Set for Life: Dominate Life, Money, and the American Dream (Financial Freedom, 1)

A little background on me before getting started, I’m a successful real estate investor despite having a full time career and am looking to take my investments to the next level and become “set for life” over the next 5 years. I had such high hopes for this book after it was recommended by a colleague. Unfortunately, it only documents one way to grow your position in life - house hacking. Google it if you don’t know what that is. And while that’s a fascinating concept and a great way for someone who is just starting out to eventually become “set for life” (or start to be), what if you’re already on your way to financial freedom? This book documents nothing along the lines of how to buy multiple properties, rent out cash flowing multi family housing that you don’t live in, leverage one paid off investment to buy more, etc. It is extremely BASIC.Part 1 of the book is a solid foundation - live frugally and put yourself in position to succeed financially. Part 2 is similarly strong, begin using this foundation to grow. Part 3 is what the book is supposed to be about - becoming SET FOR LIFE - and there’s no plan for that other than continue doing what was outlined in parts 1&2. And yet, parts 1&2 are basically living like a college student so you can eventually live the life you want to live. This makes me think the author is not actually set for life and is just hypothesizing. All of this is way too elementary. What about the investor who wants to scale? The investor who plans to buy 100 rental units so that can live off the cash flow and have this replace their job? The book glances at these ideas and says you should just house hack. Way too one sided.Instead of calling it set for life, it should be called “Put off your dreams and live like a college student forever.” While I’m being a little facetious there, for those who don’t want to live in a duplex because you’ve graduated past this stage in life, or those who actually can afford to drive a car we like and not bike to work, the author’s advice is too basic.If you’re younger and you are just starting out, you can and should check out this book. And if you have any financial footing underneath you, buy something by Robert Kiyoaski or another financial guru who can teach you how to scale. Very disappointed. This reinforces everything I think about Bugger Pockets, that group is made up of 99% dreamers and 1% do-ers. Avoid this book if you already know anything about real estate investing.

This book's primary audience is people 30 and under who are just starting their professional lives post-college. I would highly recommend it to those folks. I cannot recommend it for anyone who is already deep in their career and looking for ways to make a transition out into a more self-directed lifestyle.The author doesn't acknowledge people in the latter circumstance, so I wish the focus was made clear in the book description.That being said, I'm one who can always find nuggets of truth in any book. I found the sections on time utilization helpful where he talks about the day job taking up so much of your day. My job, including commute time, takes up 12 hours of my day. Finding a job with a shorter commute could get me 6+ hours of time back a week that could be spent on earning more money.There are other truths that I picked up as well, but not enough to recommend to my peers.

This book was an absolute game changer for myself and my family. I've always been deeply interested in personal finance and real estate, but this book motivated me to take action. This book released on April 23rd just one week before my wife and I were prepared to sign a new lease on a 3 story, very large town home. Thankfully, Set for Life caught us just in time. We ripped up the lease and decided to totally change our future. We immediately got to work and found a tiny basement apartment for $250 a month with ALL utilities and internet included. It's centrally located, less than 1 mile from both the grocery store and the hospital. So we packed up myself, my wife, our 6 month old newborn daughter and our Shitzu and humbly moved in. Fast forward a few months and we are still here in the basement apartment, happily living WELL below our means saving up piles of cash. My wife works from home and I recently accepted a remote position with a University that I start next week. This is huge considering I drove nearly all day for my former job. I put an average of 150 miles per day on my car, 5 days per week. So this well not only save me gas, maintenance, etc, but it will also be a huge relief for me to not be sitting in a car most of the day. Now that our offices are literally in our home, we'll be selling one of our cars and becoming a one car family. Our next step is hitting the $25,000 cash reserves and we are well on our way. We plan to be a multifamily property and house hack after that. Our goal is to never directly pay rent or a mortgage with our own income ever again. To put it practically, this is how your book changed our monthly cash flow:Previous Rent + Utilities = $1,320/moCurrent Rent + Utilities = $250/mo + $100/mo for a storage unit.Total Savings = $970/mo or $11,640/yrPrevious Total Car Payments + Insurance = $566/moNew Total Car Payments + Insurance = $310/moTotal Savings = $256/mo or $3,072/yrPrevious Average Fuel and Oil Costs = $505/moNew Average Fuel and Oil Costs = $175/moTotal Savings = $330/mo or $3,960/yrTotal Change in Positive Cashflow = $1,556/mo or $18,672yrOver $18,000 per year. That's unbelievable and is absolutely life changing. Of course, there will be more savings, but those are simply the savings from drastically cutting our two largest expenditures.

Many people list Rich Dad, Poor Dad as a favorite personal finance, business, or even real estate book. I love it as well and have read and reread it many times. The truth is though, it doesn't really provide very much in the way of actionable steps to take on a daily basis to achieve your goals. Enter Set for Life!!! This book takes all of the theory and guidance introduced in the Kiyosaki classic but wraps daily actions and habits that every individual can apply to this framework. I envision reading this book every few years as I personally move through the phases that this book lays out in detail. Much sacrifice and creativity is necessary to employ the methods in this book, but life is too unpredictable to not take these actions and secure a lifestyle that is predictable scalable, and able to be controlled.

I am a 22 year old and this book was PERFECT for me! I just graduated college and got my first real job. Set For Life has helped me make decisions like getting a place within biking distance of work and AirBNBing my 1 bedroom on the weekends which together will save me about $1500/month which I can reinvest or save to get my one year of financial runway (step one in the book). By establishing these frugality habits I am well on my way to achieving early financial freedom and it is all because of this book.My favorite part is that he makes it clear that if you get the big stuff right, like living for free or cheaply and not having commuting costs, you can crack open more cold ones with the boys or have your morning Starbucks without feeling guilty or felling like it is taking you away from your financial goals. BUY IT. LIVE IT.

This is one of those books that I wish I had read when I was ~16-20. If so, I would likely have made different decisions. I can't say that about 99% of the other books I read between those ages. This book is an excellent game plan to start life off right. But even if you're late to the game I would still read it. It helps establish the systems of financial success, mostly through real estate and cutting expenses, that so many people need. There are numerous gems in the book regarding work, making good decisions, and basic guidance on how to view real estate as an avenue for financial independence. An excellent book to start with and continue building your knowledge on.

A fabulous roadmap for the person just starting their journey as an adult! It's not a book filled with mindset fluff. It's all about specifics. For someone in his 40s, I still found portions useful and meaningful.

This book is an excellent guide on starting your journey towards financial freedom. With the amount of content in this book, it's also good for those who've already begun. Scott goes over the core steps towards building wealth & acquiring income producing assets. He talks about the different types of investments, ways to save more (without sacrificing fun & pleasure) & how to increase your income.As I said earlier, this book has something to offer for everyone, regardless of what part of their financial journey they're on, but I would specifically recommend it to other young professionals like myself who are beginning their independent life. This book will give you a solid foundation & mindset on spending, saving & investing.

Don’t waste your time, yet again another REI book with 99% fluff and no real actionable items. To summarize the book, house hack to wealth. Offers no other options for people who don’t have this opportunity. House hacking is great but not the only avenue. This guy literally just talks in circles it’s amazing that it has so many positive reviews.

Was recommended to read at the age of 23. Gave me great insight on future finances.

I wish I read this book several years ago. Life altering advice and makes setting yourself up for financial freedom a possibility.

Learned a lot from this book, and I think with this book, it will be easier for me to stick to my goal.

About me: 24. Airline Pilot. Living in Uptown Dallas.Before reading this book I lived off of a $2,000 - $3,000 emergency fund only. Constantly eating out. Wasting money. Living in an upscale apartment. Car is paid off though. I was reading “From Ramen to Riches”, a book issued to me freshmen year of college that 5 years later I finally pick up and start reading. My Captain looks at it and suggests the BP Money podcast. I’m so thankful he did. Because of that, I discovered this book. I immediately picked it up.So my life now thanks to this book:Paying myself first. (About $1,000 a month)I now live more frugal than how I was living before. I stopped eating out as much. Starting investing into index funds, growing my emergency fund and almost done paying off a credit card before I become debt free. ($1200 left and still interest free) I was also able to move out of my upscale apartment in uptown Dallas and move into a two bedroom apartment with my brother. I’m saving almost $400 a month from that. I currently am in the saving money stage and plan on hopefully house hacking if I can in the future.Thanks Scott for the great book and for changing my life!

Fantastic read that’s easy to digest and practical application!

So I read this one after The Richest Man in Babylon and in conjunction with Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Overall, I enjoyed the book for what it was. The book definitely reads as if it was written by an amateur author (compared to Rich Dad, Poor Dad.) But, I think the central points are still conveyed well. The criticism that that book is geared more towards the under-30, middle-income crowd is a fair assessment.Pros: I enjoyed how the book was laid out in addressing the mindset that needs to be made to become "Set for Life" in a short time frame. You can't live a life full of physical luxuries and expect to grow wealth. I think this booked used good concrete examples of what a frugal lifestyle looks like (and how skipping your happy hour with friends every so often will NOT be what derails your goals.) I enjoyed the look into the financial impact of your housing choice. His sections discussing time-management and cutting bad habits was so painfully right!Cons: Outside of the house-hack, the book is a little sparse with other types of investment methods. However, he does give the fair disclaimer that they do exist, but, that they do not fit into his model for financial independence.Overall, I think this book does a fantastic job on addressing the MINDSET that a middle income professional would need to have in order to achieve early financial independence. I loved it even though it didn't specifically apply to my financial situation. I still found many great points though out it and have recommended it to my friends.

The approach laid out in the book is tried and true - but is not easy. Following a Dave Ramsey style approach - with leverage thrown in - you will be house hacking and eating rice and beans on your way to financial freedom. The key is to understand what freedom is and the lifestyle you want to have. A good blueprint.

The only reason why I gave this four stars is because I only received one. Other than that they're great quality work great.

It really is interested and works if you apply