial script, brassily positive and unrelentingly motivational. Anyone can finish rich, says Bach (Automatic Millionaire , etc.), if they are willing to "spend less, save more, and make more." The bulk of the book describes a variety of tactics and strategies (many covered in his previous books) for accomplishing these three tasks. Readers of financial help books will have heard many of Bach's ideas before, but he does deliver a lion's share of solid advice in an entertaining format, and, for good measure, he throws in an occasional counterintuitive gem, such as why paying off credit card debt can be "a huge mistake." He also anticipates and overcomes common objections ("dealing with debt doesn't mean putting the rest of your life on hold"), although anyone impolite enough to push back too hard is dismissed: "I have a term for negative people who seem to enjoy raining on other people's parades. I call them 'dream stealers,' and I try to avoid them." Agent, Jan Miller. (Jan. 4)