There has been a lot of hype surrounding Douglas Andrew’s book, Missed Fortune 101. Many people gushed that it unlocked the secrets to becoming a millionaire, so I went into the book with high hopes. I was pretty disappointed to discover that much of the advice is already well known and let’s face it, a bit on the mundane side. We all know it’s important to have a 401K, but few of us have the potential to turn that into a million dollars.
While the book does serve as a useful guide for those that are just starting out, it kind of defeats the purpose and the target audience. The title itself leads readers to believe it’s written for those of us that are past the starting years and facing the ugly truths of retirement planning. Unless you have absolutely no concept of financial planning, I’m afraid this book will be a bit of a disappointment.
It is well written and the author does have a lot of enthusiasm, which is helpful considering some of the mundane advice that is doled out. Quite honestly, I felt that the author focused far too much on taxation and although I acknowledge that understanding tax law and avoiding overtaxation is important, it’s certainly not going to turn you into a millionaire. You may save a few thousand here or there, but it’s not the silver bullet that the hype built up. That said, there are a few good tips on how to avoid having your savings funds taxed into oblivion, but again, it seems as though the author was missing the point.
My main issue with the book is that it encourages readers to leverage the money from their homes into “special funds.” Finally, it’s revealed that these “special funds” are nothing more than investment grade life insurance policies. Personally, I believe it’s a bad idea to encourage people to endanger their homes with this type of investment, and quite honestly, the returns are not that good to warrant that kind of commitment.
The author encourages readers to build up as much mortgage debt as possible – which may have sounded good at the time, but as the latest news has proven, was really bad advice. Although he did discuss leveraging that into the investments mentioned above, it’s just not a sound enough premise to warrant anyone rushing out to adopt it. In fact, I worry that readers who took this advice to heart may be facing foreclosure right now.
Overall, while the book was well written, it fell horribly, horribly short of its promise. Perhaps if it had a different title, I would have come away with more praise. As it is, the hype is nothing more than that – empty hype that will get you no closer to realizing your dreams of financial independence. In that vein, it’s really not worth your time and there are far better books that cover the basics of dealing with taxes and finding ways to invest your money.
Originally posted 2008-12-07 12:44:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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