The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco is unlike most personal finance books. DeMarco explains that the road to significant wealth isn't through saving and scrounging, or trying to deprive ourselves of lattes, but it is through entrepreneurship that great wealth is made. He mentions that most personal finance gurus are quite wealthy, however they didn't attain their wealth from the same advice they peddle, such as "pay yourself first" and "save 10% of your income" (most attain their wealth through writing books). Although this is still good advice, it's not how the affluent gained their wealth.
So the "fastlane" to wealth is entrepreneurship. One of DeMarco's quotes that stuck with me is that "to make millions, you have to affect millions." I think this quote sums up entrepreneurial success, successful businesses help solve problems for a lot of people. They provide a service or product that's in demand.
Building a successful business is incredibly difficult and may not be for everyone. It's important to get into business for the right reasons, which DeMarco says is to help people solve their problems. Going into business just for the money will inevitably lead to failure.
The premise of what DeMarco is saying is true, vast wealth is held by a select few who have risked their livelihood on an idea that their service or product was something the world needed. The reality is that the majority of the population is risk adverse and would never want to attempt to start their own business. There's nothing wrong with that, however it's important to note that you won't be travelling down what DeMarco calls the "fastlane" to financial freedom, but the "slowlane."
Here's a video book review:
