Customer Reviews

The Millionaire Maker: Act, Think, and Make Money the Way the Wealthy Do

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Book had some good points, but all it really does is make you very discontent with what you have to make you want more. Then she sucks you into her coaching program which and thats where she makes her real money!

Don't waste your time or money folks. They will try everything they can to get you in! We lost $3000, but almost lost $10,000 and they wanted us to put it all on a credit card! Unfortunately we did.

The coaching was a horrible program. Like I said we first were lured into spending $10,000! We didn't go for it and only did the $6000 version. Very unhappy we were refunded $3000, but we are still out $3000. We didn't have the money, so the coach pressed us very hard to put it all on a credit card. Can't believe we did.

We were passed off to 3 different coaches. One said he would personally coach us. Then after 2 more phone calls, he passed us off to another coach

We had that coach for 2 weeks, then showed up for the next class no coach showed up at all, so we left scratching our heads. The next week we had a different coach with no explanation of what happened to the previous one.

On top of that, all the coaches did was show powerpoints of the material already explained in the book and talk about it. The whole program was simply an overview of the same material in the book we received, nothing more. Nothing different!

We kept waiting for more, then all of a sudden we were at the last session, and then it was over. Totally surprised I asked the coach, "thats it?" She agreed.

Basically we paid over $3000 to hear someone tell us what we could have read ourselves.

We spoke with our sign up coach about all of the problems we had, and he assured us they would make these wrongs right.

One thing he promised was that we could retake to course for no additional fee the next summer. Then I asked if we still were not satisfied after that, and he eluded to a full refund.

Well we had several issues that summer, pregnancy, lost job, car accident, we could not retake the course.

So I called back to ask for the full refund. I found out our sign up coach no longer works there and talked with someone there and she assured we would NOT get any more refunds.

Thanks Loral for first making me feel discontent with what I have, then taking my money when I tried to do better! Glad I could make you a little more richer at my families expense.

This was a much more exciting book to me before I read it. Unfortunately, the author sets up each example and then flees to the next without following each story to its end or showing what to do when there are personality or market obstacles to success. We never find out how the dune buggy family fared running a business together, for instance. Why? Because it's a composite rather than a real example of a success story.

As for all these wonderful real estate buys that are the basis of the new cash flow, the author is talking about atypical, special investment deals that aren't available to rank beginners. You can't get the deals without the experts. You can't get the experts without the money to pay them. You don't even know where to get the money until you find the experts. Most people reading this book won't be able to overcome these contradictions. I would have welcomed a simple pitch for new clients, an honest "Pay my team $50,000 and I will make you $500,000 in one year" to the "You all can do this" speech. We all can't do this.

I do applaud the author's desire to get people to see beyond drudgery as employees to the possibilities of leveraging their assets to create wealth. And to learn to use the tax code to shelter income. There are nuggets of interesting ideas here. But this book is not a substitute for the author's boardroom of experts.

Loral Langemeier has, to put it one way, a straightforward writing style. She's not especially interested in going through every reason and detail for everything she teaches, but rather seeks to get straight to the point "this is what you need to do." In so doing, she keeps her book from weighing less than a gallon of milk, makes it readable for just about everyone, includes enough information to get started, and apparently opens herself up to criticism from readers who don't understand her.

I was really surprised by some of the reviews I read here on Amazon, so I decided to write my own in order to answer some of the difficulties I saw people bringing up.

First, a little about me. I've actually moved beyond the employee mentality that she talks about already, and am doing fairly well for myself. I have my own businesses, and though not a millionaire yet, I think I'm on my way. But I still like to read the various wealth-building books out there, especially now that I am "playing the game" as Langemeier calls it. The rigors of entity-structuring, bookkeeping, and asset allocation are all too important not to at least have some understanding of them. I served in the Coast Guard for 22 years before starting my own business, and these things just weren't included in any of my training. What I personally got most out of the book was Loral's team-building approach. Basically, she explains that in order to become wealthy, you've got to have a group of people supporting you. This theme is the clearest example of where Loral Langemeier provides truly "new" information that I hadn't seen before.

I'll elaborate. I have yet to meet a millionaire who does their own taxes. I have yet to meet a millionaire who doesn't hire an assistant. And I've met quite a few millionaires. I knew this before reading the book of course, and I've even assembled portions of my legal and secretarial "team," but a team made millionaire is much more than that according to Loral. She explains the importance of finding a mentor, of working with people who can teach you to be wealthy because they already are. It's no secret that her own program is one of the more reputable at doing this, but her reasoning is extremely compelling, and she explains ways of finding these people on your own. And I was impressed that she mentioned her own program only as an example, rather than a sales pitch, which I don't think I could have really faulted her for if she had.

As to one reviewer's charge that she's putting people into huge debt rather than helping them get out, I understand the concern, but I prefer to think of it as a matter of perspective. Two negative reviews mentioned the Rick Noonan vignette from the chapter on Direct Asset Allocation, so I'll go ahead and use that example as well. In that story, Mr. Noonan managed to reallocate his assets and buy 15 rental properties. This wasn't so unreasonable as it would seem to some. First it isn't unheard of to find properties at that price (although I admit it's a very happy day when you do and they happen to be in a decent neighborhood to boot). We're probably not talking about houses, but more likely townhouse units, which are much cheaper. And mortgage debt isn't such a terrible thing to have. I've still got a mortgage on my own home, and I've had the ability to pay it off all at once for almost two years now. But if I had, I would have lost the opportunity to keep that money invested and create new wealth opportunities for myself. So back to the Noonan example, with a fixed low-interest secured debt, and a rental income per property that's $200 higher than the combined monthly mortgage, management dues, and property tax payment for each of the 15 units, Mr. Noonan was making $36,000 per year off of a $90,000 investment! He can then either apply that money to other investments or spend it on himself. And if one of the properties should ever foreclose for some reason, the worst that happens is the bank takes that property - but he only ever invested $6000 into each one to begin with. Where's the problem here?

One of the premises of Langemeier's book, which I sort of thought was self-evident even before I read it from her, is that secured, low-interest debt used to get into good deal opportunities as they arise is not bad. Provided the cashflow value of the assets purchased with the line of credit is greater than the payment on the liability incurred by the loan, one can afford to go deeply into that sort of debt. And, in a sad tribute to our times, it's less risky than trusting to the solvency of many corporate pension plans.

There are other good wealth-building books out there of course, and lots of writers who know how to take someone and make them wealthy over 35 years' time. Loral Langemeier is unique in that her aggressive advice may be too much to swallow whole for many people (even several of her own vignette characters decided to keep their jobs rather than quit them to get penalty-free access to their IRA and 401(k) accounts). Yet if she were followed diligently and wisely, I can accept that a person could go from debt to millionaire in only 3 - 5 years as she claims. The numbers make sense to me, at least.

If you get this book, and you really are too intimidated to go full-throttle with Loral's advice, consider some of the other, slower-paced wealth-building experts like David Bach (Finish Rich series), Stephanie Frank (Accidental Millionaire), or Thomas Stanley (Millionaire Next Door). A hybrid approach might be more your style, or maybe this book just isn't for you. Although, if you're serious about becoming wealthy, however you go about getting there, you should probably pull out the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 12th chapters once you've got your assets straight. And actually, anyone carrying too much consumer debt could probably benefit from chapter 9. It looked like pretty solid advice.

Becoming rich armed with nothing more than Langemeier's book probably isn't likely. Anyone who does become rich after following her advice is going to need to do a whole lot more research than just what's in The Millionaire Maker. But for someone who is serious about becoming wealthy, and wants to do it quickly, you could do worse than starting here.

I received this book "free" with a 30 day free trial to Lorals online web-course. I called to cancel the online web-course to avoid the $69.00 a month fee. I told her rep that I hadn't finished the book yet and wanted to cancel my subscription until I read the book. I was told "you do know the book is just an autobiography, and you won't learn anything from it". I was told that the "meat" of the program was the online advisors... Well, there ya go, from her own representative, the book is worthless and useless. If someone gives me a worthless book, I have no interest in anything else they have to sell me. Im glad I didn't actually pay for this book.

Just another book that talks around everything without giving clear objectives as far as the goals. very General and theoretical. Would Not recommend it and wish I had invested my money ito something other than making her a Millionaire.

This is no book for the faint of heart but rather is for someone committed to the business of personal wealth and finance. While the author touts real estate, maximizing your investment dollar, and using tax advantages the real difference in her approach is the use of a team of professionals you develop to improve your success. She aptly explains the need for a team and offers suggestions on developing one.

While the writing is good I would say that the art of gentle persuasion is not her forte: she's a much more from the Vince Lombardi school of coaching. She's light on the psychology of investing and heavy on the doing. Her tactics are for the more established investor: not many people can afford to quit their jobs, buy a dozen or so rentals, and incorporate their family business. Still, though, anyone can learn something useful from the book.

The take home message is two-fold. First, she emphasizes the need to doggedly and passionately make your money work for you. Keep as much as you can, invest as much as you can, and make as much as you can, and then do it over again. And again. Secondly she stresses the need for a well thought out step-wise plan of attack, and, again, she offers many suggestions for this.

Excellent book that will be a great help to almost any investor.

I heard the informercial on the radio and I really was excited. Based upon what was said, I felt that the $9.95 would be a worthwhile investment. Once I got on the phone, I was sucked into have the rest of her program sent (multiple payments of $69.97). The book was completely opposite from my expectations that were based on the informercial. Loral is primarily making her money by selling books and coaching session.
My advice is to keep your money. In fact, buy $10 worth of lottery tickets would be a better investment (and we know that playing the lottery is for suckers).

So if you want to learn how to make money in real estate, read Robert Allen's book.

Very little actionable advice, the book is heavily padded with repetive tables and figures that if rationalized would probably drop it under 150 pages. I felt that the true purpose of this book was to market the author's seminars, to get me to follow up with them so they could sell me their coaching services.

One of my favorite lines was that real estate is a "continually appreciating asset". She obvoiusly was not doing this in the 80s and given recent times may want to put out a new edition.

There are much better books in this category.

The biggest problem I have with this book is not as much what it says but what it doesn't say. Although the concepts look good on paper it compares to telling a kid if he does A,B,C he will become a rich professional athlete. This is not reality. I unfortunately have to rescue people who have fallen for this unrealistic trap. I encourage you to read the other 1 and 2 star reviews. They are all on the mark.

I like Loral; I've met her, seen her speak, bought her products, bought some coaching and think she has great insights and programs - just not in this book. Given that I'm acquainted with what she teaches, I was confused by how vague her latest book is.

It is my assessment that Loral was advised to write a book for the mass-market just like like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" - and she'd simultaneously make a few million and build a pipeline of people to upsell into her other products. But this book is so dumbed-down and watered-down from her usual fare that it passed a threshold where the editing lost its way. Some of her concepts are introduced, but the "building blocks" and examples only further the confusion. I can't even bring myself to recommend it to friends interested in this type of material.

You will still get Loral's basic formula: build a business around your skills, get all of your net-worth working for you in higher yielding investments, and get expert advice to do it all. Only, just by reading the book - you'll have to do it all from scratch.

I give the book 2-stars for laughing at saving money the usual financial-planner way and pointing out a few ways to do it. I would have given 5-stars if the the puffball fake scenarios were removed and replaced with a lot more meat and resources other than her own.

I hope her next book will be much more serious about educating people who want to move forward - I know that she knows how!