Safely Prosperous or Really Rich: Choosing Your Personal Financial Heaven [Hardcover]

Howard Ruff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

Praise for SAFELY PROSPEROUS or REALLY RICH?

"Howard's brilliant concept that the roads to Prosperity and Riches are very different is very liberating. In most financial books, the author would never do what Howard has done-recount with unflinching honesty the big financial mistakes he and his subscribers have made over the years so readers can avoid the same stumbling blocks and pitfalls. Only a very secure man would have the guts to do that."
-Robert Allen
author of Multiple Streams of Income and Nothing Down

"Howard Ruff is back, offering a wealth of powerful new financial advice for America's middle class. In his new manual, Safely Prosperous or Really Rich?, he challenges you to choose between two roads. The older I get, the more I favor 'Safely Prosperous,' but you make the call. I also love Howard's old-fashioned moral perspectives on money."
-Mark Skousen
editor of Forecasts and Strategies

"Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? is destined to be one of the most influential books of the early twenty-first century, just as his mega bestseller, How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, changed millions of lives in the late '70s. Welcome back, Howard."
-John Mauldin
author of Bull's Eye Investing

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

According to financial publisher and bestselling author Howard Ruff, there are two distinctly different and equally desirable financial Heavens, and a distinct and different route to get to each one. The choice is yours. One destination is Safely Prosperous and the other is Really Rich.

Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? examines both of these strategies, and carefully guides you down whichever path you decide to take. The first part of this book–The Safe Road to Prosperity–is for those of you who want to live comfortably with no risk or financial worries and a secure future, even after retirement. You’ll be introduced to the ten most important, and near-universal, mistakes that people make that abort their prosperity, including the common and costly investment mistakes that can often destroy years of financial discipline and savings. By following this route, you’ll discover how to become debt free, while accumulating a bit more money than you really need.

In the second part of the book–The Secrets of the Really Rich–you’ll be introduced to the most important things rich people have always done (and continue to do) to get rich. This section will teach you how to make the leap from the Safely Prosperous to the Really Rich. Ruff reveals that it’s not just how much money the really rich have or how smart they are, it’s their attitude toward risk and fear, their understanding of when to break the rules that the Safely Prosperous follow, and their knowledge of a few simple capitalistic principles that allows them to accumulate serious wealth. By following this route, you’ll not only learn how to get rich, you’ll discover how to stay rich.

Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? is a unique book that allows you to choose your financial destination when making decisions about your money and your life. Depending on which path you choose to take, prosperity or real wealth is well within your reach, and with Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? as your guide, you can make this happen faster than you could ever imagine.

From the Back Cover

Praise for SAFELY PROSPEROUS or REALLY RICH?

"Howard’s brilliant concept that the roads to Prosperity and Riches are very different is very liberating. In most financial books, the author would never do what Howard has done–recount with unflinching honesty the big financial mistakes he and his subscribers have made over the years so readers can avoid the same stumbling blocks and pitfalls. Only a very secure man would have the guts to do that."
–Robert Allen
author of Multiple Streams of Income and Nothing Down

"Howard Ruff is back, offering a wealth of powerful new financial advice for America’s middle class. In his new manual, Safely Prosperous or Really Rich?, he challenges you to choose between two roads. The older I get, the more I favor ‘Safely Prosperous,’ but you make the call. I also love Howard’s old-fashioned moral perspectives on money."
–Mark Skousen
editor of Forecasts and Strategies

"Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? is destined to be one of the most influential books of the early twenty-first century, just as his mega bestseller, How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, changed millions of lives in the late ‘70s. Welcome back, Howard."
–John Mauldin
author of Bull’s Eye Investing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471652830
• ISBN-13: 978-0471652830
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,530,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The best way to keep up with things, December 24, 2004

By 

Giancarlo Nicoli "Pharmacist and Publisher" (Appiano Gentile, close to Como Lake, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Safely Prosperous or Really Rich: Choosing Your Personal Financial Heaven (Hardcover)

This book is a marketing plan cleverly executed, and I fell into it, dear reader!

I first heard about it in John Mauldin's newsletter, and would not have purchased it if not for Mr Mauldin recommendation.

In hindsight, it looks to me like 'Howard Ruff' is a valuable brand (chronicles say this guy sold three million copies of the other book 'How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years'), worth exploiting further. With this book I fear the brand has been a little bit overstretched.

Someone said that the strategies outlined in it are excellent... True, and here is why I give it a low rate: Beginners and experienced readers as well will find other, better, earlier books that tell the American tale on how to become safely prosperous o really rich (examples include: The Millionaire Next Door; Getting Rich in America and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich). Then, if this book contains nothing new, what's its purpose? What's its value?

How's written this book? There are many repetitions; Ruff tells many times here and there the same stories (How he helped the crash of the Iron Curtain; why you have to have a six-month supply of food; how his newsletter, The Ruff Times, was the biggest, most influential newsletter in the known universe; and more...), which is annoying indeed, gentle reader!

Sometimes I wondered whether I bought a book or a catalogue disguised as a book.

There are several references to businesses owned by Mr Ruff himself or his relatives or his friends (sometimes he discloses he has a financial interest, sometimes he discloses he hasn't. Well, my wife is a lawyer, just in case you need one. I have no financial interest in her business.). The book keeps leading the reader to this or that product. Boy, this is 'cross-selling'! This is 'leverage'!

I recalled the tale of the fish: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. When I got the book I hoped I was going to learn something new on how to fish. And teachings are there, I'm not diminishing in any way the virtue of many suggestions (get out of debt, start saving...) written in this book. There's plenty of fish for sale in this book (this metaphor helps make my point, so let's not be too critical here); alas, not many new teachings.

Here's a quote from the book:

"Do not run out and execute the market recommendations in this book as soon as you read it. We have a very dynamic economy, and time can change things. Some recommendations may be good ideas for which the right time has come and gone or the propitious time has not yet arrived (...) The best way to keep up with things is to subscribe to 'The Ruff Times', which is written every three weeks, as I track all these recommendations very closely"

(You can sign up for one year for $139, or for two years for $230, if you ask)

If I have to subscribe to "The Ruff Times" to know what to buy and when to buy it in order to make money, what's the practical use of this book after all? What's its purpose? What's its value?

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Surely an Infomercial or Blatently Obvious - Don't Buy This, December 25, 2004

By 

Ben Franklin "GraniteStater" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safely Prosperous or Really Rich: Choosing Your Personal Financial Heaven (Hardcover)

There are books out there which stimulate the mind or offer readers fresh ways of looking at the world and their money. This book does none of this. Please...run, don't walk...to another Amazon selection if you have any clue at all about organizing your finances. Ruff misuses financial dffinitions and glorifies the obvious. "The magic of compounding!" Wow... I'll bet you never heard that one before. He interchanges the terms "one year investment return" with "yield," which is a dangerous thing. Just because a mutual fund returned 22.7% in 2003 it does not mean that that return expectation is available today here ann now. Don't ask him to explain mean-reversion of returns, because that gets in the way of his weak quasi-thesis. Complete garbage.

I promise - if you had a chance to thumb through this book before buying it, you would never shell out a penny for it.

Feeling like an idiot for adding it to my cart...

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars don't waste your money!!!, February 7, 2005

By 

E. T. Ashworth "tompaine47" (Richmond, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safely Prosperous or Really Rich: Choosing Your Personal Financial Heaven (Hardcover)

I'm less polite than the other reviewers. This is, pure and simple, an infomercial for his newletter, has little to no information, and you would violate sound use of your resources just buying it. Stay away!!!

Say, Amazon -- why can't we give, "STUNK ON ICE" ratings?