Review: Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel

Phil Villarreal is one consummate networker – his book Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel: 100 Dirty Little Money-Grubbing Secrets has been all over the personal finance blogosphere for the past couple of months. And he has achieved one mark of a true celebrity – protesters against his “moral decay” at a book signing!

(signs the ladies are carrying from left to right: —PHIL is Gross, MEAN AND just plain wrong!! —Greedy, Cheap and NO Morals!! —Phil—Have you NO Conscious? [sic] —WHAT Goes around…. comes around)

Ah, the sounds of sweet success.

Bottom-line: it’s a fun, sardonic, tongue-in-cheek look into the world of “extreme and over-the-top frugality / stingy scoundrel-ness”.

Phil offers information on

…clothing

• If you’re looking for a book to teach you how to buy stylish clothes for cheap? This is NOT it.
• If you’re looking for a book to teach you how to clothe yourself for free courtesy of credit card companies? This IS it.

…relationships and gift-giving

• If you’re looking for tips on how to buy your girlfriend or husband the perfect present? This is NOT it.
• If you’re looking for tips on how to minimize your gift-giving costs and extricate yourself from an unhappy relationship (and earn the ire of your SO’s friends)? This IS it.

…engagement rings and diamonds

• If you’re looking for information on how to buy a beautiful diamond on a budget? This is NOT it.
• If you’re looking for information how to pass off a cubic zirconia for a beautiful diamond? This IS it. (although if your girlfriend has already read the Stingy Scoundrel, you’re toast. Sorry!)

I’ve actually chatted with Phil for quite some time, and the answer to question: Does he really talk like he writes in Stingy Scoundrel? is Yes, yes he does.

Enjoy!

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