Wealth Watchers

A Simple Program to Help You Spend Less and Save More

Free Press, 2009

15 min read

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To control your expenses, follow a budget. First face the financial facts, and then add them up and control them.

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In 2000, estate-planning attorney Alice Wood suffered a serious brain injury. It affected her ability to think clearly and harmed her marriage, her law practice, her weight, her life – her entire ability to function. As she recovered, money became a major issue for her and her husband. When she joined Weight Watchers to try to slim down, she realized that its careful, day-by-day approach was an excellent model for a personal financial control program. That’s when she developed Wealth Watchers. In their first year on the program, Wood and her husband cut their expenses by $12,000. She explains her simple, sensible tactics: List each cost, establish a budget and cut back on unnecessary purchases by exercising daily discretion. Her suggestions about saving money, buying insurance, putting aside retirement funds, budgeting for college, and so on, are very practical. getAbstract recommends this excellent book as a useful guide to getting the most out of your budget, husbanding your earnings and managing your money. If you don’t yet have wealth to watch, she tells you how to save so you can accumulate some.

Summary

What Can You Afford to Spend?

People don’t save as they once did. The savings rate for most Americans is close to zero and many people are deeply in debt. If you want to achieve better control of your finances, first you must know how much you spend, both on necessary bills and on discretionary items. This knowledge will help you determine your “daily disposable income” (DDI), a pivotal place to exercise financial planning and control in the “Wealth Watchers” program. This money management approach uses the same philosophy as the popular Weight Watchers diet system. It serves as the little voice that whispers to you to watch what you buy each day. It reminds you that you should always be able to answer the all-important question, “How much money do you really have available to spend?”

Wealth Watchers helps you control the seemingly insignificant daily expenses that can add up to major sums. For example, spending $15 every day on drinks at a bar amounts to $5,475 a year. If you can eliminate or reduce this expense and others like it, you can save a substantial amount of money annually. Research indicates that for most people, happiness comes not from having a certain...

About the Author

Alice Wood, a former estate-planning attorney, heads a financial literacy company she started in 2005. She lives with her husband and children in Naperville, Illinois.

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C. N. 7 years ago

I think this is sensible.
M. B. 9 years ago

Since I'm a Weight Watchers member, this "Wealth" Watcher recipe was very easy to understand and implement. I tried the forumla out and immediately saw ways I could save more money or pay off credit card debt faster. Great "quick" read. Thank you.

Alice Wood