Very detail review of Jago Investor: Change your Relation with Money Book by Manish Chauhan where I explain what is covered in each chapter of the book.
Manish Chauhan of Jago Investor and I share few things in common and one of them is we both are from non-financial background and yet have fairly successful blog in finance niche and it is our interest in the niche that has driven us this far in an overly crowded space.
Manish has written a book on principle of personal finance. As I was reading his book, I found that it is one of those books that should be read by everybody who is new to managing his finance and trying to achieve financial goals. So I will do a very detail review about his book and explain what is covered in each chapter of the book but before I get into the details of the chapter let me share few lines about the book in general.
The 170 page book is written in a very simple and easy to understand language so anybody from non-finance background can grasp the concept of financial planning. The book focuses more on principles of personal finances and the financial mistakes a common man make and does not focus on where you should be managing your financials. So I think it is one of those book that can help you get started to understanding the basics of financial planning.
The book is divided into 7 chapters and each chapter elaborates one of the key aspects of finance management and wealth creation.
Chapter 1 talks about how starting your investment at an early age can make the real difference to your final target corpus amount along with facts and figures.
Chapter 2 deals with the misconceptions about insurance among common Indian investors and explains why insurance is INSURANCE and not an investment. You can also read my related article about Is Insurance an Investment Option?
Chapter 3 explains the importance of financial goal in your life and how you need to remind yourself about it and invest towards achieving it. He suggests writing your financial goals but being a tech junkie I prefer my desktop wallpaper to have my goals especially the financial goals. I did this when I was looking to buy a flat for me.
Chapter 4 explains how equity is less risky in longer term (10-15 years) and more risky in shorter term (2-3 years) and how debt is more risky in longer term and less risky in short term with examples. Apart from that the chapter also talks about ideal portfolio with balanced risk profile based on stage of life i.e. bachelor, married, kids and so on.
Chapter 5 focuses on changing your attitude towards managing finance better with a want to do attitude and re-iterates the same concept about having a financial goal and starting investments early.
Chapter 6 focuses on ways to simplify your financials and how you can UN-complicate your financials by consolidating your bill payment dates and reminders to avoid lot of hassles and late payment fees.
Chapter 7 explains the common issues among Indian investors who invest with different motto – like getting insurance only for the sake of saving tax or even buying a property when they could have delayed that buy or even smaller property would have been a better option.
This pretty much sums up the content of the book but I have also found few areas in the book, which I think should be improved upon. I think I need to share them as well.
Area of improvements
Chapter 4 does not talk about finance management for people who have loans and always assume debt free situation to start with, which is very rare. When I was doing job in 2008, I had lot of my friend in the IT industry but I found very few people were debt free. Some had personal loans for marriage and other occasions, some had car loans and rest had a home loan.
Chapter 5 could have been more about attitude in general towards finance management instead of re-iterating what has already been told in the opening chapters about financials goals and starting investments early.
Chapter 6 focuses on simplifying financials but on page 136 a he suggests a simple portfolio that states
1-2 Credit Cards (if one needs them).
I think (if one needs them) is not what I expect in a personal finance book. Credit cards are must in today’s life style and so it is all about knowing how to use them efficiently and to your advantage. So I don’t agree that you should have a card only if you need it but I think you should always have a credit card and learn how to use it efficiently.
My credit cards fetch me 10,000+ Rs worth of free gifts and cash back yearly. I will share an article on how I do it soon but as an example I would like to share here about my Citibank Cash Back Credit Card that pays me roughly 2 to 3 thousand Rupees as cash back each year but if I don’t use that card for at least 20,000 each year I will be charged a fee of few hundreds (don’t remember the exact amount now) for keeping that card with me. So if I know the terms I am fine managing that card well to my advantage.
Final Thoughts
I think it is a very good book for beginners in personal finance.
Update: The book is available at 25% discount rate. Grab your copy now at FlipKart.com.
Update: Manish has agreed to give one free copy of his book to my blog readers. To grab your free copy of the book share your views about this review in comments below and I will select one reader in the next 24-48 hours from the comments who get his/her free copy delivered at his/her doorstep.
Hello Shabbir for giving valuable insight about insurance which I think is savedva lot of future money. So I have a query that as i have pair three installments for three quaters so can I quit now how if I should reinvest where should I put my money.Nd plese guide me which are nice nd good form of investments that will help me to reach close 1crore rs in next 10 years.secondly I am already investing rs 1000 in gold fof of reliance I want to invest in gold for long term which form is best istead physical nd if etf than which would be the best one.How much does your book cost actually if we consider discount 25% whether installments option in payment.Questions are very much but rathar be clear than making a mistake of loosing hard earned money.
If you plan to invest in gold with time horizon of more than 3 years, I would say Physical gold. Check out http://shabbir.in/gold-or-gold-etf/
Hi Shabbir,
I came across your blog as I was doing search for which Gold ETF to buy as in first year of my job which I wanted to invest in gold for long term along with my other Sip investments in LIC jeevan Anand,Two Gold FOF and two HDFC MFs and other in Equity markets from last 4 years that my father left after loosing lot of money in 2008 market crash.I am very obssesed with investing and like you I also lost lot of money in equities appx 56000.more than I earned.so I am very eger to bring back or rather make earning through investments my second income for my life nd about review of book I will just say that as I came across this book in a store but left it thinking it is a books for beginer(reading its very simple languge) but relised I made a mistake than buying a warren buffet book that does not relate to Indian prospective nd his stratgies were of old time not present senario.I want your help to earn money intellgently.I request you to reply sir. Being a enginner that too in Mechanical side its hard to earn lot of money quickly so plz help me realise my financial goals.Congrats Mr Manish for writing a great book.
Hi Sunand,
There are few basic mistakes you are about to do. Insurance is insurance and you cannot invest in an insurance. Read – http://shabbir.in/investment-linked-insurance/
Sad to hear that your father lost money in market but that is the case of every retail investors because we tend to get into market not because we know how to make money from market but because someone made money from market. I see you also did the same thing. Market is a zero sum game which means someone can make money only if others loose money and for market to remain market, big investors need retail investors who can loose for them to gain. So you have to understand how market works and what can help you make money from market.
Regarding your views on Warren Buffet Book, I also have similar views and I shared the same in my ebook as well. You should be reading books that are more inclined towards Indian market to start with and then you can go global.
I will suggest you book by Manish as well as my ebook for making money from market trading and investing.
good book to watch…lage raho..saeed 9969972358
Shabbir,
Happy to see the review . I am now in chapter 2 .
As you said ,it is an eye opener for newbies .
Rather than pretending I know it already or I don’t want to know
Ii felt good when I opened up and accepted that I made hell of mistakes with my personal finance .
Now learning the best way to go forward with better understanding and thus book is more worth than what I thought it was . Just a newbie opinion 🙂
Jayachandran, great to see that the book is helping you and better late than never to correct mistakes. We all make mistakes when it comes to managing the finances.
About Jago Investor
What an excellent book….This is my shortest expression on completion
of reading the book.
Well. Giving a briefing on the experience of reading the book.
–Acknowledge and Preface – Too Good
–Way/Style of presentation – Appealing and too good again.
Shows the capability and potential of the author to
convey the right meaning of everything explained in the book to a
variety of audience. I am quite sure, this book could influence any
one’s financial decision making processes and visualize the right
approach towards a great financial planning leading to achievement of
not only basic necessities but long term dreams and aspirations.
–Importance of early investment – Well demonstrated again
Strategy, Effectiveness and the drastic difference of
saving even small amounts during the initial periods – very very well
demonstrated rather illustrated.
–Life Insurance – Commendable again
The do’s and do not’s in this section is very well
demonstrated. This section again well explained and would help greatly
from an awareness perspective. I do not think there is a better way of
illustration.
This book is for every one and for all ages. The earlier you grab a
copy and understand the things the better. A definite value buy and
I’m quite sure that none of you would regret buying this excellent
pick. I can assure that this would be beneficial for anyone who isn’t
insane. A great great gift to all those whom you really care for. This
book would be an eye opener for many. (My wild guess would be nothing
short of 80%). The author’s excellence as a financial coach is well
evident and the book speaks about that.
UNDERSTANDABLE, SIMPLE, POWERFUL…Above all works for ANYONE and not
a particular cross section of people. Highly recommended for the youth
who are a nation’s backbone to grow in a responsible manner with great
insights from a financial perspective.
( One more thing, i would like to convey is about the build quality of
the book. Great. Excellent. Not the boring ones which you normally
imagine or expect on hearing that this is something related to
financial success, management or progression.)
🙂 🙂 🙂 – Do not waste your time. Grab a copy.
Happy reading!!!
Thanks Naveen for a great review and you also have email from Manish saying the same that this is the best review till date. 😀
Welcome 🙂 …and sorry for the delay in posting the review.
thanks to provide such a useful knowledge.
The pleasure is all mine Nratya
Hi All,
I have received the book a few minutes…
Grateful to Shabbir & Manish..
Will post the review after going thru…
Thanks
Naveen
Would be waiting for your views about the book.
Thanks Shabbir da
Really I am fan of your simplicity and boldness of explanation on different subject, directly or indirectly you are doing great financial service to the society.
Cheers!!!
The pleasure is all mine.
Dear Shabbir,
i am a professional trader eventhough when i saw your few blogs i came to decide that there is still lot of more to learn however i hope in future i am going to be one of your followers. About Jago investor chapter review is good but can judge only after it is thoroughly understood. Anyway i appreciate your great work and also hope the same type of contributions from you will continue…………….
regards
deepak
bangalore
Hi Deepak, good to see professional trader found my articles useful and I am sure you will like the content I share on my blog. Would love to have your honest feedback on those.
Those who would like to know the process I used for choosing the winner.
There were 28 people total out of which those that were one line comments removed.
Out of the remaining people I used MS Excel to randomly select a winner.
Hi shabbir,
First of all congratulations to the contest winner Naveen!! Enjoy Reading !!
Btw Shabbir,I got 2 questions..1.which broking company provides good mobile platform for share trading?
2 whats your view regarding Zerodha? https://www.zerodha.com/
1. I am yet to see any broker providing iPhone, or Android App and so my answer to that question is No one.
2. I have no experience with zerodha.
Thanks Shabbir….This came in as a pleasant surprise.. 🙂
Surprises are always good and I read your email about the time and ambiance when you were writing that comment. 😀
🙂 🙂 🙂
The Winner is Naveen. Thanks for all those who have participated.
i regularly follow your writings .Liked your portfolio and basically your suggestions on how to go about investing.and thanks for introducing one more writer .A rare gesture indeed.
Thanks Krishnan yes Manish is really awesome guy as well.
Shabbir ur sight it is superb and it makes lot of people aware about the financial literate. Keep growing as it is needed for today’s scenario. Thanks for jago investor book in advance.
The pleasure is all mine Anirban
hi Shabbir,
i am following you and I must say that the service you are rendering to all of us is gr8. sharing the critical aspects of personal finance in an easier way is what I get from your writing.
i like your review of this book in a genuine way.
Thanks RK for those kind words and the comments like those drives me a lot.
Pl. keep it up.”Finance is made easy with high thoughts”
Very true Dr. Ram
hello sir.
I have read something from ur website, i think ur words are true according to you but the story of every other person is different in stock market, every one has a different point of view. but can you give me one example who was having 100% accuracy in trading. well the most experienced person in this industry can only predict the market. They will not assure you about any stock. so the bottom line is that we have to take chances to grow either way. Knowledge is good to identify things in different way.this is the market for anyone even an illiterate person can do it. you cant know how he will make profits or losses. Everybody is trying to hit the bulls eye ????????????????????????
M Ahmed, actually no one can predict the market each and every time and so it is the odds that you have in your favor when doing the predictions and how strong are those odds to make you more confident.
The best trader and investors are those who readily accept that they can be wrong and respect the market by taking losses. I like small targets and smaller losses.
I really need this book.
Sure why not.
already you received so many comments all are interesting but sorry only one will get free copy that too luckily my request is that after reading this won book can he/she would like share the book to someone who desire it for a week and so on and on however the postage will be born by the next receiver
Cannot say because it depends on who gets it and what he does with his copy of book.
Hi Shabbir,
As usual, I agree with most of the points you mentioned. I would like to add a small point to your views on credit card.
Apart from cash back and other benefits credit cards help you take create a credit history. Credit rating will be used to a great extent in future either for loans or insurance etc..
Credit card should just not be looked as a need but should be used as good practice for better tomorrow.
Pravin
Yes Pravin, I agree completely on this and CIBIL does help a lot more nowadays into it. I have not missed a payment on single of my credit card for last 5 years each month, every month and so I expect to have a very high credit score. 😀
Thank for quick responds from Shabbir Bhimani, I will surelly recommond to my friends to go for Jago Investor Book reason is that im know started my specialization wit core finance so i hope many of my friends ll like that book..
Great to see that Rajanath.
Hi Shabbir,
I am new to your blog.But,i am reading regulary your blogs from 1 month.I apprecite the way you look at the things, which everyone can not. Thanks!
The pleasure is all mine Aravind.
excellent eye opened reviews and ideas for personal finance.
Thanks Sampath.
Hi..
Your review on book Jago investor is very informative.From book review one get highly motivated to read the book as you have explained every thing in very simple language with examples..It is fact that from a tree one can make lakhs of match sticks but one matchsticks is enough to burn the whole tree.My point is that good actions and good work require lot of dedication to aware people about the investment,and to make their minds fully charged for their finance/investor education..And all this efforts you are taking in genuine way even though you are not from fiance fields..One can 100% turn his own mind to read concern book of Jago investor..The way I have exaplined you makes you clear that I am giving my genuine feedback and my intention is not at all to just praise you..
Shilpa, was pleasure reading your feedback and yes I can sense that your feedback is really genuine. Thanks once again.
Heeeeeeeeeey
last year I have purchased 02 mutual funds
HDFC top 200
DSP black rock equity 100 Sip
but i dont see any better NAV as off now so its blocked
I need an idea for investing in Gold funds
please help me .I wan to invest 10k to 13k per month
Regards
Madhavi Singh
Hi Madhavi, you have invested in good funds but they have not performed because market has not perform that well. Gold funds look attractive as of now because they have performed better last year and I don’t see you are taking right decision of switching.
I think equity is better than gold funds as of now but still if you prefer you can opt for best gold fund in the ValueResearchOnline Site.
lot of thanx sabbirbhai
The pleasure is all mine GHANSHYAM
Providing insights in lucid manner to anyone(newbies and knowledge seekers mainly) is your best skill which you have proved over the years and this is what is gaining you more and more advice seekers. Great review. Simple yet powerful and understandable.
About credit cards, I would add it to be a smart card for the smarter people and normal people. But the same card can prove the other way if not used properly or rather foolishly.
52 days credit, lots of cashbacks and other rewards to add Credit cards have dug deep in to our lives for sure. Pointing our the positives is okay, but the negatives too is very much commendable and I’m sure the readers wont expect anything less from you as well. Appreciate your dedication towards each readers and advice seekers. You have got time for everyone and that is what makes me come and read your blogs and leave my feedback each time. Time and again, i get your mail and i would come across your website to find new blogs. Good going..All the best.
Thanks Naveen and yes you are right. I try to respond to each and every comment because I think people write because they want to be read. I write blogs as hobby but then when readers share their feedback about my articles, it makes me a better writer.
If I expect my readers feedback on my post, they also expect my thanks on their comments.
In my Internet Marketing Blog I shared How to be a better blogger and one of the point is to responding to your reader’s comment. If I cannot do the same how can I tell that to others.
Naveen, I have my credit card article live here – http://shabbir.in/manage-credit-cards/ and do let me know your feedback about the same.
I appreciate your sharing ability. This one “Jago Investor” book is one I would like to recommend to all my friends.
Thanks William for recommending it to your friends.
I have been reading various blogs relating finance/ share market etc . Some of these blogs are very technical but your blog and manish’s blog is simple to understand .
I hope to improve my gyaan further by reading “Jago Investor”.
Archana
Thanks Archana and the only reason I can think for simplicity is both of us are not educated in finance.
Dear Shabbir,
I am always impressed with your simplicity and boldness. Among the lot of so called “experts” it is good to see both you and Manish making a consistent mark through honest and logical approach towards personal finance. I was wondering on the following about the book if you could share more insights:
– Does the book provide easy calculators/sheets for tracking ones personal finances or does it take a general educational approach? In otherwords does the book take you from a novice to intermediate level person with do your own thingy?
– The most important point I am interested in knowing is “is the book worth the price?” of course it must a useful book but does it justify the price tag?
– Last but not the least have you considered writing a book yourself on personal finances? If yes I would love to hear about it.
Hi Kiran,
Thanks for those feedback and here are my views on your queries.
1. In the book there are lot of tables to help you make easy calculations. So I would say it does not take too much of an education approach but more of a practical approach. One example I remember is long term and short term equity risk and reward is explained in a tabular form.
2. The price tag for any book is worth the author’s time but still I think it deserves the price tag. In my favorite list of technical analysis books one of the book has a price tag of roughly 4000+ Rs.
3. No I have no plans to write a book on personal finance.
Giraffes dont go to business schools!!! yet when a giraffe is born , its mother comes along and gives a solid kick to it so that he learns how to stand on his feet, and protect himself.
Mr shabbir bhimani is a great initiative to help the average investor gain in the financaial market, protect his capital and understand the nuances from someone who ihas stated from scrach and that too from a non finance background.
if this comment is found interesting; may be ill win the free book on offer.
Cheers.
ajay mehra
Ajay comment is really very interesting and so are other comments and so will have to get help of MS Excel to randomly select the best comments among all these comments.
Hi Shabbir,
Thanks for reviewing the book. Hope it will be useful for a newbie like me. Congrats to Manish Chauhan.
Waiting for your article on credit cards.
The pleasure is all mine and yes Credit card article is much awaited by many now.
Chirag – I have the article on Credit card live and you can read it here – http://shabbir.in/manage-credit-cards/
Hi Shabbir,
I apprecite the way you look at the things, which everyone can not. I am regular follower of your blog along with a few other.
I am glad to receive a free copy atlest first few chapter of “Jago Investor”.
Warm reagrds,
Aravind
Aravind, not sure if Manish has the option of sharing first few chapters but yes I have each of the comment in the list who has an equal chance to get the free copy.
I have been following both the sites for quite sometime and few other sites as well. I havent seen anyone explains more simpler than you both. Looking forward for more help and guidance.
Patel, as always the pleasure is all mine
Hey Manish,
Firstly Congratulations on getting YOUR own book published , indeed a feat .
Secondly i like the review you’ve done on because it is systematic ie..point wise, addresses the issues in brief but with thorough clarity as the saying goes “BREVITY in the usage of words is the work of an Wise Man” where as sum people go on and on without adddressing core issues and you’ve recommended improvement areas which makes your review a NEAT article.
Thirdly ive been a follower of various financial sites (read:Your site, jago investor, sites on technical analysis, sites which list various weird and humorous stuff ).
Last a copy fo your book would be nice too.
Gulshan, thanks for those wonderful words.
Dear Shabbir,
Nicely done review with +’s and -ve’s. I regularly follow both yours and Manish’s blog as I know i will get Simplified financial gyaan, esp. for non-finance professionals like me. Will try n look for this book on FlipKart 🙂
Great to see that Shahed.
Hi Shabbir,
As expected once again a gem from your blog, it has always been a learning experience while going through your pearls of wisdom.
Along with your blog I have been following JagoInvestor blog since quite some time and both have helped me in correcting the mistakes w.r.t personal finance still I wouldn’t mind a freebie from you guys 🙂 which can still make me learn many new things for personal finance.
Regards,
Sourabh
Sourabh, the pleasure is all mine and yes we have few more hours before deciding the freebie winner. 😀
I regularly read the blogs of Shabbir and jagoinvestor.
Shabbir you always do a nice job by sharing your experience after using any product/service. The same effort i can see here also.
This review of book is really good, especially i liked the areas of improvement you have mentioned.
Since you have told that you will writing an article about credit card. I am eagerly waiting for it.
Anways Shabbir, Thank you for the genuine review.
Shyam, glad to see that you follow the financial blogs including Jago Investor.
Shyam Menon – I have the article on Credit card live and you can read it here – http://shabbir.in/manage-credit-cards/
Thanks for providing blog readers like me an insight into books like Jago investor,
The pleasure is all mine Rajagopal
Thanks for the authentic review and for encouraging people to read the book
Nandish, the pleasure is all mine.
I have been follower of your both the blogs for quite some time and I really like the way you review things and this review is no difference.
Would be glad to get the free copy of this book and let me know what else needs to be done from my end.
Hi Amit, Glad to see that you like my reviews and will try to add many more as and when I use the items