Product Description
Bill and Mary Toohey are average middle income people from a small Iowa town. Bill has been employed for 23 years as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and Mary has worked for 20 years as an Office Manager for a small psychological firm. They started saving and investing in 1991 when their net worth was $63,000. Eight years later their net worth was $467,000. In other words, their assets increased by an average of more than $50,000 per year during that period while their income (not counting dividends and capital gains) averaged about $65,000 per year. But it wasn’t always easy. They have three children, Colleen (24), Tim (22), and Meghann (14). Tim has been severely disabled since birth and despite the challenges of helping Tim cope with his chronic illnesses, the Toohey family has been able to achieve financial freedom on a modest income. They were able to build a sizable nest egg in eight years while encountering some of life’s biggest expenses during the period. They helped to pay for their daughter’s college education and wedding, paid cash for a new car, and made several expensive home improvements. Despite those major expenses the Tooheys still managed to save 46% of their gross income and were listed among the “Best Personal Finance Managers in America” in the December 1994 issues of Money magazine. The Tooheys’ story, in an article written by Bill, appeared in the April 1997 issue of Money magazine. Mary co-authored an article published in the February 1998 issue of McCall’s magazine. In May, 1997 Bill was invited to speak at Money magazine’s Elgin Project seminar series. Money magazine “adopted” Elgin, Illinois and brought in speakers with expertise in personal finance. Former President Bush kicked off the event.
How did they do it? How do they think? How do they live? Is it possible to save so much and still have a decent life? Can my family do this? Get the answers to all these questions and more in a book written specifically for families with children who don’t earn big bucks.Amazon.com Review
Bill and Mary Toohey are about as average as a couple can be. They live in Iowa, pull down about $65,000 a year combined, and have three children. What’s not average about them is that they have a net worth of about a half-million dollars. They’ve paid off their mortgage, and they paid cash for their cars. Their oldest daughter graduated from college with no debts and with money in the bank. How did they manage? It takes a book to explain the particulars, but the executive summary is this: They lived on about half their income, and saved and invested the other half. Part of their plan is simply saying no to impulse purchases such as soft drinks and candy bars. (They show how they accumulated $26,733 in eight years by investing the money they didn’t spend on junk.) Their strategy involves, in part, shopping around for the best price on their big-ticket purchases. (They take you step by step through a few transactions, from research to purchase, so you can do this yourself.) But the biggest part is living small. They have a modest house (one bathroom). They don’t try to keep up with the Joneses. Their investment strategy is very simple, mostly stock index and bond funds. By never trying to be more than average, they made themselves extraordinary.
It’s hard to imagine that many people will be able to follow their entire program–that one-bathroom house will probably stop most readers in their tracks–and some of their ideas about cheap entertainment seem a little far-fetched. For example, if you’re thinking of taking the children to the circus when it comes to town, they advise, take them instead to watch the circus troupe setting up tents and feeding the animals. Imagine the family fun when the kids go to school and realize all their friends got to see the actual circus. Still, there should be plenty of useful advice in this Guide to Financial Freedom for any family. Most of it is simple and makes intuitive sense, and the Tooheys’ breezy, conversational writing style makes you feel as though you were sitting with them in their (small) living room while they shared it. Best of all, their plan clearly works. A half-million in savings on a middle-class income is a pretty good leg to stand on when offering advice. –Lou Schuler
The Average Family’s Guide to Financial Freedom
