Money is easy to make as long as you have a job, however what do you do when you have the money is another question. This is a question I have asked myself ever since I got my first part time job. Many people don't realize that your money can make you more money, through proper investment. Through this strategy you can not only live comfortably now, but you can live a wealthy retirement and enjoy your later years. One of tips which caught my eye the most was the chapter, entitled, Ten Percent Solution. This chapter seemed to make sense to me as I am on a limited budget with a minimum wage job. 
I am one of the fortunate students how somehow can balance school with a part time job. I do this because it allows me some freedoms while at school, such as eating well, socializing and trips to visit friends. I also seem to have a bit of money left over which I leave sitting in my low interest bank account. It is this money I am hoping to save for when I am done school and to begin my OSAP payments. Until reading the book, The Wealthy Barber, I never really had an idea of what to do with my money. Since I am also one of those students who is lucky enough to have a loan through OSAP, I figured I'd better start saving or making money as it is stated.
I am currently saving money in a GIC account at a bank which has a mediocre interest rate of approximately 4%. However, if I invest in something such as a mutual fund for long term growth I will get a better interest rate and end up making more money without doing anything. The nice thing about both the GIC and the mutual fund is that they use the compound interest which allows your money to grow at a very rapid rate, as you will slowly start making money on the previous interest deposits as well as your own deposits which you make. However to gain significant interest growth you must have something at a reasonable interest rate. This book has really inspired me to do the research and start doing this. 
The whole idea of this novel is to save money now and you will live better in the future, such as when we retire. This is a great idea for all people, especially students as we will see better results as we are still young and can use compound interest to our benefit. Many students at all ages don't do this, in fact haven't even thought about doing this. It does sound unreasonable and a little out of our league at present times. Especially since we are paying tuition, books and the dreaded OSAP. However, if you think about it maybe it's not such a bad idea. Ten percent of most students part time job pay check is only about $30 - $40 a month or $360 or more a year. If a good interest rate of about 15% is found through a mutual fund and this is saved for 40 years or so, there is a really good chance that we will be millionaires when we take it out after 40 years. We may even have more that a million dollars after that because being students at a university we should all receive fairly well paying jobs. The more we make the more we will be investing, as the ten percent of our pay check will get bigger. So as we slowly get older our payments towards our future will get a little bigger and then the compound interest will grow on that. 
One of the biggest tips I found about this whole investment advice was the fact that you should shop around. There are many possibilities out there other than mutual funds. At my age real estate doesn't sound like a good choice, but it shouldn't be ruled out. In my case it would almost be a good idea as I am already married and am looking for a house. Since paying rent and paying a mortgage would almost be the same price range, it's just that having a mortgage is a stress I really don't want in my life right now. However as stated in the book, The Wealthy Barber, it is a good investment. After seeing the demand in by students in Guelph for housing I am considering buying a house when I am done school and renting it out to students. I could do this for many years until the mortgage is paid off by the rent. Eventually I could use the rent money to invest in other areas such as more mutual funds or just have a little fun with it, like a nice European vacation.
I do agree with the book in the aspect of indulging in the stock market. I have seen a few people lose quite a bit of money in the market and the reason is because of their type of investment. This is where a mutual fund is better, since mutual funds will invest in several stocks, this has a lower risk then when you doing it yourself. When people invest in the stock market the invest in one or two companies. The are throwing all their eggs into one basket as stated in The Wealthy Barber. There is always the chance that those stocks could do amazing but their is a chance that they could do horrible. With investing in many stocks there is better balance and distribution over the entire market, so that if a few go down a few may go up as well. Another mistake is that many buyers buy when a stock is doing well. Most of the time when they invest the are investing when the prime growth period is gone. They stick it out when the company starts to fall and hope that it will rise again. They tend to either sell low or lose out when it crashes.
When investing in a stable mutual fund you really are safe as through your research you will choose a professional investor which you feel comfortable with. You must be comfortable with your mutual fund representative as he is now handing and investing your money for you, and you just hope to reap from the rewards of his expertise. The advice in  The Wealthy Barber about choosing a mutual fund was a bit blurry. However, as far as I could see what David Chilton is saying is that, if you don't understand what is happening with your money then don't do it. Basically don't invest in something that you can't comprehend because not all mutual funds are good. You must understand it as there are many mutual funds out there and you can't just randomly pick one. You must research everything, things such as; type of mutual fund, how the investor has done in the past and how he is doing now, how long has he been there and how long will he stay, rate of interest over past few years, etc. If you haven't done the research then you really don't know what your getting into and could end up losing money.
I am extremely glad that we had read this book as I see it as an asset in my life. I have already starting using it's advice and am planning on using it in the future. I am presently getting 10% of my pay taken off my check and put it into my fathers bank account where he is investing it in a mutual fund. He is doing this for me until I am done school because I have little time right now. I will take over when I am done. I don't even notice that the 10% is off of my paycheck and I just work with what I have right now. I have also stated my plans with real estate in the future. My father is considering this as well since at present time it seems as though the demand for housing is a lot higher than the supply. I am extremely happy to see that we had to read this book. I will definitely benefit from it for many years to come, as well so will others. 



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