JB-  Let’s start with the name.  Who or what is the Wealthy Barber?

David Chilton-  The Wealthy Barber is a fictional character in Sarnia, Ontario who, over his working life, has done the right things with his money.  It’s nothing dramatic.  I’m the first to admit there’s nothing new and exciting in “The Wealthy Barber”.  It is not full of get rich quick schemes or fancy techniques.  It’s very much the conventional financial planning wisdom: spend less than you make, max your RRSP, pay off your mortgage more quickly, etc.  But I tried to package it and take the intimidation out.  I tried to have the characters in the book ask the questions that the average person wanted answered.  And I thought that would be a good way to facilitate learning.  And I think this is an underrated part of the book, something the media didn’t pick up on much, was I also tried to show people the proper priorities.  Because in the real world, unlike a novel, not everybody can do everything.  They can’t max an RRSP, pay off the mortgage more quickly.  That’s very difficult.  You’re striking balances, you’re making compromises.  And I think one of the things “The Wealthy Barber” did quite well using multiple characters was show- “Here are the basic priorities”, although they can vary a little bit from person to person, and I think having a number of people go visit the barber gave me some opportunity to do that.

JB-  What’s the history of this character?

DC-  I was just saying the other day on stage that people think I’m kidding when I say this, but I got the idea for the Wealthy Barber from Cheers, the television show.  I was working on a book called “The Ultimate Guide to Losing Money” with a humorous look at the mistakes me make with our finances and what we can do to remedy them, etc.  And I watched Cheers one night and I thought, “You know what?  That’s a great way to teach financial planning – put it in a fictional location, something people can relate to, make it conversational, take the intimidation out” - and that’s where the idea for the story format came.  But initially it was called “The Wealthy Bartender” and it was a fictional story about a bartender who had set aside his money properly and over a number of years had become quite well to do.  And now while he dispensed drinks he also dispensed financial advice.  And it’s a setting I think that makes sense for.  But of course the big problem was alcohol.  The book has to be very real to draw the reader in.  And you had to have alcohol involved and that created a host of problems and so I decided to think of another occupation and the barber popped into mind.  Almost as soon as I got it I knew it was a good idea.  I didn’t know it was this good, obviously.  I had no idea it would go on to become what it did.  But I knew it was a good idea.

JB-  Now you mentioned the book is not a get rich quick scheme.  I think that’s what everyone seems to want.  Is it easy to have, let’s call, it wealth?  First of all, how do you describe wealth?

DC-  That’s a tough one.  I think for everybody it means different things.  I’m very, and I don’t mean to sound like a New Age guy, I’m a guy that describes wealth in a more wide-ranging way than most people do.  I think of it as meaning health and good family relationships, etc.  But I think from a financial perspective, I think people who are truly wealthy have as much money as they need to live the lifestyle they want.  And of course that varies dramatically from person to person.  In fact, I’m an interesting example in that I’m almost extreme.  I don’t need as much money as most people to live the lifestyle I want because I’m not a guy that has high-cost tastes, high-cost hobbies.  I don’t enjoy travel, unlike most people, I did so much of it in my career.  And so I’m very much a homebody.  My biggest hobby is reading, which is not too too expensive.  Therefore I probably don’t need as much money as some others who want to spend their lives travelling or collecting fancy cars, etc.  But I think true wealth is when you have enough money to support the lifestyle that you desire.  Is that attainable?  I think for most people it is.  Although it’s relatively simple it’s not easy.  Because it requires the one thing that is in shortest supply in the world and that’s self discipline.  I think we have such an instant gratification-oriented society it’s very difficult for people to say, especially nowadays when credit is so readily available.  I mean, that’s the scariest part of the economy right now from my perspective is the fact that everybody can gain access to money from financial institutions with just a phone call. Interest rates are low and that’s led to huge debt levels and it hasn’t really caught up to people so far because assets have been inflating in value, especially real estate, and the economy stayed relatively robust, and unemployment has stayed relatively low, but you wonder if at some point we’ll pay.