Customer Reviews

Safely Prosperous or Really Rich: Choosing Your Personal Financial Heaven

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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?

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...

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?

I saw the negative comments about this book, but I would suggest getting a copy from your local library to see if you want this as a keeper first. I did, and will get this book when I can find it cheap, now having read it. It has some good 'old school' ideas we really need to keep in mind these days. Ruff is pretty honest and upfront about his failures. This alone is worth the read. It is NOT on the level with Sumney and Dawson's Weekend Millionaire Mindset or Bach's Automatic Millionaire, which are more hands on. Ruff's book is more of a tried and true look at success, and whether you are going to be better off being a stellar money manager, or if you are truly cut out to be (and will settle for nothing less than)entrepreneurialship. Each track has its pluses and minuses. A worthy read, though the advertisements in it prevent me from giving it 5 stars.

He has to be since he spends so much time patting himself on the back. This is a bad book, pure and simple. The author spends an inordinate amount of time talking about his history of losing money and making money. But the stories aren't in great detail and come off as braggadocio. In addition, his advice is minimal and simple. He goes through the time value of money and how yields on small amounts of money invested for many years will allow you to retire well off but doesn't really give creditable advice on retiring really rich, other than buying his newsletter.

I cannot emphasize enough how bad this book is. Only two other times have I not read a book I started in its entirety. Here's number three. I read the first half and scanned the last half. I assure there was no improvement. Take a pass on this turkey.

Howard Ruff is back! Staking a claim for time-tested and down home values, this book is filled with "old fogy" wisdom that both teaches and entertains. It's an easy read, full of real life examples that readers will long remember. "Oh", laments Howard, "to be 72 again"! Old-timers faithful to Howard will realize immediately that he has not lost a step.

The book uses the "heaven" metaphor to good advantage (heaven being that place where one enjoys peace of mind) Financial affairs under control with minimum risk bring peace of mind. Financial affairs out of control bring stress, and strike at the stability of families. (hell being a state of constant worry)

The first book, addressed to the largest reading audience, teaches how to avoid debt and achieve the safe heaven of prosperity without risk. The second book, addressed to the wealthier set, lays out a track to enlarge, protect, and pass on assets in the family treasury to future generations.

I consider the book a must-read, especially for the younger set. It is said that those who understand interest collect it, and those who do not, pay it. Howard's book will help many readers resolve to make the tough decisions that will put them on the heavenly side of that equation.

Do you have trouble staying awake when you read a financial book? Well - I read this one all night long and couldn't put it down until I had underlined more than half of it!! And now my husband is having the same problem! Mr. Ruff has written a financial book that is not only an easy read but very entertaining as well! It is NOT a "get rich quick and here's how you do it" kind of a book, which is what I expected. His clear cut and brutal honesty about the mistakes he has made in his own financial life are a breath of fresh air!! We all know that wealthy people have had hiccups and have made possibly "career ending" mistakes along the way - although how many are willing to talk about those mistakes openly and let us learn from them? I was amazed at how candidly he spoke of the lessons learned and dollars lost through his failures and what he changed to be more successful the next time. I am grateful for his teaching me how to avoid those same pitfalls.

As a 30 something, it has been hard to decide how and when to invest, buy, sell, and trade so that my family will have a secure and comfortable future. Mr. Ruff has given direct answers to all of my questions and concerns and offered two distinct paths to attain that security. We have worked very hard for our money and don't have a lot of it to lose in risky ventures. I have always leaned towards a safe and risk-less approach when it comes to investing because I have seen so many bad business ventures and failed stock market attempts by those around me. However, I now feel after reading his book that I have the knowledge I need to earn more, save more & spend less(by delaying gradification and not trying to keep up with the Joneses)and invest intellegently and confidently by knowing the calculated risk involved in each type of venture.

Whole hearted honesty is what rang true for me in this book. This book is also great for the entrepreneur ready to market and gather investors! I will be buying several copies of this book for Christmas gifts - but I think they'll be getting them a few months early!! This book is an easy read with life changing information! Thank you Mr. Ruff!!

As a retired professor of economics and finance I was most favorably impresed by Safely Prosperous or Really Rich. The strategies outlined in it are excellent. Ruff's ability to express himself in a way that almost anyone can understand is one unique characteristic of this book. Another is his willingness to explore mistakes that he has made in order to help others avoid making them. Only someone with considerable self-confoidence would do that. Roger M. Clites, Johnson City, Tennessee

This is an investment book that doesn't pull punches, and it's written for Main Street, not Wall Street in language any alert person can understand. All of us have dads, moms, friends, children, grandkids, nieces and nephews whose finances we worry about. If they take Ruff's advice, they may never lack for money. Ruff tells you flat out: how wealthy people really get that way; how people can worship money until it becomes their God; how Ruff's cautionary life lessons can help you. My friend Art Linkletter, of Kids Say the Darndest Things fame, put it this way to me: "Howard Ruff has extraordinarily practical investment insights and his complete honesty about his own mistakes make this an invaluable financial resource. I loved it."

Mr. Ruff's new book, Safely Prosperous or Really Rich was fun to read. As a professional pension trustee, I intend to recommend this book to the participants in the plans I serve, and also recommend it to the listeners of my weekly radio show. If you are trying to figure out what kind of money person you are, this book will tell you. Again, great book.