The Pirates of Financial Freedom: REVIEW
Are you ready for an adventure? To sail the seven seas to fame and riches?
Pirates of Financial Freedom is what happens when The Wealthy Barber meets Treasure Island. It’s a pretty strange book that has the potential of engaging a whole lot of teenagers, because, let’s face it, how many 14 year olds want to read The Millionaire Next Door? Honestly, maybe a few more if they read Pirates of Financial Freedom first.
Pirates of Financial Freedom follows the story of Guiseppe, aka Joey, a Wall Street type banker estranged from his pirate, yes, his pirate, father. Captain Dailey asks Joey to come back to the ship and teach his crew about personal finance.
Classic finance lessons take a pirate twist as we learn you don’t need to buy a bunch of rum and spices every time you go shopping, how to save up enough doubloons for retirement and the basics of stocks and bonds to fund your pirate hat making business.
Sandy, one of Captain Dailey’s pirates, is my kind of gal. Her main priority is to be able to sail off into the sunset and conquer any piece of sandy beach she wants someday, without needing to rely on a man. Together she and Joey set up a retirement plan that will let her conquer whatever private island suits her fancy – although whether she’ll be retiring to it alone by the end of the book looks unlikely.
High schools and junior high schools around the country should jump at adding this book to their libraries. I’m not even sure if Home Ec is still a real class, but if it is, I could easily see how this book would be an excellent supplement – every chapter has a good lesson and a fun bit of story that could be expanded on in a classroom setting with no trouble.
With Christmas coming up, I really think this would make a unique gift for the teenagers and young adults in your life. As I read it, I definitely thought of my 21 year old brother – who hates reading – and the fact that he probably wouldn’t mind this book and could really benefit from some of the lessons in it.
Really, your age doesn’t matter, if you’re just getting into personal finance and some of the other books you’ve read bog you down and make you feel overwhelmed, The Pirates of Personal Finance is a great jumping off point.
What do you think pirates would invest in? I think they’d be all about sin stocks. Lumber yards – for their ships AND their peg legs. And maybe pet stores to support their parrots.
What are you guys reading?
Oh yeah, lumber for sure. Definitely not dental care 😉
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…How Fast Can You Churn a Credit Card?
Thanks Mel. I’ll need to pick this up for my kids. Steel mills for sure, need to keep their swords sharp and ready for a good dual.
Brian @ Debt Discipline recently posted…Commission
I actually met this author when I was in FinCon, and honestly had no idea if I wanted to read the book. It sounds much more interesting than I originally, thought, though. I am unfortunately not reading anything right now and I am bummed about it. I have a trip coming up this week and would like to take some of the train ride for fun instead of work, we will see how much I get done today.
Shannon @ Financially Blonde recently posted…Music Mondays – Mushaboom
Oh my gosh, this is adorable! Definitely sounds good for some mature high school kid… I’m not really sure my 20 year old cousin would appreciate it, though. Maybe if it was really sarcastic, or talked about fashion, then she would read it… it’s definitely something I would have liked when I was younger! Cool review 🙂
Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver recently posted…Saturday Update!
It’s definitely kind of sarcastic at times. I think a 20 year old could still learn a lot from it, even if they find it a little hokey. The writing style of The Wealthy Barber actually irritates the crap out of me, but the book has such good info, I plowed through it anyway.
Obviously this Pirates of Financial Freedom is totally a great read! And I think this would be a perfect gift for my teenager nephew!
Kate @ Money Propeller recently posted…Never Lock Yourself Out Again With This Easy Solution
This is AMAZING! I would love to see this in schools. My PF education in high school consisted of a 1-hour seminar with a bank representative selling us on their services. What a joke!
What pirates would invest in…I’m going to say rum. Lots and lots of rum 🙂
I don’t know, that one hour with a bank rep beats most people’s pf education. 😛
Ha! This is awesome! Turning something that, let’s face it, is generally a dry topic into something fun like this is genius. I just finished reading The Millionaire in the Next Cubicle. It was fantastic, learned a ton. Now I’m back to my book of Turkish Fairy Tales.
femmefrugality recently posted…An Insider’s Look into the Scholarship Selection Process
Turkish Fairy Tales sounds pretty cool.
Yeah, I can’t believe Joey thought – let me put pirates and personal finance together. Of course. But I’m glad he did. It’s definitely a very different approach.
That does sound interesting. Not a pirates fan, but lots of kiddos are. I wonder if I could turn that into a Halloween costume for my two year old. Might make for an interesting conversation starter!!!
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…5 Budget Areas to Review Before Saying I Do
What an interesting (and dare I say, fun!?) take on finances!! Thanks for sharing about this book.
Gina recently posted…Tips for Planning a Baby Shower on a Budget
Makes me (almost) wish I still had teenagers in the house. Funny, when my youngest was getting ready for college I ‘incented’ him financially to read two books: Financial Peace and Millionaire Next Door. I have no doubt he’d have preferred this book instead. 🙂
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