Questions to ask any money book

• What exactly is it claiming? State the central promise in one sentence, in your own words.
• Who is it written for? Every book assumes an income, a country, a family shape and an amount of spare time. Find those assumptions.
• Are there sources? Notes, references, a bibliography. Their absence tells you what kind of book you are holding.
• Can you trace one number? Pick a figure and follow it. Where it leads is information either way.
• When was it written and last updated? A confident book about rules from a decade ago is a history book with a modern cover.
• Which country is it about? Much advice is silently national.
• Does it separate what it knows from what it believes? Weak money writing uses the same confident tone for both.
• How much of the evidence is the author’s own story? One person’s results are an anecdote however impressive.
• Does it ever say I do not know? A book certain about everything is certain about some things it should not be.
• What does it assume you will do under stress? Most disagreements between money books are really about behaviour in a bad year.
• Does it state the strongest counterargument fairly? The real one, not a weak version set up to be knocked down.
• What is being sold at the end? Not disqualifying. Worth knowing before chapter one.
• Would the advice still work if everyone followed it? Some strategies only work while they are unusual.
• What would make the author change their mind? If you cannot imagine an answer, it is a belief system rather than an argument.

Book being tested

Questions it clearly passed:

Questions it clearly failed:

What I will still take from it: