personal finance

It seems that anytime a person comes up with a novel idea that really works, there are bashers right behind attacking that person and the advice.

One case in point; President Bush's tax plan has been widely criticised from the start and is gaining ever increasing attacks by certain political parties. But..the fact is that that tax plan is stimulating the economy and certainly a better choice than raising taxes.

Likewise, Robert Allen offers unique advice on how to build and create wealth. It goes against the norm of just save money. Or if you invest, buy just blue chips. Don't be an entrepneur, go to school, get a good education a good job (and a good downsizing too)

Here is another one. Just buy real estate through a broker or agent. If you can't afford a down payment, you can't afford to buy the home so just pay rent and throw your money away.

How about another one. Don't invest in real estate you may get stuck with that property (you might have a nice piece of property that will create financial independence too)

Or, MLM is just a pyramid scheme. Then ask them to explain what a pyramid and you usually get a "I don't know type of look." My usual response is to draw a chart showing the hierarchy and when they say yes, that is a pyramid, I'll say, "Oh you mean like IBM, GM, Colleges, Churches etc.?"

Multiple streams of income will help you achieve just that---multiple streams of income. You can do it with very little money or even without money.

Allen provides multiple ways to create income; internet, real estate, MLM, inforpeneuring, stock market, options, covered calls, discounted mortgages, tax liens and more.

Multiple Streams of Income is a book that is perfect for the times. Certaintly no one really believes that the words job and security go together anymore do they?

Allen provides strategies that have created millionaires and will create many more. I also recommend Nothing Down, Creating Wealth and The One-Minute Millionaire also by Allen.

ASIDE from the overall advice by Allen, his book turned me on to Network Marketing. I am a USANNA Dist and a shareholder. Enjoyed a nice 2,000% gain this year on that stock and a nice residual income while helping other people. I also like the fact that Allen teaches the WIN/WIN Philosophy something these bashers and promoters of baically overhyped.worthless books and products need to learn.

Great book Mr. Allen. I am looking forward to your next foray!

In this book, Mr. Allen gives you an overview of the key principles behind creating more sources of income. He claims to focus on opportunities on a "part-time basis," from "your own home," "using little or none of your own money," "with few or no employees," "using simple, proven systems that really work." In many cases, he describes the success that the most successful one percent will enjoy as though that is what you should expect. In other cases, he encourages you to pursue paths that could cause you to lose lots of money. Be careful!

The section on the benefits of regular investing and compound interest is one of the very best I have seen. It shows how as little as a dollar a day invested can be turned into a million dollars over a lifetime. That is followed by 50 ways to save $50 a month so you'll be able to make these investments.

He then has a good section on the money skills you need: "value" money; "control" money; "save" money; "invest" money; "make" money; "shield" money; and "share" money for worthwhile purposes (your legacy). I agree that each of these areas needs work. I do think that the "control" and "shield" sections are overdone for the average person. They are more an indication of personality that is compulsive than of necessary steps. I have known hundreds of people who have achieved financial security through their own efforts, and none of them to my knowledge employed more than a small amount of what is described in those two sections.

I also liked his "moneytree" concept for what kind of a stream of income you should try to build. I do think he makes it sound much easier than it is. I have personal experience with most of these areas, and I thought that they each took a lot of work, strain, and sweat. I also had to put significant financial resources into them before I was done.

The stock investment section is pretty good until he starts talking about buying calls. Don't do it. His advice on buying indexed, no-load mutual funds is good, but he veers off into encouraging sector funds. Don't do it unless you are very knowledgeable.

I thought the real estate section was good, but he makes it sound easier than it is to handle the human interactions necessary to get the real estate with no money down and to do the renting and fix up. Many people would find it excrutiating to do those things. Someone with a lot of emotional intelligence would find it fun. Don't forget that needed repairs can put quite a dent in your wallet, as can having deadbeat tenants (or no tenants).

The tax lien section is pretty good, and more people should look into that.

I thought the network marketing section was woeful. Yes, celebrities have an easy time with network marketing. Are you a celebrity?

I think that licensing will be too tough for most people, although it was a good idea to have it here. This is more appealing for people who are lawyers.

I wish it were as easy to make money from writing a book as he suggests.

The tax material was decent, if a little light.

Overall, Mr. Allen seems to have a need to show off. He likes to tell about his personal successes. I agree that he is a talented man. And I agree that I am not as talented as he is in these areas. So why should I try to follow his advice? Most things require skill or knowledge to do well. If he looked for things that 90 percent of the people succeed in earning a good income from with limited risk, this would have been a great book. But he keeps wanting to pull rabbits out of a hat, by describing places where a few will make a killing while most will get killed. A good example is the section on building an Internet business.

I do recommend that you read the book. But check out the ideas for their difficulty to implement, and their risk, before choosing ones to do. Generally, simpler, safer, and easier are better. If you did everything he suggests, you would have a very complicated life just taking care of your finances.

Before reading this or any other investment book, I suggest that you think through how your would like to spend your time on achieving and retaining financial security. Then, as you read this and other books, check out the ideas to see how well they coincide with your idea of what you like to do. Reject those that push you in directions that are uncomfortable for you. You probably won't follow through, or will do it badly, or will feel lousy all the time. Money just isn't worth making yourself unhappy for.

Keep money in perspective in terms of your goals for a wonderful life!

While I admire the success of people like the reviewer who precedes mine, network marketing never really appealed to me. I tried it once back in the 70's, had a lousy sponsor who didn't teach me beans and the company I was in loaded me and other distributors with soaps, shampoo's and so on.

That said, what I like about Robert Allen's book is that he recommends network marketing as a choice but also recommends other ways to create residual income, that are low risk and low cost.

I highly recommend this book by Mr. Allen. It's great.