Blogcritics Author: Justin McHenry

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Book Review: Financial Bliss - A Couple's Guide to Merging Money Styles And Building a Rich Life Together by Bambi Holzer

Justin McHenry — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:10:03 EDT

Looking from the outside in, you'd probably think that when marriages and other long-term relationships go bad, it's usually due to marrying too young, infidelity, maybe getting fat. You know, all those things people think about in relation to love and sex. But what people in these relationships quickly realize is that the real threat is often money. More specifically, where the money goes that the two people in the couple bring into the home.Author and financial advisor Bambi Holzer's new book Financial Bliss: A Couple's Guide to Merging Money Styles And Building a Rich Life Together tackles both the psychology of merging (or not) your finances, as well as the nuts and bolts numbers game in terms of where you should be concentrating your cash. Her financial advice on such aspects as mortgages, insurance, and retirement isn't anything you couldn't find elsewhere - it's the time spent on getting couples on the same page that makes the book worthwhile.Think about how little couples often know about each other's money style going in, and you'll realize all the things that need to be discussed. What things do you and your partner consider important to spend money on? Maybe he thinks the latest vehicle is a must while you want to save for a house, or vice versa. Maybe he thinks you waste money on too many clothes, while you think he doesn't need the latest cell phone every other month, or vice versa. Maybe he wants to put your money in high-risk investments in a bid to get rich today, while you want to hit the 401(k) and index funds, getting rich via the tortoise route. Or vice versa.The point is, a relationship that started with love words and gifts under the pillow can end up in hate words and accusations of treason if you don't work to understand each other and then come up with a plan to make it work. Holzer says that plan is different for every couple. Maybe you pool your money and each side does some compromising, maybe you keep the majority of your finances separate so no one can get angry about the other's spending.To get to a point of understanding, Holzer offers a number of exercises that will help partners understand each other's money styles, including saving versus spending habits, risk tolerance and more. She then prods you to talk, starting with a financial State of the Union meeting in which you pull out all the paperwork. Calculate your net worth, see just where the monthly money is going, then come up with some mutually agreeable goals. Then you get into the nitty-gritty financial details like insurance, retirement savings - all the stuff you really would rather not deal with.Financial Bliss is a book for both partners to read and work with, and in that way it can be a fun way to learn more about each other. My wife and I could do better in this area and I'm going to suggest we sit down with this book just as soon as I get back from the racetrack. (Don't tell her where I am.)

Justin McHenry is Research Director for IndexCreditCards.com, a site offering credit card research, tips, calculators and a listing of over 900 currently-available credit cards. He also blogs on money matters at Zen Personal Finance.

Book Review: Finding The Next Starbucks by Michael Moe

Justin McHenry — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 07:32:01 EST

I really liked Finding the Next Starbucks by Michael Moe. I know that saying you "like" something isn't exactly descriptive or a great use of the language, but for me it's a rarity when you read a financial book to think "I really liked that." You might think it's useful, you might think it's insightful, you might think it offers some tips to help you make money or lose less, but you don't generally think of it as like/dislike in the way you might think of the latest John Grisham novel.So, why did I like it? Maybe it has to do with expectations. I expected the book to be a lot about numbers - taking the Price-to-Earnings Ratio and dividing it by the Annual EPS Growth and multiplying by the Book Value and dividing by the Price-to-Sales Ratio and then doing some other calculation to find the magical handful of stocks that are ready to rock the world. There is a bit of that, but not a real lot. The fact that consistent earnings growth and beating the market's earning expectations will lead to big returns isn't exactly a revelation. But that's pretty much it for the math end of things.The trick, of course, is figuring out which companies can maintain earnings growth and continue to beat the numbers quarter after quarter. We all know about high flyers that suddenly took it on the chin. I should take a moment to say that Finding the Next Starbucks author Michael Moe is the founder and CEO of ThinkEquity Partners, was the director of global growth stock research for Merrill Lynch, and has also been named a Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street" research analyst in the past. So he knows a bit about this stuff.Moe uses what he calls the Four Ps - people, product, potential, and predictability - to help separate the long-term winners from the pretenders. This is somewhat subjective, of course, but one of the things that made me like the book is that Moe spends a vast amount of time looking at the "megatrends" that identify growth industries and then highlighting some of the leading companies within those industries. Those sections feel as much like the thoughts of a professional futurist as an investment professional. This makes sense when you understand that the likely stock market winners are going to be companies poised to lead in alternative energy, open source computing, serving the growing Hispanic market, etc. The other surprising aspect to Finding the Next Starbucks that makes it such an interesting read is the load of interviews with high-profile business leaders, investment pros, venture capitalists, and more. Among those interviewed: Howard Schultz, Michael Milken, Tim Draper, Vinod Khosla, Bill Campbell, Lou Holtz, Steve Jurvetson, Marc Benioff, and others. Some of these interviews help you understand how to find the best companies, while others help you understand how to be one of the best companies -- useful information on both ends for many of the book's likely readers.So there you go. I liked it. You'll like it.

Book Review: Home Makeovers That Sell by Sid Davis

Justin McHenry — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 19:27:48 EST

If you've ever house-hunted, you probably noticed a wide variance in the quality of the homes available at similar price points. Oftentimes it's not the intrinsic quality that is so much different, it's the way some people make their houses look like something you'd actually want to live in, while others leave it up to you to have the "vision" of what a house could be.I remember one house I visited that had every wall surface covered with family pictures. Every inch, with no space between the pictures. And they weren't all nicely framed, either. Many were montages of pictures taped to poster board, with the whole poster board then tacked to the wall. I would expect to see this in a local bar, chronicling the happy faces of the softball team the bar supports, but not in a home that would like me to be its future owner. The pictures were all over the living room, dining room, on the wall leading upstairs, on the wall leading to the basement. One bedroom had no pictures, as if there was one sane inhabitant who needed to escape the assault.Another home appeared to have no idea anyone would actually look at its inside. It was filthy, messy and smelled bad. I tripped over a hand weight in one room, underwear sat on the floor in another room. Hey, I'm ready to make an offer!I'm sure you would not do these things, but even the normal among us don't always have the vision to know how a house should be presented for sale. If you're putting a house up for sale this year, I'd recommend you shell out 10 bucks for Sid Davis' Home Makeovers That Sell. As the title suggests, the book offers a ton of advice on getting the most money from your home, and how to do it in the shortest time possible.There are three big points I took from the book.First, price your home right. Price it too low and you're obviously going to lose money. Price it too high and it's going to sit on the market. Find either an experienced appraiser or an experienced real estate agent who can give you a realistic assessment of your home's worth and can back up that assessment with evidence from recent home sales in your area.Second, there is plenty you can do to spruce up your home without spending a lot of money. Cleaning for one. Decluttering for two -- potential buyers don't need to see every picture in your scrapbook or every artwork you've ever bought. They want to envision themselves living there, not get to know you better. In addition, things like painting interiors and planting out front are cheap but can make a big difference. It's amazing how much more money a house can command simply by looking neat.Third, cost does not necessarily equal value. If you paid $30,000 for top-of-the-line windows when buyers would have been happy with the $10,000 windows, don't expect them to pay you the difference. If your house needs to have work done to make it saleable, do it to a level of acceptability, not to a level where you'll have to price your house out of the market in order to get that money back. (Remember that if your house prices out of the market, you might find a willing buyer but not a willing lender who'll allow that buyer to make the deal.)Even if you know these points, the book can be useful as a reference, showing you what fixes are likely to bring you back the most at resale, and offering you room-by-room checklists of things you should do to increase the attractiveness of your home. There's even a few ideas on how to dress up a drab room simply by rearranging furniture or adding a few well-placed items.Selling a home is a big deal. Do it wrong and you could cost yourself thousands of dollars. Do it right and it could be your springboard to a step up the housing ladder or simply a way to put more money in your pocket. Which way would you rather go?

Book Review: The Maui Millionaires by David Finkel and Diane Kennedy

Justin McHenry — Tue, 5 Dec 2006 19:50:04 EST

Every year David Finkel and Diane Kennedy convince a handful of people that it would be a good idea to pay $30,000 a piece to come to Maui and learn how to become millionaires. Well, actually "Maui Millionaires", which is a bit different as you will see. Now, the cynic might say that it's easy to see how Finkel and Kennedy became millionaires --- by convincing people to pay $30,000 a piece to come to their workshops. But, now that they've written a book titled, yes, The Maui Millionaires, those of us with a little less to invest in our future wealth can see if the big spenders are being taken for a ride.Before I go any further, let me say that the name "Maui Millionaires" is sheer genius. Combine one of the most beautiful places in the world with the thought of beautiful wealth --- who wouldn't want to know what it takes to be a Maui Millionaire? It's not just a great name, though; it actually has a meaning. When they talk of Maui Millionaires, they're basically talking about achieving and maintaining wealth in ways that don't require you to work obsessively while neglecting family and friends and letting your health go into the potty. How? That's the question, of course.Reading the early chapters of this book, which basically consist of rewiring your "Wealth Operating System" to get rid of your "limiting wealth beliefs", I thought "Oh, no." Not to say that some of us don't have money issues, and these exercises might be helpful, but I just wanted to know how to make more money, and I was a little worried that the book was going to do nothing more than tell me to say to myself in the mirror each morning "You deserve wealth."Luckily the rest of the book is a bit more juicy, if not altogether specific on how you're going to get rich. It is meant to be a personal workbook, which makes sense if you think of it as being the printed equivalent of a personal, hands-on seminar intended to get you on the road to wealth. With that in mind, there are a number of exercises meant to help you stretch your concept of what is possible, to "dare to dream" as the saying goes. This is obviously a journey that is a little different for each of us. To an extent it's just another way of rewiring your brain to accept that you have the skills and courage to do big things, but dreaming big feels a bit more meaty and positive than simply changing limiting beliefs.The book extensively discusses the benefits of a Mastermind group that will both encourage your success and hold your feet to the fire so you don't shortchange your goals. If you've ever read Napoleon Hill, you'll be familiar with this concept. It's a smart idea, if not particularly new.I was still lukewarm on the book, until I came to this promising chapter: "How to Make Money Without Working." Now this, I thought, is for me. Alas, it's not that simple. But it was satisfying to know that all this buildup wasn't simply a "you're great, go get 'em, tiger" rah-rah session. Finkel and Kennedy don't have any secret scheme for catching money falling from the sky without working, but they do have some strategies for working on business projects that don't simply pay you an hour's wage for an hour's work, but instead pay dividends over the long term without requiring your constant supervision and effort. This in turn allows you to have a life instead of simply living to work. For the authors, and many of their Maui Millionaires as far as I can tell, the path is often via real estate. They don't consider it the only path, but they definitely make the case that it's a quicker way to wealth than many other alternatives. If that seems anti-climactic, it's also a bit more grounded in reality than many other books of this genre. And for that I was thankful. Finkel and Kennedy also go out of their way to deliver the message that part of being a Maui Millionaire is giving back. In fact, they make the case that striving for great wealth is a good thing specifically for the ability it gives you to make a positive difference in the world. That's a message few wealth-building books see fit to impart.Having read to this point, I'm guessing you have two questions, which I will now answer:Question #1: Is this book worth my time and money? Answer: Only if you are going to use it as intended, as a workbook to really dive into your own dreams, think about what you want and then take the time to start creating a plan to get there. If you read it straight through and never put pencil to paper, it won't be worth much.Question #2: Are these people who pay $30,000 to go to these Maui workshops getting their money's worth? Answer: They probably are, but not because Finkel and Kennedy have summoned the wisdom of the ages. Instead, what they've done is gotten together a group of highly motivated people, many of who already have a good measure of wealth, and have put them together in an intensive seminar where they do these exercises side by side. If you wanted to be a millionaire, would it be worth it to you to hang with a bunch of other millionaires or millionaires-to-be who might serve as a pretty powerful network in the future?People who make a lot of money rarely do so merely by the force of their own genius. They find mentors, partners, cheerleaders, friends, etc. who help them get to the next level. I'm not suggesting that plunking down $30,000 and flying to Maui is in your best interests. But plunking down $24.95 to start moving a little smarter down a path to sustained wealth wouldn't be the worst money you've ever spent.

Book Review: Health Care on Less Than You Think

Justin McHenry — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:45:21 EST

What's the biggest threat to your long-term financial outlook? I could easily make the case that it's paying for health care. Each year throngs of uninsured people go bankrupt due to their inability to pay medical bills. It may be that they couldn't get insurance due to preexisting conditions that an insurer wouldn't cover. Or they simply couldn't afford health insurance at all. And they're not the only ones feeling the pain. For those lucky enough to have health insurance through an employer, they're finding that more and more of the costs of maintaining that insurance are being pushed onto their shoulders as business owners' premiums rise. It's a problem that everyone knows about, but no one has done much to correct. The new book Health Care on Less Than You Think by Fred Brock takes the approach that until the current health care system collapses under the weight of unmet expectations, you're stuck dealing with it - so it's best to learn how to cut your costs as much as possible. At the same time, the book has a loftier goal - to teach you how the health care system works today and to suggest ways that it could change for the better. Maybe all is not lost? Now, if you're going to title your book Health Care on Less Than You Think, you'd better have some real tips on how to lower costs, and this book does. For example, Brock goes into detail on health savings accounts (HSAs), which allow you to put money aside tax-free to pay for the deductible portions of your health care. If you don't use all the money in your account, it can continue to grow year to year. In many cases, having an HSA will allow you to get lower premiums because you can keep insurance deductibles higher. (Of course you need to have the money to set aside in the first place for this to work.) Brock cites a quirk in the prescription drug market that allows pills of different strengths to be sold for virtually the same price. If you have a pill that can be split in half, get your doctor to write you a prescription for the double-strength pills and suddenly your drug price is halved. There are many other suggestions, some more doable than others depending on your situation. Brocks covers common ways that insurance companies deny claims that you're entitled to, with the thought that most people don't know enough to question or won't go through the hassle to make it right. He discusses the different health insurance rates you might expect in different states - if you're in dire straits, you might consider moving. His information on the costs of branded versus generic drugs is an eye-opener. (Generic drugs may be cheaper to you, but their pricing varies widely, with some pharmacies making a killing on them in comparison to brand-name pharmaceuticals.) And there are plenty of other interesting and/or useful ideas on cutting your costs. This book is subtitled "The New York Times Guide to Getting More Affordable Coverage" and so it might not be surprising that this book has more to offer than just handy tips. Brock also wants to discuss options for fixing the underlying problems, not just being crafty in circumventing them. He offers several ideas that he believes are workable, but perhaps the most interesting to me is an idea that's actually been around since the Nixon years. In 1972, Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana suggested a federal catastrophic health insurance plan that would require the government pay all medical expenses beyond a fairly high annual deductbile. (The proposal was $2,000 in 1972, which Brock equates to between $8,000 and $10,000 now.) Insurers could then sell individual policies for those who wanted lower deductibles. The big upside to this plan is that it would take away the haves and have-nots situation we have today based on who has employer-based health insurance, and it would relieve employers of taking on insurance costs that they clearly are becoming less able and/or less inclined to pay. (Employer-based health insurance is a perk; there are absolutely no laws that require a company to provide any health insurance.) At the same time, it would make sure that no one is uninsured to the point that they can lose everything if a major health problem strikes. It also gives insurance companies a role, in that they can still sell policies that lower the deductibles for those unwilling to take their chances on paying a large out-of-pocket expense. Of course getting our government to seriously take up any of the proposals in the book is another story. Until then, get out your pill-cutter and plan your next road trip to Canada.

Book Review: Who's Afraid To Be A Millionaire? by Kelvin Boston

Justin McHenry — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:23:43 EDT

Are you afraid to be a millionaire? Maybe you are and you don't even know it. At least that's what Kelvin Boston, host of the PBS show Moneywise, is saying in his new book titled -- wait for it -- Who's Afraid To Be A Millionaire? You may not be afraid of having money, of course. But you may be afraid of doing what it takes to become a millionaire, even though the potential is there for just about all of us, regardless of our salaries. The world is a financial game, and if you're not playing, you're losing. More than anything, Boston's goal with this book is to get the average person to at least consider playing, by taking the steps necessary to put a plan in place and follow it.To that end, Boston spends the first quarter of the book talking less about getting money and more about the psychology that holds people back from financial success (or any other kind of success). Fear of making decisions, fear of taking responsibility, fear of leaving your comfort zone, fear of losing money, fear of old age and death -- all these fears and more come into play, stopping many people before they even start.Once Boston feels he's got you on board, he goes through the essential building blocks of financial success, including creating a financial plan, managing credit, buying a home, investing/retirement planning, and insurance. I found it interesting that Boston also includes a chapter on starting a business. Not because it's a bad idea -- it's certainly not -- but because even though Boston is targeting the average person with modest means, encouraging readers to start a business shows he also means, well, business. Yes, he wants you to find financial success regardless of your income, but he also wants you to stretch yourself to increase your income, and owning a business may be the most difficult yet rewarding option of all. To take this step means overcoming perhaps the biggest fear anyone faces in attempting to become a millionaire -- fear of failure.While Boston offers various levels of detail on each of the financial building blocks, it's mostly at a beginner level. If you're fairly confident on financial matters, you probably won't find much new here. On the other hand, if you're a newbie, Boston does a good job of getting you pumped up to do something about your financial future, then sets you on the path without overwhelming you in detail. Who's Afraid To Be A Millionaire? isn't about drawing up every play, it's about getting you off the sidelines and into the game.

Book Review: The Accidental Investment Banker by Jonathan Knee

Justin McHenry — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:19:03 EDT

As I neared the end of The Accidental Investment Banker, a very entertaining behind-the-scenes look at Wall Street's power brokers, I couldn't help but think, "So what?" Yes, it's a little shocking, a little fun in a gossipy way, and even a little grotesque when you see the gobs of money bankers make and how they still seem unsatisfied. But, in the end, why should we care about overpaid, whiny brats who believe they're deserving of such ridiculous compensation?To his credit, author Jonathan Knee predicted readers might have this reaction, perhaps because he seems to have forged a successful run at investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley without losing his amusement at the surreal world in which he's worked. In Knee's view, investment banks had a history of integrity as trusted advisors to businessmen who had difficulty getting straight answers elsewhere. However, the business boom of the late '90s, especially the Internet bubble, turned investment banks into sycophants willing to go to any lengths to do a deal, even if it was in no one's best interests (other than the investment bank's of course). The subsequent bust made things even worse, as mass layoffs created cutthroat competition within the banks, making survival more important than quality of work. Again, so what? Well, in Knee's view, this shift to focusing on the transaction over the relationship is what leads to advisors becoming "yes men" who rubber-stamp instead of offering qualified opinions. And that is what allows the Enrons and WorldComs of the world to cheat investors as their advisors willingly go along for the ride. There was a time that investments banks brought an IPO to market with the distinct message that the company was a good buy. These days they take whatever's available - buyer beware. And, while buyers used to be mainly institutions that paid no heed to stock recommendations, in the '90s, we all became the buyers, snapping up Internet stocks through online brokers charging $7.99 per trade - and paying the price when it all collapsed.So, that's sort of the serious, "message" side of the book. Luckily that's just a sliver of the whole. The greater part of the book reads like a Wall Street soap opera. Knee's ability to bring the characters he's met alive on the page -- and his willingness to dish the gossip on how they treated others and were treated themselves in the stormy internal politics of these firms -- makes the book more of a page-turner than you'd expect. You've never heard of these people, but suddenly you find yourself very keen on rooting for or against them, or just laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. (Of course, it seems ridiculous to us, but as Knee's $2 million + salary can attest, it's serious business as well.) For those who've never understood what Wall Street is about, Knee does a fine job of explaining exactly what an investment bank does and why a corporation would pay one such ungodly amounts of money. Knee's "accidental" career as an investment banker (unlike most bankers, who are recruited straight from business school, Knee was recruited from his job as an airline employee by a former classmate) makes him the perfect person to tell this story. Always something of a misfit in the button-down investment world, Knee comes across as the "normal" guy you'd gravitate to in a new job when everyone else seems crazy and/or annoying. And when Knee jumps ship on his own terms (for the most part), you can't help but cheer from the sidelines.The Accidental Investment Banker is a great read regardless of your interest in the subject at hand. Knee's career as an "accidental" writer seems to be going just as successfully as his accidental banking career.

Book Review: Econospinning by Gene Epstein

Justin McHenry — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:00:03 EDT

Gene Epstein, economics editor for Barron's magazine, has written a new book called Econospinning that promises to reveal "how to read between the lines when the media manipulate the numbers". Unfortunately, Epstein doesn't deliver on that promise. Instead, he lines up a few targets and goes after specific examples of their liberal use of economic data to suit their own political agendas. When I say "liberal" use, there's a double meaning - most of Epstein's targets are those on the left end of the political spectrum. The first half of the book could conceivably have been titled "Paul Krugman is a big fat idiot", as Epstein cites examples of where he believes the New York Times columnist twisted employment data in an election year to paint an unflattering picture of the U.S. economy. It's difficult to decipher whether Epstein has valid arguments in the maze of data he offers, but in fairness I may just not be smart enough. What I couldn't help but think, however, was that when it came to his arguments against Krugman and others, those indicted had no opportunity to defend themselves, thus making it no clearer whether they were econospinners or whether Epstein might be as well. That may be the nature of this type of book, but it doesn't help readers understand who's telling the truth versus who's spinning the numbers.Other Epstein targets in Econospinning: Steven Levitt's argument in Freakonomics that legalizing abortion resulted in reduced crime, Barbara Ehrenreich's report on the difficulty of poor people getting ahead in the book Nickel and Dimed, and CNN's Lou Dobbs. Again, other than a couple of half-hearted swipes at The Wall Street Journal and Alan Greenspan, the majority of those targeted represent the political left, which calls into question Epstein's motives.Econospinning is at its best when it goes after the methods of economic data gathering versus the conclusions of those who interpret it. For example, he makes a convincing argument against the government's reporting of monthly payroll and unemployment data, saying this data is often revised significantly (with revisions ignored after the spin associated with the initial release of numbers) or reported upon breathlessly even when results are statistically insignificant.Unfortunately, for readers who buy Econospinning in hopes of understanding who's honest and who's blowing smoke, there's no assistance forthcoming. In fact, despite marketing the book as a guide to "reading between the lines", Epstein admits he's done no such thing in Econospinning's final two paragraphs:Finally, I had planned a chapter of advice to the average reader. You'd like to know what's happening to the economy, but with all that econospinning out there, how do you cope?In this case, I ended up having far less to say than I had thought. I conclude instead on an upbeat note: If the people attacked in this book actually read it, maybe their stuff will improve.For those of us not occupying the political extremes, this seems less like an upbeat note and more like a lame conclusion.

Book Review: Trump University Real Estate 101

Justin McHenry — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:59:54 EDT

A few weeks ago I reviewed The Complete Idiot's Guide to Real Estate Investing Basics and praised it as a detailed manual for anyone just starting out in real estate investing. At the same time, I had gotten my hands on this new Trump University Real Estate 101 book, and as I picked it up, I wondered if I was just going to end up reading all the same information in a new package. I needn't have worried. The subtitle to Real Estate 101 is "Building Wealth with Real Estate Investments" and making money is what this book is all about. While The Complete Idiot's Guide gives you great information on the nitty-gritty details of real estate investing, Real Estate 101 grabs you by the throat and says "Get out there and make something happen!" Its goal is to inspire you as much as to teach you, and it does a good job of it. For example, I'm already building an office tower in Miami Beach. Just kidding, but I could build an office tower in Miami Beach, and it would be awesome, because I'm awesome!See what I mean? This book gets you excited.Before I go any further, I should mention that despite the steely-eyed gaze of my man Donald Trump on the cover, this book is written by Gary W. Eldred, himself no slouch in real estate investing. The Donald offers a two-paragraph foreword to the book, and sprinkled here and there are wisdoms he imparts to complement the text, such as "If you have time to be petty, it indicates you're not busy enough with your work" and "I always include special, unique features that dazzle my tenants or buyers and arouse their emotions." These quotes don't add a whole lot, but it does serve to remind you that this super-rich real estate magnate is behind the whole endeavor.So, back to the book. Eldred makes no bones about the fact that this book is about the reader becoming a real estate entrepreneur. If you just want to be a run-of-the-mill landlord on a run-of-the-mill property, this book's not interested in talking to you. It's looking for an audience that wants to get pumped up about the endless possibilities in the real estate market, and an audience that is ready to make an MVP (most valued property) out of every property it sells or rents.That's not to say the book is all cheerleading. It's not. But the bulk of this book is about finding properties in the right neighborhoods, imagining the possibilities for these properties and putting them to their highest use. Where many real estate books tell you to stick close to home as a beginner, this book says hogwash - go where the market is ready to appreciate. That advice may not be for the casual investor, but this book may not be for the casual investor. There's an assumption here that you really want to make something happen, and the information provided is designed to help you make money. Where a book like The Complete Idiot's Guide gets into the nitty-gritty of things like handling problem tenants, this book's more concerned with how to create the "wow" factor in the properties you buy. It challenges you to think big, even if the property you're buying is very small.This book definitely makes the thought of real estate investing very attractive to me, a feeling I really haven't had in the past. If you're sure you want to get in this field as a real estate entrepreneur, definitely pick it up.I have to admit the book made me a little melancholy, though. I'm kind of small time - I'm not going to rehab a once-glorious hotel in Manhattan; more likely I'd buy one or two two-unit buildings and be satisfied with a little extra cash flow. And I feel like Donald would consider that to be a case of me not reaching my full potential. And that makes me sad.

Book Review: Buddha or Bust by Perry Garfinkel

Justin McHenry — Sun, 6 Aug 2006 22:59:23 EDT

For many people, the name Buddha conjures up the image of a statue - a shirtless monk with a fat belly that you rub for good luck. Although I had a bit more of an understanding than that, when I got a new book featuring just such a Buddha statue on its cover with the title Buddha or Bust: In Search of Meaning, Happiness and the Man Who Found Them All, I somehow expected a rollicking road trip full of adventure and one-of-a-kind characters. While the book has its share of adventure and characters, it's hardly On The Road or a wild Hunter S. Thompson ride. Instead, it's one man's round-the-world report on the current state of Buddhism and how it has adapted within many different political environments and cultural changes. If that doesn't quite fit the image I'd created in my head, the book still took me places I'll never go and taught me things that most people will never know. As far as I'm concerned, that's a book worth reading.Buddha or Bust started as a National Geographic magazine article and blossomed into a full-length book. The author, Perry Garfinkel, is an American who has been a practicing Buddhist for many decades, so he can talk knowledgably on the subject while still making it easy for the layman to keep up.Garfinkel's plan was to loosely follow the path of the original Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who gave up his princehood at the age of 29 (as well as leaving his wife and child) to take the ultimate "finding himself" trek, a six-year odyssey that eventually led to enlightenment under the famous bodhi tree. (By the way, that fat, laughing Buddha that so many of us know is not "the" Buddha but a later monk whose benevolent personality gave him the reputation as one who could bring happiness and good luck to others. Sort of a Buddhist Santa Claus.) Because the original Buddha's path is not completely pinned down, and because Garfinkel doesn't have an unlimited budget from National Geographic, he has to make some concessions, and his travels aren't quite chronological - some don't trace the Buddha's path at all. Indeed, Garfinkel starts at, of all places, the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. You can find out why for yourself if you read the book, but it does make for a powerful beginning.Much of Garfinkel's trip is in the steps of the Buddha, however, and he is in turns inspired by and disappointed in what he finds. Many of the famous Buddha sites are, predictably, tourist traps. On the other hand, Garfinkel finds in many places "engaged" Buddhism, meaning the local Buddhist leaders aren't just meditating; they're out trying to make positive changes in their countries and/or local communities. Ironically, many of the international Buddhist leaders he meets confide that they've learned much from Buddhists in the United States, a perhaps surprising cross-pollination in that Westerners are often stereotyped as practicing the "lite" version of Eastern religions.Maybe the most captivating aspect of the book, from my view, was stories of the leaders and other individuals Garfinkel meets as he travels around the world. From prisoners who've embraced Buddhism behind bars to the Dalai Lama, most have trod an interesting path to where they are today. Perhaps that's appropriate, as Buddhism seems to be more about the journey than the destination. If you have no interest in Buddhism, Buddha or Bust isn't going to provide hours of entertainment or convert you. But if you do have an interest in what it's all about, Garfinkel's trip is a neat introduction to what Buddhism is, even if what it is might be different in different parts of the world.