Review: Automatic Millionaire Homeowner by David Bach

Yesterday at the library I picked up the book automatic millionaire homeowner by David Bach.

After reading about 60 pages and also having read smart couples finish rich and The automatic millionaire I have to say this book is very similiar to the other two. To me he just puts a different twist on what he wrote in The Automatic Millionaire, and is making more money off this book. I personally really love his books and think he does a great job of laying out the basics of pay bills automatically, avoid the small purchases (he calls the latte factor), saving automatically, and paying down debt. He is a no frill guy that gives you all the standard basics to become wealthy in America. You're probably waiting for the but, or however...well here it is...however, I don't like when authors just rewrite the same material and get richer off of it. I'm personally glad I didn't spend the money to buy this book. I have some videos on my blog of David Bach check them out at Frugal Retirement David Bach Automatic Millionaire Homeowner review

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Suze Orman does the same thing. I browse the bookstores a lot and there are several authors that have multiple twists on the same book: Ric Edelman, Trump, Kiyosaki, Cramer and many others with less books. What I like are the authors that revise the same book, updated for recent times, and re-release it (The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (Tobias), even Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom was updated and is the only one I've read. I've only read one Bach book also. I read both The Millionaire Mind by Stanley (because I had it in my collection from many years ago when I bought it on a whim [hard cover] but never read it) and then I went out and got The Millionaire Next Door. I really enjoyed reading about millionaires, but I only needed to read one book.

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S.Thinker

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I agree. I really like David Bach's books, but they are fairly repetetive. I'm glad I've read them all, but get them from the library if you can.

There are plenty of fiction authors who do it, too.

I used to buy all the books on how to make money in real estate and most offer about the same twist but at that time in my life if nothing else they gave me motivation to go on and try to apply some of the idea's .

Scenario Thinker wrote:

Suze Orman does the same thing. I browse the bookstores a lot and there are several authors that have multiple twists on the same book: Ric Edelman, Trump, Kiyosaki, Cramer and many others with less books. What I like are the authors that revise the same book, updated for recent times, and re-release it (The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (Tobias), even Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom was updated and is the only one I've read. I've only read one Bach book also. I read both The Millionaire Mind by Stanley (because I had it in my collection from many years ago when I bought it on a whim [hard cover] but never read it) and then I went out and got The Millionaire Next Door. I really enjoyed reading about millionaires, but I only needed to read one book.

I agree that it is super annoying when authors write the same book and give it five or six different titles (see anything by Kiyosaki, Orman, Bach). However, that being said, it was helpful for me when I first started reading financial literature to read all the different books because it helped ingrain certain principles without having to read the exact same book over and over again. I like reading a new book by an author like Bach or Masterson instead of reading their original books over again.

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Tyler Christensen, M.Ed
Associate Instructor
Indiana University
www.richonanyincome.com

In reality, the only reason why Bach is a millionaire is because he's an author. Same with Orman and Kawasaki. This is proof as people have done experiments in using the said authors methods and they just don't work. With Kawasaki, 20/20 did an experiment with five people and it just did not work. Aside from Ramsey and self-discipline, nothing else works.

What does Suzie say that different from Ramsey? Aside from not making videos featuring magical Savings accounts with %8 interest. Smile

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DTR

	dtr wrote:
	What does Suzie say that different from Ramsey? Aside from not making videos featuring magical Savings accounts with %8 interest.

At a minimum, Orman likes credit cards. She is a paid FICO mouthpiece, so she puts a lot of emphasis on keeping a high FICO score. Ramsey, on the other hand, pushes a philosophy of no debt (with a guarded exception for a 15 year fixed mortgage that's not more than 25% of your paycheck - and even then, he espouses the "100% downpayment" ideal). Orman also, until recently, didn't emphasize having a liquid emergency fund of 6+ months in savings - she said credit card access was good enough...until the card companies started slashing limits. Finally, she espouses the idea of separate savings and credit accounts for women, in case of divorce. Ramsey characterizes that as Orman hating men.

I think that somewhere in the middle is more realistic. No credit card debt works for me, but I still use CCds for convenience and security (debit cards, for example, are problematic in terms of large holds placed on the account, plus fraud can clear out your cash until the investigation is finished). I also work in an industry where credit checks are routine - so the idea of "no credit score" is NOT the advantage that Ramsey thinks it is. I also agree with Orman, that women SHOULD have their own accounts and credit history. My DH and I have separate finances AND joint accounts, and it works well for us. Ramsey believes that when you're married, all finances should be joint. A little...southern and provincial, to my mind.

Sandi

sandi_k wrote:

	dtr wrote:
	What does Suzie say that different from Ramsey? Aside from not making videos featuring magical Savings accounts with %8 interest.

At a minimum, Orman likes credit cards. She is a paid FICO mouthpiece, so she puts a lot of emphasis on keeping a high FICO score. Ramsey, on the other hand, pushes a philosophy of no debt (with a guarded exception for a 15 year fixed mortgage that's not more than 25% of your paycheck - and even then, he espouses the "100% downpayment" ideal). Orman also, until recently, didn't emphasize having a liquid emergency fund of 6+ months in savings - she said credit card access was good enough...until the card companies started slashing limits. Finally, she espouses the idea of separate savings and credit accounts for women, in case of divorce. Ramsey characterizes that as Orman hating men.

I think that somewhere in the middle is more realistic. No credit card debt works for me, but I still use CCds for convenience and security (debit cards, for example, are problematic in terms of large holds placed on the account, plus fraud can clear out your cash until the investigation is finished). I also work in an industry where credit checks are routine - so the idea of "no credit score" is NOT the advantage that Ramsey thinks it is. I also agree with Orman, that women SHOULD have their own accounts and credit history. My DH and I have separate finances AND joint accounts, and it works well for us. Ramsey believes that when you're married, all finances should be joint. A little...southern and provincial, to my mind.

Sandi

Complete sidenote, what does 'DH' stand for?

Also, I'm a fan of CC's. While I have been dumb in the past and maxed out my credit cards (and they're still way too high at the moment), I know their uses and agree that it's safer than debit cards. I've started a very aggressive plan to repay my debts, and I've learned from my mistakes, but I agree with you on this one - in the middle is best. I have gotten to the point where I don't use my CC's that much at all, but once they are paid off completely I will still probably utilize them with a much stricter budget placed on myself. Paying off cards in full every month is key, IMO.

I believe DH means Dear Husband.

I loved his Automatic Millionaire book, I think it was great.

One thing about his repetitiveness. I find that basics about money managements are fairly similar from book to book. Not because noone writes anything new, but simply because these are true tactics that work. He just puts a different spin on his. Most money management books are the same - pay yourself first, don't spend too much, pay your bills on time. Not exciting, but money topics are usually quite boring.

It's important to read people with different personal finance views both for motivation and to learn new things. I have found with Bach particularly that skimming is the way to go! Bach is verbose and writes a painful number of illustrations. With that said, he makes a good point from time to time. You can get through his material without reading every word. Most of these authors have a certain perspective, so it's necessarily repetitive.

	Ruggy wrote:
	I believe DH means Dear Husband.

Thought it was "Darling Husband", and often used sarcastically. Smile

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DTR

A lot of these authors do repeat alot of things in their books. So after reading two or three of their books, you will most probably get the entire gist of their strategy for building wealth or making money.

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http://sgfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com