Rating: 
Summary: Eight Steps to Seven Figures: the Investment Starategies of
Review: Another in the long line of overly optimistic stock market investing books written close to the top of the overly exhuberant bull market. It's plain to see how little perspective Mr. Carlson or many of his subjects have. Lucent, AT&T, Bristol Myers to name a few have tumbled down from their lofty highs. I wonder how many of these investors are still holding them now. Like "The Millionaire Next Door" which it mimics, it covers only the winning stock investors not investors who tried and failed.
Simplistic advice that one could get anywhere, does anyone really believe that credit card debt is a path to riches. Most like readers already know that saving money is the cornerstone to financial success. These ideas have been recycled over and over. Skinflints and investors will not need this book to tell them that.
What then, should readers read?I suugest anything at all by Roger Lowenstein or better yet get a copy of "Fooled by Randomness". While both are of interest to investors they don't go overboard in selling the virtues of the stock market.
If you are a novice investor or an aspiring one, then this book, assuming you are armed with a healthy dose of independent thought is a decnt place to start especially if you need a little if not short lived motivation.
Rating: 
Summary: worth at least $.../year to read this book
Review: Excellent and easy to read with timeless advise. If you want to get to seven figures it will not be via paycheck, day trading or waiting for the next boom market. With the knowledge you gain form this book, if put to action you will be financially secure in 15 years.
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners, explained simply, great returns
Review: I am a beginner investor and I have read many books and took courses on investing to no avail. When I got this book, it reminded me of all the simple lessons I had been told before, but ignored. That was to start investing now in a 401k, even small amounts instead of nothing and keep investing the same amount (dollar cost averaging)and leave it for 20-30yrs because stocks have shown to average 11% long term, which is the best investment overall.
After showing me how to choose a mutual fund, it gives step by step how and where to divide the percentages in a mutual fund. . After doing this in 2002, these were my results:
2002- -3% (while most people were losing up to 50%!)
2003-45%
2004-12%
I think that explains everything.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding guide for everyone
Review: I have been searching for an investment book, and finally decided to purchase this one. It is definitely well written, and easy to read, even for a 27-year-old beginning investor like myself. The author illustrated his strategies with real-life stories and historic data. This is a book for everyone who understands the joy of delayed gratification, and wants to have financial freedom. Some of its strategies coincide with my own: start investing NOW, establish a goal, buy only stocks and stock mutual funds, invest every month, buy and hold...and hold....and hold..., and take what Uncle Sam gives you. The book also warns you about the common mistakes investors make: acting on a tip/news, trying to time/beat to markets, trading a lot instead of investing, etc. It is very insightful and informative. I consider buying this book one of my best investments.
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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF INVESTING IDEAS
Review: I like to read how the average guy becomes rich investing in ways I can follow. That is the slow and easy way. Not day trading or trying to make a quick buck. Another author who compiled a list of ordinary people who made a great amount of money in stocks is an author named R.Max Bowser. Any reader who reads "Eight Steps To Seven Figures" may want to check out the book, "Penny Stock Winners:True Stories of Successful Investors" by R.Max Bowser. In his book, Mr. Bowser interviews 15 successful individuals who have entered into what he calls microcap investing (buying stock in small companies with great futures). Mr. Bowser has an especially timely chapter on how to prevent being victimized by brokers that sell and later manipulate a company's stock, and provides a list of brokers that have been accused of operating these scams.
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Summary: Can you say Basic?
Review: If you don't know the benefits of a 401K, or don't understand the concept of compounding, then this is the book for you! Otherwise, this book presents "Investing 000.01" -- a very, very basic, and to me, disappointing and repetitious introduction to purchasing stocks. Even then, it talks about great stocks like Lucent, but does warn that stock prices may fluctuate (dive?) over time. I give it 2 stars for being a good intro for Jr. High students.
Rating: 
Summary: There's a word for this.
Review: It's called "post hoc ergo propter hoc," and it's an example of the fallacy of believing that things are the way they are because they're supposed to be this way, when they're really this way only because they can be this way and they don't happen to be any other way.
The fact is, in any population of tens of millions of investors, many will go broke, but many will get rich, due to simple random-walk statistics applied to random fluctuations of the markets.
The best ten bucks you make this year may be the ten you keep by not buying this book.
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Summary: Chuck Carlson -- Excellent Financial Writer
Review: Just finished Chuck Carlson's latest book, "Eight Steps To Seven Figures". Real down-to-earth, common-sense investing strategies, just like Carlson's other books ("The Individual Investor Revolution", "The 60-Second Investor" and "Buying Stocks Without A Broker") and his DRIP Investor newsletter. This guy is the guru for long-term investors. I recently read "The Millionaire Mind" by Thomas J. Stanley. Not nearly as good as Carlson's "Eight Steps....". Carlson gives the reader a lot of practical information on how people make money by investing long-term in stocks. Very interesting and useful stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Chuck Carlson -- Excellent Financial Writer
Review: Just finished Chuck Carlson's latest book, "Eight Steps To Seven Figures". Real down-to-earth, common-sense investing strategies, just like Carlson's other books ("The Individual Investor Revolution", "The 60-Second Investor" and "Buying Stocks Without A Broker") and his DRIP Investor newsletter. This guy is the guru for long-term investors. I recently read "The Millionaire Mind" by Thomas J. Stanley. Not nearly as good as Carlson's "Eight Steps....". Carlson gives the reader a lot of practical information on how people make money by investing long-term in stocks. Very interesting and useful stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Can you say Basic?
Review: My Grandmother gave me this book a few years ago. I finally picked it off my shelf one night when I was bored. I figured I would read only the first chapter, just to get through my boredom. However, I ended up pouring over the book and reading it cover to cover! It is perfect for beginners: very straight-forward and understandable. It gives beginners a guided path through their first savings and investments. There may not be much here for experts, but for those of us just starting out in the world (I'm 24), this book is a great springboard. I'm now reading more advanced financial books, and I give this book credit for initiating me into the world where I strive for "Seven Figures!"
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