Elizabeth Warren wrote a personal finance book in 2005 that mentions 'lighting cigars with Donald Trump'

Elizabeth Warren.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) 2005 financial self-help book didn't just preview elements of her 2020 campaign platform. She unwittingly took a shot at her possible 2020 election opponent, too.

Warren was still working as a professor when she co-authored All Your Worth with her daughter, and, as Bloomberg reported on Friday, much of the advice in it "lines up neatly with her campaign." She discusses keeping the cost of child-care low, for example, and in her campaign, she has released an affordable child-care plan.

But that's not all: There's also a blistering swipe at Donald Trump's then-popular get-rich-quick schemes.

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"We are ... not going to say that if you'll just shift to generic toilet paper and put $5 a week in the bank, all your problems will instantly disappear," the book reads, as Bloomberg reports. “A few pennies here and a few pennies there, and the next thing you know, you'll be debt-free, investment-rich, and lighting cigars with Donald Trump. Nope, we're not selling that brand of snake oil."

The thrust of Warren's book was the idea of spending 50 percent of one's budget on needs, 30 percent on wants, and 20 percent on savings, which Bloomberg writes is still often cited online today. A Warren supporter notes that the Massachusetts senator was prescient in the book as well by "going on about how the banks were taking advantage of everyday people and it's not going to end well." Peering into possible futures, Doctor Strange-style, perhaps, could be one of Warren's many, many plans.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.