A review:

Podcast #173 finds Rob once again on ground with which he is both familiar and comfortable: personal saving. He is able to enthusiastically evangelize for an emotional approach to both saving and spending that most effective savers have already innately done for probably all of history, but that has seldom been articulated so that those who don’t have the benefit of a guide or natural ability can also benefit. Since the concepts are dirt simple, and require no math or analytics, Rob is on firm ground as he uses simplistic examples from his own experiences that any 10 year old can understand and apply. The net worth of Rob’s entire talk is easily summed up in a single sentence: If you convince yourself that saving is actually a form of spending, but a type of enjoyable spending into a buffer to allow deferred purchase that multiplies the power of your initial dollar, then the psychic pain and stress many feel when saving can be overcome, and a potentially unpleasant experience is made enjoyable, and therefore more probable.

That said, this is one of the few podcasts that Bennett produces (nearly 200!) in which he only fleetingly digresses into what is his Achilles heel- a long gangrenous wound suffered from when he hoped to extend his sphere from saving to investing. It makes sense that Rob would have wanted to do so; unfortunately, as was made manifestly clear at the outset a decade ago, and has been reinforced at every juncture since, Rob has less than no competency in the field of investing; his approach is innumerate, and dangerous. Much as Hitler was a good military strategist, but a rotten painter and humanitarian, so Bennett finds himself clearly unable to assimilate the fact that his single insight in the realm of mental preparation for saving, did not and does not translate into full blown instant competency as an investment gooroo. If you need to learn about Blitzkreig, study Hitler. If you need to get your attitude right on saving, listen to Bennett. Beyond that, though, beware.