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: 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.
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.
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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!"
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad but...
Review: Not great, either. Some of the advice will be sound for some readers but NOT ALL and some of the information useful to most readers. This is a book for investors of below-average knowledge but useful to remind the reader that there are ways to screw up your finances that are not financial, per se.
Still, an interesting read but this shouldn't be the only book on managing your finances and investing that you read.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: One hundred and seventy millionaires can't be wrong, can they? Probably not. That's why you should pay close attention to the simple wisdom of Charles B. Carlson's book, which analyzes the investment habits of 170 members of the seven-figure club. The results: Millionaire investors buy fundamentally strong stocks, pay little attention to market timing, never trade on news and maintain a dedicated buy-and-hold philosophy. Carlson straightforwardly presents these financial principles for a financially unsophisticated audience, complete with lists of organizations and companies to contact for further investment information. Profiles and examples of successful investors like Warren Buffett will keep you hooked, even if you tend to nod off at the first mention of a PE ratio. We [...] strongly recommend this book for its unintimidating style and logical methodology.
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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF INVESTING IDEAS
Review: Since this book has Enron's phone number in the appendix, I thought I'd share my views on some of the points raised in this book. 1) I have NEVER been a fan of 401K. As the Enron employees found out, they are not a fail-safe investment. You don't have any say-so in the stock selection or even choose if you want a load or no-load fund to put your money in. And it is apparently very easy for the company to make off with your funds leaving you very little recourse. 2) I would advise the reader not to pay all that much attention to the recommended "must-have" stocks, even though he only had one or two real losers in the bunch (Lucent, Tribune). I believe it would be more effective if maybe sectors were chosen, then use Carlson's advice on how to choose your favorite stocks wisely. Carlson says to know your strengths and weaknesses and interests as an investor and invest either in index funds or individual stocks, or some combination of both, so I go along with the need for personal interest, or buying from companies whose products you actually use yourself. He lists entertainment/media, health care, information services, financial services, retailing, consumer products/services, technology, telecommunications, and energy (thank goodness, he didn't recommend Enron here). I think I would add the transportation sector, but for some reason that one isn't discussed. And I wish I had chosen an index fund instead of my Strong funds. Luckily I did not invest all my eggs in that basket. 4) I really hate the "limit shocks to your finances" chapter. I couldn't believe there was a chapter that suggested one avoided having children or taking care of one's elderly parents. What's wrong with this picture? Job-hopping and divorce are also considered shocks to the seven-figure dream. On the other hand, these things are a pretty good shock to the five-figure income, as well! I also believe that higher education is a financial pit worth avoiding unless you absolutely need it. I know too many people with an expensive piece of paper on the wall and not using it. Carlson feels that education levels correlate strongly with future earnings. I believe future earnings depend upon whom you know at the company you work at, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that point! I guess the real problem I have with parts of this book is not only a post-Enron attitude but a post- 911 attitude as well. At the time I bought this book, I certainly wanted to find out how to make more money than I was. However, these days being a millionaire just isn't a goal for me. Being healthy, happy, and loved are better goals for me, I think. When a book comes out with a title something like "Eight Steps to Six Figures, And Being Happy With What You Have Afterwards", I think I'd rather buy that one instead. In the meantime, I can't say this book wasn't informative for me, and if I HAD to pick a stock, I believe I can now do so with confidence. But I really think I'll put my book up for sale!
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