I followed-up with reader Rakesh, one of the winners of the Jago Investor — Change Your Relationship With Money book giveaway in March, what his key takeaways from the book were. Here’s Rakesh’s response in an easy to read Q & A format –

[There were actually two winners in March. I’m still bugging the other winner to read the book and share his perspectives. I won’t give up.]

Q: What are your top-5 key takeaways from the Jago Investor-book?

• The language used is very simple and can be understood by a common man.

• Good use of charts for depicting future goals.

• Use of day-to-day/personal life examples make it more interesting to read.

• More stress laid on early investment.

• Good use of pictures make it more easier to understand.

Q: What is your overall assessment of the Jago Investor-book?

I have read the book and think it’s great. It’s a must read for anyone starting off with their finances. Those already reading Jago Investor [the blog] will find some of the articles in the book familiar but nevertheless even for people with sound knowledge in financial planning this book is a good refresher. I am going to ask my wife to read it and then pass it on to my friends.

Rakesh was good to his word, got his wife to read the book, and shared her feedback as well —

• An excellent book for a beginner.

• Has good knowledge about handling one’s personal finances.

• Uses good real-life examples.

• Inspired by the book, started a Recurring Deposit towards a short-term goal.

Wonderful.


Update: A few more takeaways from the other winner, Raghu. (See…I make it a point to ensure that you really do read a book.)

Since I am new to personal finance, I found the book very interesting to read. The examples and characters used in the book make it an entertaining read. Some of my key takeaways were —

• An Open Secret — Initial chapters focus on one of our open secrets i.e. “start investing early” and its impact on our financial life. Since managing a long-term investment is much like growing a tree, investing early lowers our burden later.

• Compounding and Term Insurance — Ways of compounding against time through simple pictures makes the reader curious but some calculations are not clear. Buying adequate term life insurance equals peace of mind.

• Goal-based Investing — Linking your investment with goals in life keeps you more focused and satisfied in your financial life.

Overall, as the title of the book suggests, it’s an initiative towards shaking the investor and driving them to take productive action. But at certain places the calculations were not clear thereby making the reader to rethink. The book mainly focuses on the fundamentals of personal finance which everyone must be aware so that it helps them to meet their financial objectives. Finally, this book is must read for newbies to personal finance.