BOOK OF THE WEEK: YOU'RE SUPPOSED to BE WEALTHY by CREFLO DOLLAR

Hello people.

Some months ago, I was browsing through the books in the business section of a bookstore when I saw a book titled Why We Want You to Be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. I cringed inwardly when I read the title not only because it sounded smug and condescending, but also because it reminded me of WASSCE English essay writing. I could just imagine writing an essay on the topic:

Why We Want You to Be Rich.

We want you to be rich because:

1. It makes us feel good teaching you how to be rich

 2. We desire a redistribution of resources among the human specie

 3. Erm...erm..sorry, we've run out of reasons.

Needless to say, I did not buy the book.

Sometime later, I asked a friend to send me books to read and one of the books she sent me was You're Supposed to Be Wealthy by Dr. Creflo Dollar. At that point I thought: 'Great! After running from two businessmen who were trying to tell me why they wanted me to be rich, I end up with a pastor who’s probably pointing his fingers at me right now and saying 'You're Supposed to be Wealthy!''

This time, however, I read the book and was pleasantly surprised.

You’re Supposed to be Wealthy is a book written by Creflo Dollar and published by FaithWords; a division of Hachette Book Group. At the onset, Dr Creflo lays the groundwork by stating that wealth starts with a mindset and that one of the biggest hindrances to achieving true and lasting wealth is having an inaccurate picture of the meaning and purpose of prosperity.

In subsequent chapters, Creflo goes on to describe practical steps to building wealth, such as:

1.     Setting short, medium, and long term goals with regards to the accumulation of wealth.

2.     Taking inventory of one’s assets, liabilities, income and outflow.

3.     Having good knowledge of the basic accounts and opening the account that best meets your needs.

4.     Understanding the different money markets and making informed investments.

5.     Making plans for retirement.

In addition to these, Dr Dollar touches on other wealth building strategies, highlights the importance of estate planning and stresses on the necessity of getting at least one form of life insurance. He also challenges the popular notion that loan taking should be avoided and explains reasons why loan taking could sometimes be advantageous in wealth building. Finally, he educates readers on ways of building good credit and the basics of tax handling.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK

I was blown away when I read the book. Readers may be aware that Creflo Dollar is a televangelist and personally, I am not particularly a fan of his so when I saw You’re Supposed to be Wealthy, I imagined that it would probably be a book on faith declaration and payment of tithes and firstfruits and seedfruits and all other fruits that some pastors are surprisingly able to come up with. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the book was not all about that.

While Creflo does touch on these things at certain points in the book, he concentrates more of his time and energy teaching readers practical, ethical, ways of building wealth and maintaining a good reputation financially. 

 The only snag is that non-American readers may find it difficult understanding some terminologies especially when one gets to the chapters on handling taxes and credit rating. Creflo Dollar tries his best, however, to describe the terms in simple language and even lists resources for further reading at the end of the book for interested readers. I must say that the book is a very sensible one and every second spent reading the book is well worth it.

So, the next time you’re out looking for a business book, do remember; titles may not be as important as we make them out to be.