The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich

Rating:
Summary: Good, sensible advice
Review: The advice by David Bach may not be new, but how many people are applying it? Pay yourself first was originally covered in the classic Richest Man in Bablyon and the late Charles Givens beat it to death in his classic More Wealth Without Risk. Most people have heard about it, but again I ask, how many people are actually doing it?If you are not taking at least 10% of your paycheck and paying yourself first then you are cheating yourself.Think about it; we pay our mortgage, phone bill, telephone bill, light bill, garbage bill, credit card bill, groceries, entertainment etc. but the last person that gets paid is ourselves.Bad strategy.I also agree that most people are not taking maximum advantage of their companies 401 (k) plan and/or IRA. I know people that tell me all the time that they cannot invest in a 401 (k) or IRA but I find these same people are livin examples of what Bach talks about in his book. People who always eat out. Waste money on bottled water, coffee, donuts, cell phones, extra, unneccessary clothes and so on but have no savings, no 401 (k) and nor IRA.Bad strategy.The biweekly mortgage concept is also a great way to pay off your mortgage 5 years earlier with the same amount of money. As Bach explains, this could save you $25,000 or more. People are getting ripped off with credit card debt and the banks are certaintly no help. As Bach tells us, miss just one payment and late fees are added in and your interest rate jumps up ensuring that you will never get out of debt. Exactly what the banks want. Bach recommends making extra payments on your cards which I agree with. He also recommends cutting up your credit cards which I don't totally agree with, unless the person is just totally out of control.Lastly, Bach does recommend mutual funds as the safest way for the average investor to invest. I agree here too. The average investor has no business playing the stock market. The only thing I would suggest is to pick up a copy of Charles Givens book More Wealth Without Risk. Givens teaches a strategy called "the money movement strategy" which has you in the best investments per the economy. For example, following Given's advice you would have been out of stock funds in 2000 and not suffered the huge losses that so many other "buy and hold" investors did but into other investments that went up by 20%-40% per year from 2000 through 2003.It's true that Bach offers no "no money down" ways to buy real estate. That is not his goal here. I would suggest Robert Allen's book "Nothing Down" if that is your goal.Overall, Automatic Millionaire is a great book for anyone interested in adding to their wealth. If these concepts soud familiar, let me ask you a question: how are you doing with them? Sometimes the best advice is just a reminder of what we already know.Good book. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: commonsense kickstart
Review: The author states clearly and MANY times that the information held within is nothing new, it is COMMON knowledge that almost everyone knows about, but fails to 'get around to implimenting'. (which makes half of the negative posts about the book moot).

Everyone knows that 401ks are important, that owning a home is better than renting, that credit card debt is bad, that the 7 dollars spent on that pack of cigs could be better spent [into your future], that money just rots in a bank savings acct earning next to no interest [where a mutual fund may be a better option]........but how many people you know actually USE this commonsense knowledge they claim to have hold of?

I cant tell you how many people I work with that are not enrolled in our companies 401k, and if they are, how many of those that do not contribute enough to get the max company match [not fully understanding they are turning away free money]. Every smoker i know knows it's bad for you, and that they are upset with the recent increase....but they continue to purchase that pack tonight and are always going to quit tomorrow. Every renter, including me until last year, tosses money out the window while trying to save that big nest for the down payment (instead of looking into other options). Almost everyone I know, still uses their credit cards, while making the minimal payments on it.....

you see, just because things are commonsense, doesnt mean they are always [and rarely are] practiced.

This book tries to offer insipriation through stories and basic advise to get people proactive in their financial futures.

Bach also offers basic information about companies that handle setting up IRA's, mortgages, mutual funds, credit card debt advise as well as lots of [free] goodies on his own web site.

I gave this book 5 stars because bach never claims that this book is something it is not. If nothing else, it offers you that kickstart needed to get off your duff and start to enroll in an automated financial future....and the topics he does not cover in depth, are merely a google search away.

...
Just to address the post that claims the bi-monthly mortgage payments is an illusion. Bach states to make sure you ask if the paying company truely makes 2 monthly payments or holds onto your money and makes only one...if the latter is the case, you do not go with them. He also, how ironic, offers the same alternative that you do....to make one extra payment a year on the mortgage. He even offers a 3rd alternative to avoid the fees, to just add 10% of your monthly payment, onto your monthly payment, which over the year, will also add up to one extra payment a month. The reason he states that it is worth paying the fees to have a 3rd party company do this for you, is that once it is set(AUTOMATED as he puts it), it is done. for good. Now you cannot make any excuses as to why you cannot make that extra payment a month. He goes on to say that in all the years he has been a financial advisor, there has only been ONE person that was disciplined enough to manually write that extra check a month for a prolonged period of time.....everyone else usually does it for a little bit, but then starts to come up with excuses as to where that money could be used. If its automated, there is no chance of this happening. The fees assessed for the setup/transactions are so miniscule compared to the savings over the course of the entire mortgage that it barely warrants mentioning.




Rating:
Summary: There are better books even for beginners
Review: This book has almost no substance. Anybody can give an advice, start investing in 401K, IRA etc but what abt the real questions like what mutual funds, what cap, fees, tax are not addressed at all. I think Suze Orman's books are much better for beginners.

Rating:
Summary: IS THAT A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, OR . . . .
Review: This book, like David Bach's new book is full of good ideas and advice. But the light at the end of the financial tunnel portrayed is in fact an oncoming train - The critical piece of the picture that is missing concerns the nearly 100 million strong baby-boomer demographic tidal wave. In just a few years, it is going to absolutely unavoidably plunge us into the greatest depression in our history, upsetting everyone's best laid "millionaire" plans. Such an event will undercut all efforts to reach financial nervana by those who don't know this catastrophic depression is coming. By all means read and take the advice of David Bach in this book, but for heaven's sake also buy and read The Great Bust Ahead by Dan Arnold (www.thegreatbustahead.com) to get a shocking reality check on the bigger picture. For those who are worried about social security and Medicare, they will hardly give them a thought after reading The Great Bust Ahead, which hits us years before and dwarfs these two crises. But, of course you'll safely be a millionaire by then!


Rating:
Summary: Here's what I thought about it all....
Review: This is a book that gives good, commonsense advice on managing your finances so that there will be plenty of money left at the end of the road. While the advice may seem simplistic, you will be much more financially secure for sure if you have the discipline to carry it out. A fun read, I give it five stars easy. Other self-help books I like include "The No-Beach, No-Zone, No-Nonsense Weight Loss Plan, A Pocket Guide To What Works."


Rating:
Summary: Automatic Millionaire hits #1 at Amazon!
Review: Without a doubt, Automatic Millionaire is prooving to be the best selling financial book in America...and for good reason--IT WORKS!If you haven't read this great book yet, by all means do and take another lesson from Bach by ordering it from Amazon and save some $$$$.Great book. Let's keep it #1 and let's help make a stronger America by stamping out financial ignorance.This book is needed badly. Tell your friends about it.How many of your friends could benefit with a bi-weekly mortgage? That strategy alone could easily save $25,000 in mortgage payments!Get this book and let everybody know about it.