Wealth in A Decade: Brett Machtig's Proven System for Creating Wealth, Living Off Your Investments and Attaining a Financially Secure Life [Hardcover]

Brett Machtig (Author), Ryan D. Behrends (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

This text is about becoming wealthy in as few as ten years, especially when wealth is defined as the ability to live off the return of one's investment portfolio. The advice offered is based on the investment strategies of Machtig's clients, who did become wealthy within ten years. Strategies outlined involve: identifying realistic goals and laying out a practical and achievable plan for increasing savings, and getting out of debt and making your capital work for you. Such strategies can be implemented with or without the aid of an investment professional. Machtig seeks to show readers how to: save and spend wisely; use the three driving forces that will move the markets; exploit the ten laws of creating wealth; manage assets in such a way as to buy low and sell high in any market; and implement the laws, strategies and tactics of hundreds of successful investors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing with freelancer Behrends, Machtig, the senior portfolio manager in the Minneapolis office of Smith Barney, decries massively prevalent credit-card debt and argues that investors should be able to live on investment income alone within 10 years through systematic saving and prudent investing. The key is defining one's objectives and having a specific plan and sticking to both. Patience and compound interest do the rest. Machtig explains the intricacies of maintaining a sound investment portfolio: balancing risk against return through diversification, adjusting projected earnings for inflation, monitoring portfolio performance and so on. Graphs help make things clear, and forms are provided for planning and tracking investments. Citing technology, social trends and population statistics, Machtig is bullish on the coming millennial decade, a posture essential to his thesis. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In his guide to the wealth-building process, the author advises us to learn to save systematically and invest to secure our future. He defines a wealthy person as one who is able to live off the return generated by an investment portfolio; and to achieve the wealthy status, Machtig offers lessons from his own experiences during his 10 years as a senior portfolio manager. He offers 10 universal laws for creating wealth, which include setting goals, gaining liquidity by creating a rainy-day fund, developing patience, and recognizing the importance of risk analysis. Machtig is bullish on our consumer-driven economy on the basis of research he cites predicting a massive rise in spending by baby boomers until 2007, continuous changes in technology that will spur growth, and large investments by baby boomers who are unprepared for retirement. He concludes by presenting a checklist that leads the reader to structure a personal plan for building wealth in a decade. Mary Whaley

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Irwin Professional Pub (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786310723
• ISBN-13: 978-0786310722
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #548,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal finance book of the year!, October 17, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wealth in A Decade: Brett Machtig's Proven System for Creating Wealth, Living Off Your Investments and Attaining a Financially Secure Life (Hardcover)

This book shows you how to: * get out of debt in three years * pay off your home in seven years * how to invest without gambling or having to predict the stock markets * and save enough to pay the remaining bills from the returns of your investment portfolio. As the author of this book, I have now helped thousands achieve wealth, which is simply living from the returns from your investments. People of all income levels and situations. If you can pay your bills with your cashflow, most of you can live off the returns of your investments in the same manner as the wealthy in less than 10 years. Of all the financial books out there, this one tells you how to get out of debt painlessly, manage your investments without having to predict the markets, and how to have freedom -- financial freedom. Other tools are available - audiocassettes, CD-ROMs and a wealth analysis (for those that want help, WCS will calculate for you how much you need to achieve wealth given your spending, how long it will take you to get out of debt, and how long it will take YOU to live off the returns of your investments. As I am writing this review of my own book, I am in Nashville preparing for an event for thousands of college students. On the flight to Nashville, Ed happened to sit next to me on my flight connecting through Memphis. Ed was 45 years old and a cameraman for ABC sports. I asked him as I do many folks, "What are the chances for you to achieve wealth?" He said he had two chances - slim and none. After a divorce and spending he cannot control he was not excited to work anymore. By the time we landed he knew exactly how he could achieve wealth in 49 months. Can you imagine how "juiced" he felt knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that he could stop being the perverbial gerbil running on the wheel with all his energy and going nowhere. Stop being a slave to your financial situation and read this book! I wish you wealth, health and love. Brett A. Machtig Author, Wealth In A Decade, The Corporate Guide To Profit & Wealth, Thrive By Thirty-five

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good summarization of great principles, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wealth in A Decade: Brett Machtig's Proven System for Creating Wealth, Living Off Your Investments and Attaining a Financially Secure Life (Hardcover)

It seems that the great principles on how to live, thrive, and survive don't ever change -- they are just recycled in the latest, greatest book of the moment. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing -- people often need repetition to take a solid message to heart.

Mr. Machtig incorporates many of these tried and true (but not new) foundations for creating wealth in his book. I have to give him credit for presenting the information in a fresh manner. Perhaps not as fresh as those Motley Fools, Tom and David Gardner, but Machtig definitely adds his twist on the presentation. Different people are receptive to various types of presentation, and Machtig's "Laws" could very well be the key to many people's future wealth. Anyone who tries to educate people on how to plan for the future deserves praise. There's too many people hyping the virtures of spending gobs of money on the latest fashion to overlook someone trying to teach people to be financially responsible.

A person could quibble over the quick introduction to different types of investments, but this book is more of a starting point than a full-blown tutorial, so I can let that point go. I do have trouble reconciling Machtig's reference to the well-know "Dogs of the Dow" strategy as his own. Perhaps he doesn't want to trouble the beginner with catchy references to the strategy, but I have trouble with the implication that he alone is responsible for analyzing and popularizing this approach. If he truly is, all apologies to him.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I believe the principles are sound, and could likely lead the reader to become wealthy in a decade. Unfortunately, it takes more than just reading this book ... it takes real perseverance and dedication. This book has the ability to sell you on the idea that it is possible, which is the first step. There may be a lot more to learn after reading this book, but that first step of realization is a big one.

A final note: I differ with the previous review of 8/7/97 in that I don't think it's necessary to have Amway's continual residual income to attain your goals. No matter where your money initially comes from, you can get to where you want to be. Just a thought from a non-Amway person. ;-)

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most influential book of my financial life., September 17, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Fridley, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wealth in A Decade: Brett Machtig's Proven System for Creating Wealth, Living Off Your Investments and Attaining a Financially Secure Life (Hardcover)

If this book and its principles were required learning for all U.S. citizens, our country would be out of debt and our citizens would all be comfortably wealthy in one generation. Well, maybe two. If people stopped being poverty ridden and afraid, there would be 95% less reason to want to fight wars because other countries wouldn't be a threat. Then, when other countries saw what we were doing in terms of our money, they would be motivated to learn the same principles, and just think what our world could be! It's a dream, but it's a dream we can accomplish, beginning with the wealth-building practices in Wealth In A Decade. Please, do yourself a favor and buy and read it. Thank you.