Review: Make It Rain: Increase Your Wealth & Financial Security by Vercie Lark

A successful investor offers personal and professional tips for others to follow in the practical and encouraging financial planning guide, Make It Rain: Increase Your Wealth & Financial Security.

Basing his advice on his own investment strategies, Lark’s book begins by asserting that amassing wealth is part of the American dream. To fulfill that dream, start with education: it’s a proven fact that those with better education earn more money. It’s also true that to amass wealth, one has to have discipline. Set an educational goal and follow through with it by completing high school, college or a trade certification, and always be aware that learning new skills is not something that happens only while in school.

A major emphasis is on the chances not taken. Throughout one’s working life, opportunities will arise to expand one’s abilities, and by refusing these opportunities, a worker may be seen as unwilling to innovate, whereas going for the new training offer will show a more positive attitude and often lead to advancement and higher pay. It’s a fundamental principle, but given Lark’s own success, it carries more authority.

Lark’s book is short but very well organized. In every chapter there are section headings called “Make It Rain.” These are pragmatic tips and generally contain the requirement of goal setting, even repeating one’s goals out loud to grow accustomed to believing in them. There are explanations of net worth, projections for investment amounts and expected gain. Charts and graphs, some of them devised by the author, help readers understand, devise and follow financial plans.

Lark’s advice covers the gamut, including how to buy a car, arrange a mortgage, and plan for the bumps on the road of life such as marriage, baby, children’s education, and unforeseen circumstances such as a wrecked car. Even a low-paid worker can create a budget and follow it with the budget template Lark has provided. He shows how to fully utilize banking services, avoid hidden costs, and understand technical financial terms.

In his one-on-one writing style, Lark reaches out to the reader directly, making one feel constructively challenged and counseled. He humorously advises that any book claiming to help the reader get rich quick, but that does not recount the mistakes that its author made along the way, should be sent back for a refund. He freely admits his own mistakes – once buying into a fraudulent money-making scheme based solely on information provided by a friend, and buying an expensive sports car with his early earnings. In moving from a rather humble maintenance job to the directorship of an investment corporation, he and his wife always planned and lived within their means, yet they were able to double and then exponentially increase their earnings by adhering to Lark’s own simple rules. Lark’s humility and willingness to help makes the book especially helpful, though it may be most useful for those struggling with the fundamentals.

All in all, Make It Rain consists of personal advice delivered in a structured, comprehensible manner that should be of help to anyone at any level of their career. Lark brings the reader into his world in a simple, honest way that makes his methods for accumulating wealth through saving and budgeting seem all the more wise and worthwhile.