The Rule of 30

Review

This book was a bit bizarre, but I really enjoyed it! I've seen it recommended on PFC, so I wanted to give it a try, and I learned a lot more than I thought I would.

I think its strengths were that the dialogue-style suited the subject matter well, it went in-depth into the numbers and projections without losing the big picture, and it's always valuable to find good financial books focused specifically on Canada. I did find the narrative side of the book quite strange, but I just assumed there was some kind of story behind that and mostly ignored it. I also do wish that the author included more information on a financial strategy that involved a public sector pension, but maybe there's a different book for that.

I propose that you allocate a fixed percentage of your gross income to just those three items: retirement saving, mortgage payments and daycare expenses. The cost of each of those items can be allowed to vary from year to year, but the sum should always be the same. Think of retirement saving as the balancing item.