Rating: 
Summary: Book has good info, but is missing in responsible investing
Review: All in the all the information in this book can be helpful. I actully liked the book, but felt it missed it's mark big time. In the first few chapters the author talks about how bad and useless setting up a budget is. Then a few chapters later talks about how to write down how much you spend and where etc... HELLO??? That's a form of budgeting also.The author also talks about dollar cost averaging. However, the method imployed can end up losing you more money. It's ok to put money in a brokerage account to purchase more stocks each moneth. However it is stupid to blindy purchase shares of stock without regard to the price. You always want to buy low and sell high. Not buy high. Technical analysis must be used to time the entry points. This book seemed to be one big advertisement for the authors webiste. He states go online and meet other Armchair Millionares at my website. Well, guess what, you can't meet them you can only read about them. And do go to his website and check out thier current portfolio. It's down 11%. Blindly purchasing stocks without regard to current market directino, can produce this. The only person who is going to become a millionare from this book is the author. And that will be from the sales of his book, not the stock market.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Example of K.I.S.S.--"Keep it simple, stupid"
Review: Besides the fact that the authors manage (I think successfully) to present themselves clearly and in a straightforward manner, I think what's worth appreciating about this book is what's NOT in it: It has none of the typical "my-idea-is-newer-and-better-than-yours" blather that makes up so many investing books these days. Instead, the authors promise to keep it simple and they do just that. It's tempting to want to ask, "what's new in this book." I think what's new is the fact that it's got an easy and proven plan to build a million dollar portfolio. Proven with the author's own money! That's pretty good stuff for a $20 book. The authors show great restraint by not dwelling on the gobs of investing science behind the Armchair Millionaire's Five Steps to Financial Freedom. In fact, there's enough Nobel prize winning research behind their method to choke a horse. They mention it along the way but avoid the temptation to bog you down in it. Instead, they stick to their own self-imposed line and keep it simple. The risk of this is they can be called simplistic. The value, of course, is that they provide all the tools you need--and only those tools--to do-it-yourself. In other words, they'd rather you successfully start your own portfolio than convince you that they are smarter than everyone else. Rare indeed, these days. My recommendation is to give this book to people you care about--People who you want to succeed. There's an old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. This book is the water. It's got everything you need to build financial success for yourself. What you do with the information contained inside is up to you. PS: This is my first book review--I finally felt I could say something that might help someone make a smart decision. Hope you like it!
Rating: 
Summary: Good for Beginners
Review: Chances are, if you follow the advise given in this book, you will accumlate significant wealth in the long-term. I like how the book tells investors to ignore the "talking heads" on CNBC and other financial outlets. Let the herds follow the headlines and as Buffett would say "be greedy when others are fearful." If you can spend less, save more, max your tax-deferred investment options and invest for the long-term, you will have plenty of money to bask in come retirement day.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Beginners
Review: Chances are, if you follow the advise given in this book, you will accumlate significant wealth in the long-term. I like how the book tells investors to ignore the "talking heads" on CNBC and other financial outlets. Let the herds follow the headlines and as Buffett would say "be greedy when others are fearful." If you can spend less, save more, max your tax-deferred investment options and invest for the long-term, you will have plenty of money to bask in come retirement day.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much content as a book, find the same info for free
Review: First, I'll say that this was one of the first 10 investing books I've read as I'm starting the venture to becoming a wise investor. The point of this review is to say that the book is pointless when the same exact info is given free and more concisely on the website with the same name. This book seems to try and fill up pages by adding fluff to a simple concept: invest 1/3 of your long term funds in each of US large cap stock index fund, US small cap stock index fund, and the large cap asian index fund. The rest of the book is really fluff around this. I'd suggest simply visiting the armchair millionaire website to read the same info in a few pages. Also, for the people in other reviews who say the strategy isn't performing well, they are forgetting that this is a LONG TERM strategy, and the reason the funds are currently at -2% return is because the crashes in 2000-2001 are being included. Over the long term, this strategy is considered sound. Thinking short term is entirely opposite to the strategy this book and others suggest. In short, don't buy the book, just read the site.
Rating: 
Summary: Beginners only
Review: I agree with the previous comments of there being nothing new introduced in this book. However, if this is going to be your first book ever on investing, it does offer good advice for the novice investor. Just DO NOT use the strategy they propose to making a million through index funds. Last i checked on their website, since it's inception in 1998, their portfolio has gone down 25.36% for a total loss of abut 31,000$.
Man, if i were them, i'd take down the site. It must pretty embarrassing to write a whole book about it being so easy to make a million through their "proven methods", and lose all that money trying to really prove it.
Rating:
Summary: I think it's an easy way to start investing
Review: I'm a brand-new investor. I don't have a lot of money, either. I first picked up this book because I liked the title. Plus the chair looks really cozy, doesn't it? When I read the inside cover of the book, it sounded like the perfect book for me. I like how easy it is to read. It's funny, too. I also like that it has stories about real people and money. Mostly I like that the plan is really simple. Even though I don't have a lot of money and I don't know a lot about investing yet, I can start using the plan right away. I just need to pay off some little debts first, and the book helped me figure out how to do that too. I live in a rural area so there aren't really any investment classes nearby. Nobody I know ever really talks about money, either. This book helped me learn more without any classes. I will definitely recommend this book to some of my friends who want to learn how to invest, too. I haven't looked at the website yet. I hope it has even more good information.
Rating:
Summary: Right Book, Right Time
Review: I've been reading other investment books and getting bogged down on fancy investing techniques. The Armchair Millionaire came out of nowhere for me and it was definitely the right time to find it. It's straightforward but really smart advice. A friend of mine gave it to me as a gift. She started her own "Armchair Millionaire" plan some time ago and she seems to be doing really well, even in these difficult, volatile markets. I'm putting my five steps to financial freedom into action now and I'm real excited about it.
Rating:
Summary: Really great jump start for new investors
Review: If you're new to investing (like I am), you'll appreciate this book a lot. The authors made sense of a lot of what I've heard about the stock market and mutual funds but never really understood -- things like index funds and why they're better than buying stocks or other kinds of funds. I particularly liked their advice on budgeting (they say it's okay to skip making a household budget because most people won't ever stick to it, like I never did) and how you can overcome human nature and procrastination with things like automatic investment programs. I guess it's true that a lot of the advice in the book isn't new, if you're some kind of investor with years of experience. But the way it's all pulled together really makes it easy to understand for someone like me who hasn't been putting money into the stock market for very long. I also like the way the book brings in all kinds of everyday people with their own tips and advice, not just some expert telling you what to do all the time. These people make it seem possible for anybody to overcome their problems, like how to get out of debt, and get started on the way to becoming a millionaire. When I finished the book, I really felt like I had learned a lot, not only about how I could be investing better, but also why I had been making mistakes in the past and how I could improve. I guess time will tell -- ask me in 20 years when I just might be a millionaire myself!
Rating:
Summary: Great Investing Advice
Review: The Armchair Millionaire gives everyone the advice and support they need to succed in investing. The book shows you the simple things that everyone can do no matter how small their paycheck is to eventually become a millionaire and retire early. There is great advice on what to invest in safely and how to get the most out of your money by avoiding some taxes. Everyone who wants to become a millionaire needs to read this book.
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