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BOOK REVIEW The Last Chance Millionaire: It's Not Too Late to Become Wealthy by Douglas R. Andrew Warner Business Books - June 2007
Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty Douglas Andrew, author of The Last Chance Millionaire, is the perfect person to write a book such as this one. He is the owner and president of Paramount Financial Services and one of America's leading financial experts. What he offers in this excellent work is an alternative to traditional retirement planning, one that may be counterintuitive to many readers (and many financial advisers), but one which he explains and justifies using facts, figures, and many explanatory illustrations. For those of the so-called "baby-boomer" generation, he has both good news and bad news. The bad news is that soon-to-be and future retirees will discover that the Social Security funds they had counted on to provide income through their "golden years" will not be adequate to sustain the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. The good news is that financial alternatives exist which can overcome or displace the bad news, but only if one starts implementing them now, that is, before the day of reckoning is upon one. This is one book I wished I had had in my hands twenty or even ten years ago. I was not a great planner when it came to my future retirement; I just never thought I really would retire and, furthermore, if I did, Social Security would provide adequate income for my needs and wants. Way back when, we were never informed as to the precarious nature of the Social Security system or private pensions. After all, the government took money out of our paychecks every month and "promised" us it would take care of us in our old age. Private companies provided pensions. Well, so much for government promises. Well, so much for companies that went bankrupt. The situation will become critical shortly and the baby-boomers (and, of course, those who are thirty years or more away from retirement) are going to suffer some mighty financial sticker-shock if they don't plan now for their future retirement. It is too late for me to actually benefit personally from the valuable information that the author has to offer. I came into the world in the latter years of the Great Depression, under the influence of a society that had experienced the worst. By the time it was realized that retirement was not going to be what everyone at that time thought it was going to be, it was too late for many of my generation to make the financial plans suggested in this book. I have my Social Security and other income, all my personal possessions paid for and no outstanding debts of consequence, a nice house to live in -- all in all, a comfortable, if not wealthy lifestyle. But this is now. The future is another thing. It is time for the baby-boomer generation and the one coming after it to start planning now before retirement is imminent. There is one thing that Andrew emphasizes that came as a revelation to me. I was raised with the idea that one ought to pay off one's home mortgage as rapidly as possible. That way you weren't paying any more interest to the bank or lending company and no one could repossess your castle (a constant fear at the time in the "middling" classes). "People were so happy when they made the final payment," the author notes, "they would throw a party and burn the mortgage." Yes, I recall a couple of those. Then he continues: "Perhaps you have heard echoes of this from the previous generation." Yes, exactly; my parents were quite emphatic about this. But, says Andrew, "What you don't hear is that once you pay off your mortgage, you won't have mortgage interest to deduct from your income taxes. The result is that you lose a crucial tax break, and you kill your best partner, Uncle Sam." Well, now, a tax deduction? That's something to think about. Moreover, he addresses some other real advantages to having a mortgage, rather than paying it off. Doing it all over again, I certainly would now follow his advice. Andrew dispels some of the common misconceptions that baby-boomers have regarding financial planning and their future retirement. Actually, he discusses ten of them and I have heard some young people talk about a few of them now and then, except they were suffering from one or more of the misconceptions. So, I think, it behooves those planning for their retirement to access their own thinking in regard to the common misconceptions listed by the author. It could make the difference between a merely subsistence retirement income and a really comfortable, even wealthy, retirement lifestyle. In fact, being a "last chance millionaire" could be in anyone's future. And, above all, Andrew argues, "It's not too late to become wealthy"; hence, the subtitle of the book. There is too much detail given in Andrew's work to offer even an outline here in a brief review. One important discussion does stand out, however. The basis for his financial recommendations is called the "Three Marvels of Wealth Accumulation." These three "marvels" are: The Miracle of Compound Interest, the Miracle of Tax-Favored Accumulation, and the Miracle of Positive, Safe Leverage. Each of these is explained in detail and strategies offered in a way that anyone can understand them. And, by the way, this is not a textbook for the financial expert, but a guidebook for the general reader. So no one has to worry about things getting too technical and esoteric. If I, who am not all that literate in professional-level economics, can understand and make sense of what Andrew says, most anyone can. So, if you are a baby-boomer, or even if you are a lot younger than one and retirement seems far off in the future, this is must reading for you. There is no preparation like early preparation. Social Security and pension plans are subject to all sorts of unknowns. Promises made all too easily become promises broken. No one can depend on any outside "guarantee" when it comes to his or her financial future in retirement. Now is the time to plan your own retirement. And Douglas Andrew can definitely help you. It shouldn't be necessary to say this, but I will just to be clear. This is not some sort of "get rich quick" or "golden nest-egg" scheme, but a sober and practical methodology for accumulating wealth over time, written by a professional financial planner. This book is highly recommended because I have no doubt that the strategies suggested will work. And there's no time like now to get started on them. 
Read an Excerpt from this Book Order at Amazon.com The Last Chance Millionaire: It's Not Too Late to Become Wealthy, by Douglas R. Andrew Order at Powell's Books The Last Chance Millionaire: It's Not Too Late to Become Wealthy, by Douglas R. Andrew |
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Enrich your life with a book about politics and current events... |
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