The Automatic Millionaire

A couple, he a low-level manager and she a beautician, never earn more than $55,000 a year between them, yet they own two homes free of debt, put two children through college and retire at 55 with over $1 million saved. David Bach, author of Smart Women Finish Rich and Smart Couples Finish Rich, uses their story to argue that budgets do not make people rich. His alternative is to pay oneself first through a plan that runs on its own, with automatic deposits into retirement and money market accounts, and that needs no willpower, high income or interest in money. Setup takes an hour, he says. The first edition stayed a best seller for thirty-one weeks.

The Budgetnista founder Tiffany Aliche was reported to have named it as the book that first set her on her financial path.