Customer Reviews

Becoming a Millionaire God's Way

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

"Becoming a Millionaire God's Way" is an interesting book that takes on the assumption that Christians are to be poor. Author Thomas Anderson (NOT Robert Kiyosaki) examines the assumption and breaks it down through inspection of scripture.

I found Anderson to have some insightful thoughts regarding some of the famous money passages such as the "Camel and the Eye of the Needle" and the "Deny Yourself" passages. By inspecting the context of each of those passages, Anderson shows that the destiny for every Christian is to live an abundant life. And while that is our destiny, we must take the journey ourselves to receive that gift.

Here is where the trail goes cold. Anderson offers some good advice regarding what needs to be done to become prosperous financially, but offers no real specific practical advice other than making a budget and balancing your checkbook. I also would have liked to seen Anderson state where you can start your financial education journey (such as how to find out what type of investor you are, where to go to get more information about investments, etc) but really the reader is left to figure it out for themselves.

This is a great book for churches to help dispel the myth that Christians must live in poverty in order to be a "good" Christian. It does a fantastic job to show supporting scripture that Christians are to live a prosperous life. However, there is little to no specific advice regarding what to do after coming to that conclusion other than "learning more". I would recommend this book if you want to find out more about what the Bible has to say about financial prosperity, but not if you actually want to learn about investing. 3 out of 5 stars.

This book was ok. It wasn't terrible nor was it great. It's basically saying that God wants us to be wealthy and multiply. The author supports this thought with biblical scriptures. What I got out of the book:

1. You should know what you're worth--the equity in your home, all your assets, etc to determine your net worth.

2. You should read books on investing, become adept in basic accounting and taxes. Learn about book keeping and buying stocks. Buy low, sell high. Invest 10% of your income. Buy property that increases in value. Buy the cheapest house in the richest neighbourhood. When you buy a home, by the fifth year your house peaks in price, so this is the best time to sell.

3. You must tithe as well as give an offering.

4. Stop buying liabilities.

5. You must have discipline and focus in whatever you do

6. Read the book of Proverbs daily

7. Have a good work ethic. Don't be a quitter.

Contrary to what some people may think, this book is NOT just another "name it, claim it" book from a prosperity preacher. Dr. Anderson does far more than simply hype you up; but he truly gives you practical and easy to integrate strategies. More important is the fact that he establishes a firm foundation for the biblical reasons for obtaining great wealth - hence the "...God's Way" in the title. Even if you think all that "prosperity stuff" is not for you, I encourage you to read this book. It is one of the few I've seen with the scriptural backing and common sense logic that might just change your mind.

I thought this book was excellent and of much use to me. I was one of those brought up with the "Poverty Mentality" but the closer and more dedicated I became to the Lord the more I understood his deep love for his children and his desire for us all to succeed. Although I do not agree 100% with everything the author writes, this book is full of sound advice bought into a Biblical perspective. If you are struggling with your desire to have financial abundance then I would highly recommended your reading this book.

Dr. Anderson is the founder and senior pastor of The Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona. His premise for this book is "Getting Money to You, Not from You." He refutes that Christian's should be poor, that God actually wants us to be wealthy so that we can sufficiently tithe to our church and minister to those that are less fortunate.

Anderson grew up in a financially struggling family in Loretta, Wisconsin. Sharing his biblical principals that raised him out of poverty and made him successful is the driving force in his ministry. He addresses attitude, the reader's relationship with God and quotes numerous passages from the Old and New Testament, offering his own spin on what he believes God wants for us.

In his Introduction he lays the foundation for the book, which is moving enough to keep you reading. He states, "For the promises of God to be effective in your life, changes need to happen inside of you. Rich Dad Poor Dad addressed the differences in perception between the rich and the poor. Becoming a Millionaire God's Way addresses the same problem of perception as it relates to the church." Anderson is a powerful, succinct writer with a captivating style.

There are so many powerful statements in this book that you'll be thinking about his ideas for a long time after reading the book. You'll find yourself earmarking pages to re-read. For example, Anderson says, "We can choose to ignore money because we think it is spiritual to do so or we can choose to accumulate wealth just for our own comfort.

Either attitude will prevent us from gaining the kind of wealth that God intends."

Armchair Interviews says: A powerful book for Christians and non-Christians alike. A thought-provoking book that helps you take a good hard look at your own desires regarding financial wealth.

I doubt that buying this book will make you a millionaire, but it will probably not hurt the finances of Dr. Anderson. His goal is to make a quick buck by saying what he thinks you want to hear.

Anderson's goal is not to follow Jesus' teachings, but to explain them away. Jesus said you cannot serve both God and Mammon. Anderson's idea is that since God actually wants you to serve Mammon, there is really no contradiction.

The rich have long been understandably uncomfortable with Jesus' many sayings about wealth, including the one about the camel and the eye of the needle. That is why, from the 15th century onward, there arose a legend, devoid of historical or archaeological support, that the "eye of the needle" was in fact a narrow gate in Jerusalem, through which a camel COULD in fact pass, but only if it was unloaded and brought to its knees.

But Dr. Anderson comes up with a variant of the legend I never heard before (he does not give his source). He claims the "eye of the needle" was a rock formation through which a camel could not pass unless it was blindfolded. I'm not sure what the blindfold signifies, but the wealthy and the wannabe-wealthy will be happy with the implications of this variant: not only can the rich enter the Kingdom, but they can bring their baggage along.

Yes, the good things in life are good, and all good things come from God. But when the supply of good things are limited, good people do not try to grab for themselves an unfair share of the pie. This in the final analysis, is what becoming "rich" really means, and it cannot be reconciled with "Love thy neighbor as thyself".

What do I mean by false claims?

Well on page 85 it is declared "Twenty-give dollars a week can make you a millionaire in thirty years if you don't do anything with it but put it in the bank."

However that's simply not true, even if we use favorable numbers, and these numbers are approximations only.

If you contribute $25 every Monday into a savings account with daily compounded interest you won't have anywhere close to a million dollars in 30 years.

The very best interest rate I could find for a savings account was 3%, At the very end of 30 years, you will have contributed $38,250 and it would be worth $61,330.87. Of course that's ignoring any fees or taxes you may be subject to.

However it's quite unlikely that interest rates will stay this low for the next three decades. So we can stack the deck in the author's favor and assume that by "bank" he meant a nice safe (bank account like) Money Market mutual fund, which over the next 30 years might (if you're incredibly lucky, or inflation is bad) average 10% (unlikely), even if that's the case, at the end of the 30th year, you'll still only have $231,953.50 for your $38,250.00 contribution.

Hardly a "millionaire", in fact for Anderson's claim to be true you would have to earn an unheard of 16.6% on your deposit. That's incredibly unlikely, even with an actively managed portfolio.

If you were capable of consistently generating a 16.6% return on your investments over 30 years; regardless of expansion and recession, firms would be lined up at your door to pay you MILLIONS of dollars a year to manage billions of dollars of other people's money.

Okay, let's assume that 10% interest rate we talked about before, it's not impossible, just unlikely. How much would you have to contribute? $107.79/week. Granted in 30 years assuming modest inflation that might be very little money, the equivalent buying power of about $43 in today's money.

The author also makes a big deal about claiming items, like a jacket he wanted to buy which was something like $400, and after waiting a year and visiting the jacket it eventually came down to $125 or something. However if in the first place he had looked for year old items on the rack he could have found a nice coat for $125 anyways, and not waited a year. Sure he would have compromised on style, but it's not like his year old jacket is on the cutting edge of style anyways, he even admits it had a faulty zipper, probably the real reason it was discounted so much (leather doesn't usually see as big of discounts as quickly).

My point is that the author seems to think it's a lot easier to accumulate wealth than it is, saving a few bucks by shopping sales, flipping houses (apparently that's a sure fire winner) and driving old cars and then selling them at a profit is hardly a major spiritual revelation. Those same things earn above average incomes for hundreds of thousands of people world wide every year; Christian, or otherwise.

I also feel a lot of scripture is misused by applying principals to topics which they may not have been intended for. But that's an opinion and it could easily be wrong.

I don't doubt that God wants his people to prosper but if you're looking to be a millionaire God's way I suspect you won't be living it up in a huge house and driving fast cars, that doesn't seem to be God's plan for his people. That's probably the most important point of this book, and I agree with it. He may make you a millionaire so you can advance his plans and you'll likely end up living a fairly normal life, but with larger charitable donations, and a greater ability to help people, and that's fine. But you could still give 50% of your income and work at a coal mine and live pretty much the same life. I suppose it depends what you want to do with your time, spend it trying to get rich, or spend it trying to get middle class, either way you'll probably still end up living a fairly normal lifestyle.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

It's not a BAD book, it's just a bit too thin on financial reality in some places.

I'd like to know if Anderson thinks the millions of Christians who live in third world poverty are such because they have the wrong attitudes, don't try hard enough, don't invest and don't have the right motives, or if they think God wants them to be poor. That's a touchy subject that isn't properly addressed in the book.

That said, if you live in the developed world, and become a millionaire and contribute 20% of your income to charity, you're in a better place to help those same people than if you earn an average income and still contribute 20% of your income.

I have read this book 3 times, each time I got more out of it. It contains so many life changing principals. Things you can apply to your life right away. Get this book right now and buy some copies for friends.

I strongly suggest to all you get this book.

Get Rich dad poor dad,

and then buy Dr Tom's sons book,

Think like a Billionaire by Scott Anderson.

These books changed my life!!!!!!!!!

I cannot stress enough how amazing this book is. Anderson backs all is teaching with biblical scriptures that are NOT taken out of context. This book give you both biblical and non-biblical principals that I think should be required to all Christians. This is Not a get rich quick book, nor a "if you give your money to my ministry, you will get rich". It lays the foundations to what the bible and the Lord expects us to behave and act with money and wealth! 5 Stars all the way!

This book was great. It motivated me to start living different, as far as money is concerned. It was refreshing to read a book on investing through the eyes of a christian. I found the book very usefull, and was full of little bits of information that is not taught in any school or university. The only downside to the book was that it did not offer helpfull hints or lessons on what to invest in or what to look out for, other than just saying invest in stocks and 401k etc. The book was more about motivation to live different, to be money literate, and for christians to not feel guilty about becoming or being rich.

I would recomend this book, for it did have some interesting angles to the finance world. However it does not give you the ingredients needed to become an successfull investor. But then again, what book does?