{"id":403668,"date":"2026-01-12T01:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T01:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403668\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T01:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T01:25:07","slug":"financial-planning-expert-returns-with-a-new-edition-of-his-signature-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403668\/","title":{"rendered":"financial planning expert returns with a new edition of his signature work"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Chilton<\/a> was just 27 years old when the original edition of The Wealthy Barber was first published back in 1989. It would go on to sell more than two million copies, making him a go-to expert on financial planning and eventually a panelist on TV\u2019s Dragon\u2019s Den. Now, more than 35 years later, he\u2019s back with The Wealthy Barber: The Fully Updated All-Time Canadian Classic<\/a>, a revised edition of his signature work dedicated to a new generation of investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I hear somebody talk about how long ago that was, I just shake my head,\u201d Chilton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the new book came out, a couple of people said, \u2018I\u2019m kind of surprised you\u2019re still alive,\u2019 because they thought I was in my 50s when I wrote the original. It\u2019s all gone by so quickly, but I\u2019m thrilled to have the new book out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chilton admits The Wealthy Barber was almost The Wealthy Bartender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually got the idea \u2014 and people think I\u2019m kidding, but I\u2019m dead serious \u2014 I got the idea watching Cheers, the old television show. And I thought, \u2018You know what? I\u2019ll set it in the bar, and I\u2019ll use the humour, I\u2019ll use the stories, I\u2019ll use the conversation.\u2019 And then, of course, alcohol got in the way of it being effective because I wanted it to resonate as true, and therefore, I moved it over to the barbershop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world has changed quite a bit since The Wealthy Barber was first published. For instance, there was no Bitcoin, there was barely even an internet! But Chilton says the real reason he updated the book was to help younger Canadians navigate an unprecedented affordability crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of living is so much higher relative to incomes than it was. It is more difficult now. The boomers don\u2019t want to see it that way, but trust me, it is. When you do the simple arithmetic on it, especially for, I\u2019d say, the lower 60 per cent in income, making ends meet, getting through all of this, is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Tis the season for New Year\u2019s resolutions and, for many of us, that includes tuning up our finances. Chilton says one of the first things you can do is keep a spending summary.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou chronicle all your spending on a two- or three-month period, categorize it, and learn where the money is going. You\u2019ll quickly see where the leaks are, where you can save some money, but more importantly, you\u2019ll also see where you\u2019re spending inefficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says a spending summary is different than a budget and doesn\u2019t include shelter costs and other non-discretionary spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of money we do get to choose where we spend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody who does one of these things, and they are kind of boring to do, but everybody who does one reports big pluses from going through the exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wealthy Barber is just as folksy, chatty, and relatable as it ever was. But this time it addresses new investment vehicles like the first home savings (FHSA) and tax-free savings accounts (TFSA), advances that weren\u2019t around in 1989.<\/p>\n

While much has changed since the original book was published, Chilton says many of its core principles remain the same. One of those principles is what he calls the three most important words in personal finance: pay yourself first. It arguably remains his most revolutionary piece of advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting. When The Wealthy Barber first came out, I didn\u2019t know that that would become the item that would make such a difference. I knew it was the key because budgeting doesn\u2019t work. I got the idea from helping so many younger people to budget when I was an investment counsellor and seeing that they couldn\u2019t stick to it and that the savings would never materialize,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I thought, we\u2019ve got to start taking it off the top of the paycheck directly out of the bank account before we have an opportunity to blow it, before human nature gets involved. I didn\u2019t know it was going to go on to become what it did in terms of the way it was going to resonate and be grabbed ahold of by people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, 36 years later, after probably seeing more personal financial plans than anybody ever has, as dramatic as that sounds, pay yourself first may be even more important than I said it was, because you clearly see the people who saved effectively, 90 per cent of them have used that strategy. That\u2019s been the lead approach for the people who truly set aside the appropriate amount of money. So, pay yourself first is absolutely imperative.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that kind of timeless advice that has made The Wealthy Barber a Canadian classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s conventional wisdom but repackaged in a way that makes it more accessible, more understandable, that pulls people in in a more effective manner. And I think that\u2019s why the book has done so well over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of it\u2019s overwhelmingly complicated. It\u2019s relatively straightforward stuff. You must understand some subtleties and some nuances. But I think the book presents them in a way that makes it more enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope, if nothing else, the book gets people thinking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Wealthy Barber: The Fully Updated All-Time Canadian Classic<\/a> is available from the Financial Awareness Corporation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Chilton was just 27 years old when the original edition of The Wealthy Barber was first published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-403668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}