Jason Fieber's "The Dividend Mantra Way" book review

Like the "good guy" in an exciting movie, Jason's the kind of guy that you root for to win.  While I do not know Jason personally, I am an avid reader of his blog, Mr. Free At 33, and had the opportunity to read his new book, "The Dividend Mantra Way: Achieving Financial Independence By Living Below Your Means And Investing In Dividend Growth Stocks".  Simply put, you will learn a hell of a lot in this book even if you think that you already have your investments nailed down.

Like Jason, I am proud to say that I am on track towards financial independence and early retirement.  While I invest heavily in the stock market and do own a wide variety of dividend stocks, I still learned a good deal from this book.  It is always refreshing to hear an experienced investor talk about the very investment strategy that you're using.  Never stop learning.

That is what this book is all about: learning.  In this book, Jason Fieber teaches how dividend investing works and how easy it can be to put your money to work for you.  This is a book that truly does teach you how to make dividend investing successful and worth while for you.

How the book is organized

The book is extremely easy to follow and is divided up into four distinct sections.

The first dives into his challenging personal life.  Growing up as a kid in rough and tumble neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan, Jason had to work for everything he got.  Through personal hardships like his father leaving his family when young, to his mother committing suicide later in life, Jason had every reason to just give up.  The remainder of the book examines the motivation behind not just his investment strategy, but effectively his re-birth as he pushed his way through these struggles into one heck of a smart investor.

Next, he introduces financial independence and what this phenomenon can mean for virtually anybody.  Jason asked what is the bigger sacrifice: living below your means and prioritizing your future self, or living a more "spendy" lifestyle and keeping yourself stuck in an office for most of your life?  You'll probably reflect quite a bit on your own life as you read this section, taking stock of what truly makes you happy.

Then, we get into the meat and potatoes of dividend investing.  Is dividend investing the best option for you and your investment strategy?  After reading this section, you may find that it is - if you enjoy the idea of completely passive income, that is.  Imagine the lifestyle flexibility of living entirely off of investment dividends.  Jason argues that high dividend stocks naturally weed out weaker ones, making your job of picking the right investment opportunities that much easier.

And finally, Jason talks about how to analyze stocks to get the most bang for your buck in the stock market. There are a lot of investment options out there, but Jason clearly follows the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) philosophy, and it has paid off for him.  Can you explain the ins-and-outs of a business to a child?  If so, that stock might be ripe for the picking. Learn how Jason surveys his investment options to ensure long-term growth throughout his investment portfolio.

My thoughts

I love how Jason writes.  It is clear that he writes from the heart and puts everything he's got into both his popular dividend investing web site as well as his book.  This is more than a dividend investing book.  This is a book about life and happiness.  It teaches a down-to-earth approach to investing in the stock market and how easy and rewarding it can be to build a portfolio that works for you, 24 hours a day, and completely hands-off.

Throughout these pages, Jason is careful not to push dividend investing upon his audience.  Instead, this is a relaxing, pressure-free read that introduces dividend investing and talks about how to get this right if you decide to pursue this kind of investment strategy.

Read this book if you are intrigued by the idea of quitting your job and achieving a level of financial independence that lets you completely design your life around YOU, not an office. I can almost guarantee that you will find yourself reflecting upon your life as you read this book, but not negatively.  For me, it was more of an "I can do that!" kind of thing.

And I feel like that is exactly the point of this book.  It talks about the art of the possible.

After all, you only live once.  And as Jason writes, his goal is to "maximize my time on Earth and live life to the best of my ability, no longer engaging in voluntary wage-slavery and exchanging my "one life" for goods and services that have an immaterial net effect on my happiness."

Want to completely maximize your life?  Read this book and find out if dividend investing is your ticket to financial freedom.

The Kindle version of "The Dividend Mantra Way" is available at Amazon.