If you, like most people, have not seriously considered what steps you should take for planning your finances and are now planning on buying a house, grasping married or having children, you will do well to read David Chiltons book The Wealthy Barber.

It will not matter if you have never heard of a mutual fund or even balanced your checkbook. If dry financial reading is not up your alley, you will STILL find the Wealthy Barber brain friendly reading. It will have you fluent in financial planning in weeks.

The key to David Chiltons success with his book is that it is written as a story, rather than a manual. You follow three 30ish individuals as they contruct their financial houses from scratch. They get their data from one of the most knowledgeable and financially secure individuals in town - the barber.

The gem of this story lies in the fact that the barber shows how income is not the biggest variable in planning for financial prosperity - proper planning is. And you can have your own finances in order by reading and applying the tasks he assigns his students while they visit for their monthly trim.

The Wealthy Barber has been favorably commented on by newspapers and financial reviewers because it does not stress budget or a reduced standard of living. It is these steps which almost always sabotage the best intentions of individuals. The more quickly the methods are applied, the easier it will be to see their effects while maintaining your lifestyle, but it is always better to initial now than not start at all.

The Globe and Mail calls The Wealthy Barber