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Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School
 
 
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Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School [Paperback]

Andrew Hallam (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 1, 2011
The incredible story of how a schoolteacher built a million-dollar portfolio, and how you can too Most people wouldn't expect a schoolteacher to amass a million-dollar investment account. But Andrew Hallam did so, long before the typical retirement age. And now, with Millionaire Teacher, he wants to show you how to follow in his footsteps. With lively humor and the simple clarity you'd expect from a gifted educator, Hallam demonstrates how average people can build wealth in the stock market by shunning the investment products peddled by most financial advisors and avoiding the get-rich-quicker products concocted by an ever widening, self-serving industry.
Using low cost index funds, coupled with a philosophy in line with the one that made Warren Buffett a multi-billionaire, Hallam guides readers to understand how the stock and bond markets really work, arming you with a psychological advantage when markets fall.
  • Shows why young investors should hope for stock market crashes if they want to get rich
  • Explains how you can spend just 60 minutes a year on your investments, never open a financial paper, avoid investment news, and still leave most professional investors in the dust
  • Promotes a unique new investment methodology that combines low cost index funds and a Warren Buffett-esque investment philosophy
Millionaire Teacher explains how anyone can learn the ABCs of personal finance and strengthen their financial position.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review




Q&A with Author Andrew Hallam
Author Andrew Hallam
You've published personal finance articles for years. But this is your first book. Why do you think so many of the world's most respected personal finance authors have embraced your book so enthusiastically?
I think my book has a couple of differences to most personal finance books. First, it's very easy to understand—even for someone who knows nothing about finances. Second, it's real: I followed this advice myself, building a million dollar portfolio on a modest salary, at a relatively young age. My book doesn't just espouse financial theory, but it shows how I utilized that theory in real life.

And I chuckled while writing it, so readers get a chance to see my quirky sense of humor.

To be honest, many of the great endorsements I received came from my financial heroes---people who literally changed my life at a very young age, by teaching me (through their writing) the sound financial concepts that don't get taught in schools. My book espouses very similar, common sense messages about living below your means, investing effectively in low cost index funds, and thinking correctly about stock market swings (young people, for instance, should rejoice when the stock markets fall).

Why should anyone rejoice when stock markets fall?
Anyone with a job (who intends to keep working for a number of years) should prefer stagnating or falling stock markets. Foundations for great wealth are never established by purchasing stock market investments that are rising in value. Instead, we lay foundations for huge wealth when we enthusiastically buy assets that are cheap. For instance, the stock markets in the U.S. jumped up and down from 1965 to 1982 (17 years) without going anywhere. Most people, during this 17 year period, were growing distrustful of the stock market because they hadn’t made any money. But for patient investors who regularly invested during those 17 years, they were seriously rewarded when the markets erupted nearly 1,700 percent in the following 18 year period. All of those stock market assets they previously bought, at low prices, rose significantly during the next 18 year period (from 1982-2000). People who didn't start buying until the stock market started getting more expensive, voluntarily gave up significant, future riches.

The stock markets haven't made much headway in the past decade. Does that mean this is a good time to invest?
It seems counter-intuitive, but yes. And when the stock markets are volatile, or not moving much, the media is always suggesting that stocks are a bad investment—and that you should seek financial safety elsewhere. For 200 years, the same story has played out over and over again. The general population is always afraid of the stock market when it's most attractive, and they love investing when it gets more and more expensive to do so.

I'm currently preparing to teach a personal finance class to high school kids. And I'm going to show them a huge, long-term stock market chart, spanning the past 200 years. Then I'll ask them: "Show me what would have been the best 15 year historical time periods to plough money into the stock markets, on a monthly basis." Simply by asking them questions (and not giving them the answers) they'll quickly see, without me telling them, that the best times to regularly add money to the markets have always been when markets were stagnant or falling. And coincidentally, media headlines have always been scariest during those times as well! To maximize wealth, my students—and readers of my book---will need to think long term, not short term. And they'll learn to ignore the media.

Your book is a withering critique of the financial service industry. Why is that?
I definitely join the chorus of investment academics who believe that the investment business is (mostly) a giant scam, filled with empty promises and high fees, which hurt the average investor's returns. The big picture is pretty shocking. Take this example: If you had put $10,000 in the AVERAGE global stock, in 1981, and held it until today, with all reinvested dividends, it would be worth nearly $200,000 by 2011. I’m not talking about buying Microsoft or Apple shares, I’m talking about the average stock. But if you ask people who were investing 30 years ago, how many of them turned $10,000 into $200,000, you probably wouldn't find anyone who had. Most investors deal with brokers and financial advisors who skim money off the top, in fees that may appear small---but aren't. And people also become victims to the silly decisions that many brokers and advisors make.

You can find advisors without a conflict of interest (which my book shows) but you can also easily invest your own money. Warren Buffett suggests that, as an aggregate, financial advisors don't tend to add value. And I agree with him.


Review

'If you want to make sure that your money is invested wisely, then this is the book for you.' (turnonepoundintoamillion.com, January 2012) '...quirky, upbeat and above all interesting...a book for anyone.' (blog.iii.co.uk, March 2012) ‘This book is engaging and easy to read.' (retireby40.org, 16th April 2012)

Product Details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 1, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0470830069
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470830062
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When I was 19 years old, and studying to become a school teacher, I met a mechanic who happened to be a millionaire. I was so inspired by his self-made story that I wanted to see if I could eventually do the same thing---on a school teacher's salary.
To do so, I learned the strategies that would give me the highest statistical odds of success in the stock and bond markets, while keeping my risks to a minimum. Using index funds, and following Warren Buffett's mantra of embracing stock market drops, I built a million dollar investment portfolio by the time I was 38 years old.
My methods are supported by reams of academic research. They're simple, and they take no more than 90 minutes a year. But for some strange reason, we don't learn these strategies in school. As a result, most investors are unknowingly taken advantage of by self-serving financial advisors. This book teaches the nine rules of wealth that you should have learned in school. If you patiently follow these principles, you'll dramatically increase your odds of growing wealthy. Let me show you how to do it.

Praise for Millionaire Teacher

"The newbie investor will not find a better guide than Millionaire Teacher" -- Burton Malkiel, Author: A Random Walk Down Wall Street; Princeton economics professor

"This is a great book...It's what you need to know, told with humor, in a way you can understand."--Scott Burns, Chief Investment Strategist, Assetbuilder Inc.

"Put away your checkbook. Instead, give this book to every young person and you will be gifting them a lifetime of financial independence and success"--Robert P. Miles, Author: Warren Buffett Wealth

"If you buy just one book this year, this is it."--Paul B. Farrell, JD.PhD, Author: The Millionaire Code, The Winning Portfolio, The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing

"Millionaire Teacher is an enormously thoughtful gem of an investment book that every serious investor should read, study, and learn from."--Bill Schultheis CFP, Author: The New CoffeeHouse Investor


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Recommended but Ignore Rule 9 November 21, 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As with most reviewers have said, the author's writing style is non jargon and causal which makes it a fun read. I love books from non professionals as they are so rare and bring to the investing table a personal experience not shared from the volumes of professionally written finance books. The best part of the book is its focus on the investing process, living within ones means, shunning advisers and seek a low cost diversified index portfolio. And we can learn this stuff! Wonderful. I anticipated he would show us exactly how he made his million on an educator's salary.

His reference to the brilliant book on the subject of frugal living, Millionaire Next Door, which every living human being should read, was a great source of information. He rightfully quotes those authors often. From this reference, this author explains the crucial difference between the image rich and the real rich. It's the assets stupid, not the arrogant Jag owner with car payments, $2500 sport coats and bounced checks. True millionaires wear their finest and dine at home in their work clothes and drive a f150 Ford truck. His frugal experiences were so extreme I felt that his authenticity was at risk IMO. It's hard to believe that he had the heat off in a Canadian winter and he didn't want to turn it on with his father's visit! I know about winters, growing up in Wisconsin. But he was making an important point about frugal living and living within our means so we have the capital to invest and he showed us. I think it might be important to expand on what people can do such as always purchasing good used cars and keeping them for years--the number one expenditure that is never an asset.

I commend the author for his excellent metaphors to explain complex concepts such as using Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory on what exactly does an investor own when he or she owns a share of stock. Brilliant. It one of those things that may be shocking, but so many people in our profession as educators don't know what a share is and are rightfully embarrassed to ask at a seminar.

The book has nine rules or chapters. Most are devoted to the investing process, specifically to index or passive strategy by John Bogle. He references all of the great authors on this subject, Bernstein, Swedroe, Samuelson, Buffett, Malkiel, Sharpe, Burns and the Bogleheads. I agree that investing is not that difficult as most people think. Learning what your "knowledgeable" and super "nice" financial adviser is doing with your money is crucial. Index investing is so simple to use, but it's hard to teach a subject when the learner does not have to do much with a passive portfolio. But he does an excellent job of explaining this popular strategy by rebalancing with a bond allocation. By reading the first 8 chapters the reader should learn that the best way to invest is by using the established "couch potato" or "lazy portfolios".

My harshest criticisms resides with his last rule, rule #9 and its implications for the rest of the book. Here I part philosophical company with the author BIG TIME after agreeing with every word in the first 8 Rules. IMO he is pandering to those folks that think they can pick stocks by following the authors detailed methods, after explaining all the way through the book that the active managers of funds cannot! What?

I was dumbfounded. Mutual fund companies and brokerages firms have entire departments devoted 24/7 to researching stocks. They have analysts who do this for a living using powerful computer technology hiring quants from Ivy league schools to try and pick the winning stocks and beat the market? The author explained in great detail with graphs of past returns comparing active management to passive management with passive strategy generating better returns over the long term.

Also, the author spent a good deal of time rightly explaining that we should not use newsletters! The author then says that he uses and recommends one newsletter, Value Line, to pick his individual stocks, after debunking all of the other newsletters. Heck, I read Value Line newsletter that he touts years ago and bought one or two of their recommendations--I'll won't make that mistake again. The author appears to want it both ways and thinks nobody will notice: Stock picking and index investing are as far apart philosophically as the moral fabric of Pope and Attila the Hun.

As a literature teacher he should have known as a writer that the author SHOWS the reader what the author has done. With the sole exception on his frugal living experiences, he unfortunately LECTURED us on everything else. He might as well have been a professional investor writing a book. Yes, it's good, but it's impersonal. As everybody else has said, it was funny, different, entertaining and encouraging, but nevertheless, he broke a cardinal rule in writing: "thou shall not tell, but show."

At the beginning of my review I was anticipating a case study about how this non financial professional made his million. But it's not here, unfortunately! I was disappointed.

Since he did not show us how he made his million before age 40, we are left guessing how he actually did it, outside of the fact that he started young. What if we are older, what do we do? Is it too late?

I read an interview online where he said that he recently sold $700,000 in individual stocks and is now invested in the 3 VG funds he suggested throughout his book. Did he make his million investing in individual stocks or index strategy or combination? Did he use timing?
He spend a good deal of time explaining about the investment club he formed and some of the stocks he bought, but that's all he reports. He didn't say how much he contributed, how much he lost (except for the $7000 example) what were the returns on his investments over the years. How much was his wife involved in tabulating his million or their million? Again we are left guessing. This book would have been great if he finished the job.

Aside from my 2 criticisms, I highly recommend this book with one qualification: Read and apply the first 8 rules, but ignore rule 9.
I would rated the book a 5 star without the last Rule. Rule nine is a 0 and his lecture style brings it to a 3.
Rule 9 is all about individual stock picking. IMO investing in individual stocks is speculation for us ordinary investors, the authors he quoted above would agree.

Here is an excellent example of another book written by non professionals: The Average Family's guide to Financial Freedom by Bill and Mary Toohey. He was a teacher and she was a secretary. Its over a decade old, but it's still current. The authors show in great detail how this Iowa family of five, saved $467,000 in only 8 years while raising 3 children (one with disabilities) in a 1 bathroom house making $65,000 a year! They cover a lot of ground in their book and they were in their late 30s. Highly recommended.

After reading these two books, readers will be on their way to their financial freedom.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I highly recommend this book to anyone that invests, plans on investing or wants to know anything about investing. Whether you are a seasoned financial advisor with a book of your own or you are just starting to invest your own money, this book is a must read. With a finance degree, MBA and experience working on Wall Street this book brought me back to school for the best education I could get and should have gotten prior. The author uses strong empirical data to back up his analysis and plainly spells out how to operate a portfolio of your own with more ease and success than any of the commonplace alternatives. This book has changed my view on investing for the better and if you are serious about making money investing, you should read this book.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I am a mother, a teacher, a wife and not remotely interested in finances. Of course I want to be prepared for the future and am lucky enough to be married to a man who takes care of our investments. This is the first, the only, investment book I have read that makes sense. Andrew Hallam's wit had me laughing out loud, his analogies created a clear picture and when I finished I declared I not only understood investing, I could do it! My husband and I now work together and I have a much better sense of a balanced investment portfolio. Millionaire teacher influenced my husband as well. After reading he reorganized our stocks and increased bonds. This book should be required reading in every high school, university and beyond.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Explained simply and brilliantly - it was all I needed to start...
Hi Andrew,

It looks like I ordered accidentally two copies of your book. That's good news because I can keep one book and lend out another to friends! Read more
Published 21 days ago by Wouter
Great Wedding Gift
My wife and I used to teach a marriage prep class for our church and the MOST popular lesson was about managing your money. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Dennis Brooke
Everyone should read this!!
This is one of the best investing books out there...especially for young investors such as myself! It was a very interesting read, with lots of great facts and stories... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jen
Read this book 1st & save $$
A sensible, practical guide as to how to invest for the beginner as well as the seasoned investor. You may not become a millionaire, but you'll be well ahead of the pack (it's a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by pjh02139
So glad I bought this book
This book is likely the best book purchase I've ever made. I've read multiple books and Internet sites desperately trying to expand my investment knowledge. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Caroline
Teaching an old dog new tricks
I wasn't actually the person that originally purchased this book, my husband was, and I think this is one of the few books he has ever read! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Julie
This book has already been written
This book repeats a mistake that is becoming all too common for personal finance books. Basically, this book has already been written many times over. Read more
Published 1 month ago by B. Myers
Excellent book with good information
As a Canadian working in China as a teacher, it can be hard to find relevant information about investment opportunities overseas. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Neil Lindholm
This should be required reading
This book is for the layman. This book is a phenomenal source of information for those interested to learn about investing without having to weed through endless complicated... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Miles
Excellent book - rule #9 needs to be read in context with the rest of...
This book is very good, it's well written, informative and gives practical advice on what to do. It's written by a North American and of course focuses on the US and Canada,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by NZAndy
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