From the shelf · 102 money books
Does Financial Freedom hold up?
Financial Freedom (Sabatier) is one of the 102 money books on The Money Shelf. It comes from the shelf’s earlier bookshop lists and the books that make specific claims. The shelf links it to 2 of the 22 claims that the book tests against official records from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Each verdict below comes from that test.
Claim 8 · The book makes this claimSide hustle: start a side business
Not establishedThe survival figures show that 48.5 per cent of the US employer establishments opened in the year to March 2019 no longer had employees in March 2024, and that 61.6 per cent of the UK businesses born in 2019 were no longer active in 2024 (calculated by this audit as 100 minus 51.5 and 100 minus 38.4).
Read the full test →Claim 20 · The book makes this claimThe 4 per cent rule: withdraw about 4 per cent a year in retirement
Holds with conditionsThe 4 per cent rate held for at least 33 years in the American record of 1926 to 1992 that Bengen examined, in charts built on a portfolio with 50 per cent in shares.
Read the full test →One book holds the whole shelf: 22 claims from 102 popular money books, every figure dated, every source named, and the arithmetic worked through for three countries.
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