I recently read Michael Masterson’s “Automatic Wealth for Grads (and Anyone Else Just Starting Out)”, sent to me by Wiley. To start off, this is not a conventional book about investing – Masterson makes this clear by giving only a brief overview of stocks, where he advises indexing. Instead, the book imparts a combination of career advice, some personal development, and, ideally, good financial habits.

As a college student, and one who is very markets-oriented, I still found parts of this book to be quite interesting; it is not simply rehashed advice. Although somewhat vague at times, Masterson’s writing style combines anecdotes and quick lists to deliver points, and this will add to the book’s value as a reference material. The section on finding a job is particularly relevant for students seeking to break in to business today, and caused me to reconsider the structure and details of my resume; I imagine that most other students would find the tips on interviewing and functioning in an entry-level job to be valuable as well.

For those already working in entry-level positions, this book also gives an insightful framework on how to advance within a company. Some of this is commonsense, but the format is such that it’s probably worth revisiting every few months on the job in order to re-establish a perspective. Much of this section is a challenge to create and deliver value in whatever medium of employment one chooses, and that is certainly a goal worthy of guidance.

In a sense, this is also a highly motivational work, as it lays out the idea that hard work, diligent saving, and prudent investing will lead to substantial wealth. It is difficult to argue with the figures - saving 15%+ of a rapidly growing salary, and earning a high rate of return on that money, will lead to a nice nest egg – but I feel there is a degree of realism missing from some of the numbers. Perhaps I’m too cynical, but the investment returns used to model scenarios stand out as being far too aggressive assumptions. This could be due to a background in equities, which Masterson is not highly fond of (he prefers real estate), but compounding 20%+ in ANY asset class over a long-term time frame requires a high degree of skill. Now, using more conservative assumptions about returns will suppress the eye-popping results seen from the high ROI examples used in the book, but the underlying point about compound interest and the value of establishing savings early on is still valid.

A final tidbit: the last section of the book describes Masterson’s approach to living very richly on a good (but not generationally-wealthy) salary. Although brief, I actually thought this section was extremely thought-provoking and one of the best conclusions to a financial advice book I’ve seen. Again, this is a book of financial advice, but it also has philosophical elements to it, and that’s something I enjoy. Would I make a few changes? Yes – the preference for real estate, and the overall savings returns, should probably be put in a better context. Will this book better prepare a college student or recent graduate? The execution is up to them, but the principles given in the book are sound.

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Disclosure: The publisher sent me a free copy of this book, with the understanding that I would review it if I found it to be interesting. I receive a small commission from any purchases through this site, but it does not increase your cost.