Customer Reviews

Double Your Money in America's Finest Companies: The Unbeatable Power of Rising Dividends (Almanac Investor Series)

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The author of this book teaches its readers that it is better to invest in shares of quality companies instead of entrusting mutual funds, he says:

"As a money manager, I don't like mutual funds. Never have. Never will. In general, I think they underperform and overcharge. Worse, most of the people who manage mutual funds don't have even a penny of their money in their own funds."

Most Americans are afraid to buy stocks on their own but it is costly to think this way because as the author argues, stocks rise most over the long term and value stocks provide the best risk-reward ratio. These quality companies share traits such as strong management, creativity, efficient expenses, and a clear future vision. Some of them include Cintas, Expeditors International, Paychex, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart. Investing is not that hard. A quote from the book by Warren Buffett is below:

"All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies."

I recommend this book to readers. More Americans should get educated on the subject because Wall Street is simply taking advantage of our lack of education.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

If you take Douglas Andrews mix in Robert Kiyosaki add a dash of Warren Buffet and a pinch of Benjamin Graham you would get Bill Staton.

Bill Staton has written a very informative and easy to follow book. Why spend a ton of money on brokers and constant trades, when you can do it yourself? Buying stock doesn't have to be a gamble, and it doesn't have to consume all your time. Staton explains how to grow your money with a portfolio of no more than 15 stocks, and to continue to invest yearly in those stocks. He also discusses dividends, tax advantages of IRA's and the importance of talking to your children about money. Staton doesn't leave you hanging after buying his book either. Every year he and his team recalculate the "America's Finest Companies" and publishes a new report. This could be your first investment book or your 100th.........I guarantee you- you will get something out of this book!

I like the book, have basically done what he said, and agree with the strategy. After the 2002 bust I left most of the mutual funds and began buying individual stocks--always with the requirement that they pay a dividend and the fundamentals pass the test of sound companies. This has mostly worked. It's amazing how consistent income from dividends are year after year. When our investments are down I can at least see what's specifically down, not just read a fund's Black Box number.

But . . . I question the author's suggestion that an hour a year is all the time you need. Maybe that works if you are willing to pick companies randomly off his list of "Finest" US companies. I'm not. He favorably cites Jeremy Siegel's "Stocks for the Long Run" but doesn't mention Siegel's work on foreign stocks, which Siegel says international should be a quarter or more of your portfolio. Foreign stocks almost always require mutual funds. How many companies can you name in Turkey or France or even Asia? We need someone doing the research who knows the international scene, especially with the decline of the dollar.

Staton is at the polar opposite of the Jim Cramer opportunism or momentum approach, where you go in and out of any investment depending on short-term gains and losses. He certainly has not bought the widespread view that "buy and hold" is passe. Whether Staton's view is suitable for those of us in retirement (how long term can you think at three score and ten?) or those of us who were shocked at how fragile good companies proved to be in the last year leads me to say, "Two cheers for your book . . . Yes, but ..."

I originally bought an earlier edition of this book while in college. Sick and tired of mutual funds losing my money I decided to go it on my own after reading Bill's book. It didn't take the 5 years to double my money it took only 2! This is the best approach to investing. Much safer strategy with higher returns. In the past I kept my knowledge of this book and its methods from friends and family who looked to me for advice on stocks. I finally came clean and got them all the book. I have bought pretty much every book on dividend investing and in my opinion this is by far the best. If you are looking for a book to finally get you going in the right direction with strategies you can use successfully this is it!

This book shows you a simple, time-proven way to make your money grow at above-average rates with sharply reduced risk. By investing solely in America's Finest Companies, you could potentially double your money every five to seven years. If so, you will outperform at least 75% of all professionals 100% of the time. Any one of America's Finest Companies is like a staircase that begins at the left and rises one step at a time toward the right. Every step represents an increase in the value of the AFC company's business. Now picture a curve that follows the staircase upward and that represents the AFC stock price over then years. It goes up and down in value (randomly) in the short term, but the path is always in one direction-upward. As Brian Tracy says, "This is a tremendous book that stands out from all the other books on the same subjects. Bill Staton gives you a powerful, practical series of strategies and techniques you can use to become wealthy faster and more predictably than you have thought possible".

I first got aware of the teaching and investing phylosophy of Mr. Staton two years ago at a seminar (Weath Mastery from Anthony Robbins)in front of 1000 investors. I was wowed! A man of this status (Mr. Robbins) reccommending his people to adopt and follow the teachings of Bill Staton.

Then the market started going south and like everyone else I got worried. I realized that I owned stocks from America's Finest Companies, just like Mr. Staton had taught me. When I heard he had written a new book I bought it here and read it completly. It was so important to me to know and be reminded again that my course of action (his knowledge and teaching) was the right one.

Invest in the finest companies and you cannot loose.

Thank you Mr. Staton for writting this book in such volatile times.

I can only hope that more people will read this book as it will make them stop focusing a little on the short term setbacks and see their investments in amazing companies as a tremendous bargain, maybe the last we will see in a long time.

Sincerely

Chris, Montreal

Time tested and safe? to grow your money in above-average rate of return is provided by author Staton in this very detail book about companies and the dividends they provide to make your money grow. Helpful listing at the back of the book for company info and stock purchasing process.

This book does not deliver. It is nothing more then a cut and paste job that provides anecdotal quips and not much more. The book is really a marketing tool to drive you to authors website and an attempt to sell you services. There is no screening data that gives one longterm seach criteria in which to look for dividend stocks. I would not reccomend this book and I regeat my purchase.

This is an absolutely superb book for the serious investor. My recommendation is to read it at least twice. The first quick read will guide one away from mistakes such as buying an underperforming mutual fund with high administrative expenses and management fees (I was poised to do this before reading Bill Staton's book). The second, and more thorough, read will allow the investor to examine in detail the author's philosophy of, and methodology for, investing in companies that are, in Mr. Staton's opinion, "America's Finest." The book is an excellent guide as to how to navigate successfully our currently troubled economic waters. Bill's approach shows that making money in the stock market, even in a recession, is not only possible but easy. Highly recommended.

Bill Staton has written a remarkable book that teaches how one might invest in the top companies in America. Using a variety of examples and historical surveys of the stock market, he is able to show that investing in the stock market, using the stocks of high-quality companies, is ultimately the safest and most predictable way to stay ahead of inflation and to prepare for "life after work" - his term for retirement. I look forward to putting his ideas to the test.