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.
Rating:
Summary: Smoothing Out Emotions for Relaxed Investors to Earn More
Review: This book is a well-written cross between John Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds and Suze Orman's The Courage to Be Rich. Emotions are the biggest challenge that investors face. Although stocks have always gone up in the long-run historically, it is very gut-wrenching to lose money in sharp bear markets (such as the Nasdaq has been experiencing since March 2000). As a result, many people can't stand it, and sell out at low prices after horrible losses. These same people are often inspired by euphoria at high prices to buy too much. The book seeks to solve this problem by putting you into an investment plan that you can easily follow, spend small amounts of time on, and should give you superior investing rewards compared to most alternatives. The proposal is to put all the money you can into tax-deferred savings, pay yourself with automatic deductions ten percent of your after-tax earnings and invest it monthly on an automatic basis to get cost-averaging benefits, invest the money equally in S&P 500, Russell 2000, and the Morgan Stanley EAFE index funds, and start doing this today. I have two basic problems with the book that caused me to grade it down a little. First, that exact mix of index funds isn't perfect for everyone. If you are fairly near retirement, you should be easing into money markets (see Charles Schwab's new book). If you are quite young, you should probably favor the Russell right now over the other two. Second, we have a market that is heading south very rapidly. By waiting a few weeks, you can probably get a much better deal on stocks. Although normally you should not try to time the market, when you are in the middle of a collapse, I would suggest waiting a bit to start. Many stocks could still fall another 50 percent. Why start out with large losses? So, if you start today, I'd say be heavy on money market funds of government securities. If you have severe psychological hang-ups about money and investing, this book won't be heavy duty enough for you. If you are just open minded and ignorant, this book should be helpful. I really liked the writing style. It is simple, direct, and filled with helpful metaphors. "Investing is a lot like buying a car." "As a consumer, you've got many choices but there's no such thing as the 'best' car for everyone." "[There's] only one that's right for you." " . . . [A] solid investment strategy is every bit as crucial as a car." The book also offers the back-up of a web site where you can get advice from others who are further along with their investing. This can help you feel more confident at times like this when television is blaring bad economic and financial news. The book is enlivened and improved by many quotes from on-line comments and questions by investors. The attitude you are encouraged to develop is one of setting a goal and then being a common sense, do-it-yourselfer in pursuing this through a plan of savings and investing that gives you the portfolio that will succeed. You are reminded that "even millionaires can spend their way into the poorhouse." I thought that the best piece of advice in the book was to "take all the ideas you have about investing and throw them right out the window." Most inexperienced investors have very peculiar and incorrect ideas about investing. Consciously discarding those, while being skeptical, is a good approach as you seek better information. But remember, "your investing plan and your relationships will work only if you're going to stick together through ups and downs, for better and worse." After you review this book, be sure that you do set explicit financial goals that you write out as a first step. Then, be sure you do develop a plan to meet those goals that avoids any unnecessary risk. If you are a new investor, I would still like to see you read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Common Sense on Mutual Funds before you finalize your plans. May you develop the financial resources to meet your goals in a way that is comfortable and pleasant for you!
Rating: 
Summary: "Same old stuff written in an optimistic way"
Review: This book oozed optimism. It contained almost nothing that hadn't been written before. Total common sense when it comes to spending less, saving, and investing in stocks was the body of this book. One thing I learned, and totally agree with is the Armchair Millionaire method of investing 33 1/3% of your total investment in a fund which tracks the S&P 500; 33 1/3% in a fund which tracks the Russell 2000; and, 33 1/3% in a fund tracking large cap foreign stocks. This book is not about getting rich quick, no, far from it. The best audience for a book like this would be people between the ages of 16 and 35, however, anyone could learn and profit by taking advantage of the concepts delivered in its pages. I highly recommend it.
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