Review: I wanted to give this a 5 star rating, but...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 13, 2014
First off, I was a little put off by the CONSTANT hawking of her other sites. In the back of the book, she lists many resources, but doesn't have active links to them. I KNOW the author knows how to do this, as she did it about 100 times to provide links to her art website and her liverichsavemoney.com site! Why not do it for the resources and save the reader some time and effort?I felt the first half of the book was pretty basic. I had to chuckle to myself reading her comment, "The margin of profit in a dental business is very small." Hmmmm...I don't see many dentists' wives working, and I see even less dentists having to drive a cab at night to get by, but I'll let it pass.Next was the TERRIBLE advice about renter's insurance. Most renters do not understand that if they burn the joint down, they can be held financially responsible. Renter's insurance is cheap, Cheap, CHEAP! No landlord's insurance coverage covers the tenant, and every lease I have ever seen -- and I have seen HUNDREDS of them -- EVER covered the tenant.Next was the warning that many products have advertising that is misleading or downright false. However, not one product that used such advertising was mentioned. If you can't show me proof, your statement is quite suspect, and is opinion rather than fact. FTC regulations prohibit deceptive advertising and fake testimonials. Again, her accusations are unsubstantiated.I was still was leaning toward a five star rating after reading the tips for older Americans...until I got to the section regarding Annuities. It was full of misinformation and just plain outright lies. I should have had fair warning, as she simply GUSHED over mutual funds. Here is some of the TERRIBLE information and statements (or more accurately, mis-statements) about Annuities:1. "The cost to purchase can be very high to puchase an annuity." This is a lie.2. "Mutual fund costs are much less." I won't call it a lie, let's say it is inaccurate.3. The author states, "...I will not delve into the details of annuities, but will advise you to do a thorough independent research of any you would consider investing in BEFORE you invest." This is good advice, but why page after page AFTER PAGE of blather about mutual funds. Definite bias here.4. "Bear in mind that withdrawals of taxable amounts from an annuity are subject to ordinary income tax, and, if taken before age 59.5, may be subject to a 10% IRS penalty." HUH!? If you take the allowed 10% withdrawal you are taking your princiapal and it is not taxable. And there certainly is NO IRS 10% PENALTY if taken before age 59.5 UNLESS the Annuity is held as part of an IRA! Dear Doctor, if you don't know what you are talking about, don't talk about it!5. "Annuities also come with large annual charges not found in most mutual funds." Total bullpucky! Annuities do not have annual fees. Mutual funds not only have fees, but you can be hit with a taxable distribution even if your fund LOST MONEY!6. Then she goes on about the HUGE COMMISSIONS Annuity salespeople make. I don't know about "huge" but yes, they get paid. Just like an investment specialist that sells you a mutual fund gets paid. Everyone gets paid.Here's the facts:1. Annuities protect your principle...you cannot lose money in a fixed annuity. If the market goes down, ask your broker if they will guarantee your principle. I'll save you some time: NO WAY!2.If you invest 10,000 dollars, your ENTIRE $10,000 goes to work for you immediately. There are no "fees"...PERIOD! The only "fee" you would encounter would be if you took the money before the end of the contract...and that fee can be completely avoided by not taking the money out early. IF you take money of of a CD early you pay a 10% penalty, but the author doesn't rag on those!I am going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and NOT call her a barefaced liar. But seeing that at the end of the book she said that she "...at one point got an investment license, [she is] pretty well versed in my preferred investment of mutual funds," I can now understand her bias against Annuities.Finally, I have been in commission sales for many years. Her garbage about "unruly commissions" and her insinuation that it is "...the nature of commissioned sales people and that if they don't make a sale they don't get a commission, and in some cases that means they can't buy groceries that month." I resent her thinly veiled accusation that commissioned salespeople are shady and untruthful. In fact, most of her description of commissioned sales people was derogatory and insulting.This takes a lot of stones, Dr. You were a commissioned sales person at one time as well. Let me ask you......how many of your customers did YOU lie to? Offended? You should be. Just as I was.Since I have pointed out the negatives, it would be unfair of me not to mention the positives. Her information about unbrella policies was very good. Her warning about reverse mortgages was justified, if perhaps a little exaggerated in spots. Her advice about school loans was excellent.Read the book if you can get it for free. Or 99 cents. Or have someone loan it to you. Or borrow it on Amazon Prime. Use her information as a basis, but not the gospel truth. You'll still want to do your own research, as hers is heavily biased. Basically sound advice but flawed in places.