Post: #1

This is a book I picked up recently from the library. It's a quick read at 341 pages.

Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen

For those new to trying to build wealth, this would be a good book to start off with. And for those that have already started to build wealth and have not yet read this book or any works by Mr. Allen, I do think it is worth a read, especially if you can get it cheap (or free!).

He uses a simple system he calls "Streams and Leaks". Imagine a mountain(s), where money flows into the "reservoir of life". While most people have one stream or main source, the best way to have overflowing properity is to have multiple streams of income and plug leaks (taxes, shelter, insurance, entertainment, etc).

"There are three great financial-freedom mountains":
Real Estate - Find, Fund, Farm
Investment - Screening and filtering, Timing in, Timing Out
Marketing - Targeting, Baiting, Lifetiming

His stock market chapter was decent but I've certainly read better elsewhere. Nonetheless, a decent introduction for those entirely unfamiliar:
Invest for long-term, buy an index fund and buy it now.
He closes the chapter with the following: "You've probably heard all of this before. But have you done anything about it? Stop reading right now. Pick up the phone and call one of the index funds listed... Don't even wait to finish reading this sentence. Stop and do it now."
In the following couple of chapters he goes over more aggressive strageies: Enhanced index funds, Sector funds, Covered calls.

NOTE: The author gives several examples of success throughout the book, and while I don't believe any of them are entirely false, he doesn't make any effort in preventing the reader from becoming overly optimistic. Many people have tried his tactics and failed miserably although he never mentions these cases.

Real Estate: Find Motivated Sellers and get a bargain (Divorce, Poor management, Moving, Debts, Time constraints)
He's become famous for his preaching of zero-down real estate investing. While plausible, it would require a person to be highly emotionally intelligent and persistent. I imagine very few of his followers execute this properly and are successful.

The following "Stream" is one I've never heard of. It seems too good to be true and he doesn't delve much into the disadvantages of going through the process and how exactly it resolves.
"Americas's Best-Kept Investment Secret!": 18-50% interest.
Tax Lien Certificate: Pay for someone else's property taxes. The government charges high penalties upon the owners who are overdue on their taxes, and this is passed to the Tax Lien Certificate buyer.

Chapters 12-15 Go quite in-depth into the various forms of Marketing and how it can create a fortune. I personally am not much into this potential "stream" and so just skimmed through it. He simply overstated the likelihood of success for this area; most people that make risks to enter this industry are sure to be crushed by the global competition.

A few of the better tips in his final chapter: Focus on critical tasks and delegate trivial tasks, create a Power list rather than a to-do list, where you literally draw a line to distinguish the more important tasks from others, use positive reinforcement for yourself, and balance (Being, Brain, Body, Time, People, Money).

Post: #2

Thanks for the overview