Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic
Review: Amazing, I can't believe anyone would give it less than 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: The Financial Freedom Number is worth a star
Review: Firstly, I would like to say that I'm a Van Tharp fan. I read his "Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom" at least 15 times. I think that book and Marcel Link's "High Probability Trading" are the best books written about trading in a long time. I rated both as 5 stars.There are good things and bad things about this book. The good things: The Financial Freedom Number Concept alone is worth the price of the book and 1 of the stars. It was quite a revelation that you become financially free when your monthly passive income exceed your monthly expenses. The other good things about this book are that there are strategies that work in up, down and sideways markets. The system expectancy and risk control methods are included (but I already read them in his other 2 books). The down side is that there is too much advertising and it's damn irritating. I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a Wade Cook book. Van, if you have to put in all the advertising, at least have the decency to put in all in the appendix and not all over the book. I deducted 2 stars from the rating to show my disapproval!
Rating:
Summary: The Financial Freedom Number Concept alone is worth a star
Review: Firstly, I would like to state that I'm a Van Tharp fan. I read his "Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom" at least 15 times. I think that book and Marcel Link's "High Probability Trading" are the best books written about trading in a long time. I rated both as 5 stars. There are good things and bad things about this book. The good things: The Financial Freedom Number Concept alone is worth the price of the book and 1 of the stars. It was quite a revelation that you become financially free when your monthly passive income exceed your monthly expenses. It may be a blinding flash of the obvious, but most people don't realize it until someone points out that fact. The other good things about this book are that there are strategies that work in up, down and sideways markets. The system expectancy and risk control methods are included (but I already read them in his other 2 books). The bad things: The down side is that there is too much damn advertising and it's damn irritating. I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a "Wade Cook" book. I deducted 2 stars from the rating to show my disapproval!!! Van K. Tharp, you DA MAN!!! But if you write another book, can you just please just write new material and leave out the marbles game thing, and the expectancy thing, and the position sizing thing? You already wrote them in your other 3 books. And if you have to put in all the damn advertising, at least have the decency to put in all in the appendix and not all over the book. Thanks.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book, logical strategies that helped me
Review: I day trade stocks, have traded options, futures, commodities, you name it. I continually search for the holy grail of books to "enlighten" me with wisedom. I found the strategies in this book to be logical and and useful in my trading habit. Tharp has excellent ideas on position sizing, risk management, and market analysis. The chapters on Real Estate and the "Trade Simulator" that you can purchase were not of interest to me. This simulator is (I'm looking for a nicer word than "hokey"). Overall, the book was definitely worth what I paid for it. It wasn't the holy grail but had some excellent information and ideas I haven't seen before.
Rating: 
Summary: What A Disappointment
Review: I gave it an extra star because at least Van Tharp tries to offer some real investment alternatives; unlike every other fluff-ball financial planning book.
Unfortunately, most of the investments he offers are filled with landmines that have ruined many experienced & educated investors. When he discusses investments, he doesn't talk much about downside risk, except by ending chapters with "do your due diligence".
The passive investment Tharp recommends most often is real estate (with some incredible return claims). And he points to his seminar buddy John Burley as the trainer you should use. I just received a flyer today hyping John's latest Boot Camp, and it costs $6,000. Maybe he's a great teacher, but his brochure has all the traits of a sleazy scammer.
Tharp spends a lot of time telling you how to predict the inflation rate, or whether the U.S. dollar is going up or down. If Tharp, or any of his students could do this - they would easily be trillionaires, but he can't point to any. Throughout the book, I kept wanting to see "Where is the proof?" Just claiming that you have a backtested model is NOT proof, and only a fool would invest based on this (every beginning trader knows this and Tharp claims he's an expert?). Tharp's evidence comes from the other authors. But they are newsletter writers that make a living selling newsletters - not from their trading profits!
Rather than go into many more examples of his vague "successfully redeploying assets", I'll just say that: since Tharp describes himself as The Leader in investment psychology (and coaches the best investors) - I expected real substance. If you buy this book, you are only paying for Van Tharp's Financial Freedom.
I also spent $100 for Tharp's accompaning software thinking that maybe all the 'huge return examples' alluded to in the book was in his "upsell" product. Wrong. You input your financial information and it adds it up and displays a graphic showing your income & expenses each month. But I already knew these numbers - I was the one that input them!! If you click on the discussions it basically repeats vague stuff from the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Questionable Strategies for Your Financial Future
Review: I've gotten at least some tiny bits of wisdom out of every book I've ever read...even books I pick up for a dollar at the Goodwill store. This book is no exception...I got some tiny bits of wisdom out of it and it will end up in the Goodwill store priced at a dollar. The very best scams always have elements of truth in them. There are a few...precious few...worthwhile ideas in this book that the authors gratuitously tossed in. But more often than not, the authors focused on describing the pitfalls of attempting various investment strategies on your own. Then the authors slyly suggest that you go to one of their websites and subscribe to their newsletter/system/secret formula, etc. These newsletters/systems/secret formulae are expensive and will guarantee financial freedom for the authors, but probably not for you. I have no quarrel with business people using whatever schemes they choose to lure in customers. Unfortunately for me, I foolishly assumed that book authors would be above using a book as their lure. I'll be far more careful in the future. This book should have been titled. "Read This Book, Then Subscribe to our Expensive Newsletters/Seminars/Tapes, etc. to Learn More About Investment Strategies That Occasionally Worked in the Past, and May Work in the Future." Look for my copy in Goodwill.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, logical strategies that helped me
Review: Safe strategies is the best book every written relating to financial freedom. The authors do a fantastic job of taking the complex macro world of finance and simplifying it into very simple and easy to apply models. These simple models only require about 20 minutes a week of your time for you to know which strategies / markets to be getting into, or staying with or avoiding. And the bonus is that they also provide you with clear cut and simple guidelines on how to implement the appropriate strategy given the current financial climate. The books' genius is in it's simplicity, everything is spelled out in plain english and the referred resources are fantastic tools for mentoring you towards your objectives. The authors have just done so much groundwork for you, in all the investing arenas, be that bonds, stocks, realestate, cash or commodities or mutual/hedge funds. And the real kicker is that it doesn't matter whether the Dow is going up or down, there is always something you can do to further your progress towards your financial freedom goals. This book is the best book ever written in the financial genre, though I suspect that it won't be widely acknowledged for another decade or so. I believe that money flows towards integrity, freedom and responsibility. This books reeks of those three qualities. I found my financial freedom four years ago (age 29) after spending my 20's learning what this book can teach you in a few weeks. This book can take your journey of learning from decades to months. Do your self a favour ... committ to safe strategies.
Rating:
Summary: The next classic in financial literature
Review: Safe strategies is the best book every written relating to financial freedom. The authors do a fantastic job of taking the complex macro world of finance and simplifying it into very simple and easy to apply models. These simple models only require about 20 minutes a week of your time for you to know which strategies / markets to be getting into, or staying with or avoiding. And the bonus is that they also provide you with clear cut and simple guidelines on how to implement the appropriate strategy given the current financial climate. The books' genius is in it's simplicity, everything is spelled out in plain english and the referred resources are fantastic tools for mentoring you towards your objectives. The authors have just done so much groundwork for you, in all the investing arenas, be that bonds, stocks, realestate, cash or commodities or mutual/hedge funds. And the real kicker is that it doesn't matter whether the Dow is going up or down, there is always something you can do to further your progress towards your financial freedom goals. This book is the best book ever written in the financial genre, though I suspect that it won't be widely acknowledged for another decade or so. I believe that money flows towards integrity, freedom and responsibility. This books reeks of those three qualities. I found my financial freedom four years ago (age 29) after spending my 20's learning what this book can teach you in a few weeks. This book can take your journey of learning from decades to months. Do your self a favour ... committ to safe strategies.
Rating:
Summary: Between 4 and 5 stars
Review: This book is completely different to Tharp's usual genre. Rather than being based just around trading and systems, this book stretches much further into financial freedom principles and is much more detailed about various strategies that are available to invest in - especially if the market happens to turn sour once again. It's better to understand what is going on in the markets and take the necessary steps earlier rather than later. I have been studying investing for a number of years now and although I wanted to take short cuts and learn everything from each guru book that I read - I realised that there is a lot of study and patience required if you want to invest wisely. With the plethora of information bombarding us everyday it's hard to know who to trust. As a client, I have met Van, DR and Steve and feel that they are all men of integrity. I was happy with some of the new ideas that I learnt from this book because it provides the reader with alternatives and different things to consider, as well as giving plenty of resources and additional follow up information if you want to pursue any of the avenues that they suggest.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT! A must have for those wanting financial freedom!
Review: This book provides you with the basics you need to develop your own path to financial freedom. Prior to presentation of any strategies, there are worksheets and exercises for your own financial evaluation. This in itself was a big eye opener. In addition to the concepts of financial freedom, the authors do a fantastic job in presenting the reader with many options to acquire your financial freedom; from stock market (including Mutual Funds) strategies, to Real Estate strategies, and more. Each chapter ends with a series of action steps for you to perform to get you moving on your own safe path to Financial Freedom. The examples given in the book illustrate the needed information to evaluate any particular strategy. It is then up to the reader to act upon their selected path. A must have for those who want to take control of their financial future!
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