Comments on: Review: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth

By: furgurl

furgurl — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:31:54 +0000

Ric doesn’t tell you that the ETF’a have commissions for buy and sell unlike a index fund like Vanguard,,,and that eats into the profit,, I liked his The Truth About Money,,, but Lies About Money with all those boring financial plans was awful ,,, so boring,,, he is right ,,,stay in the market ,,,don’t sell your shares … and the boring garbage about his Dogs,, who cares..Don’t buy his book,,, get it from the Library… another hussle,,,another Buck,,, keep rowing Ric ,,, we are all on the titanic… yo ho ho.

By: furgurl

furgurl — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:23:23 +0000

I agree.. with the original comment on Ric edlemans books and pitch,, he is after the buck and recommending planners which I am sure he is getting a commission ,, we all don’t work free,, he sounds great ,, but is he??? I wonder… is he on the Titanic too??? hummmm

By: Dough Roller

Dough Roller — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:08:20 +0000

Trent, I have to agree with your assessment of Edelman’s book. I’ve always found much of his advice to be wrong, ridiculous or irrelevant. Years ago he preached against index funds because of their “hidden” tax time bomb. In other words, because they are run so efficiently, capital gains tax builds up and “surprises” the investor when he or she goes to sell. That’s just silly. As a general rule, I shun personal finance books written by authors who feel the need to put a full body shot of themselves on the front cover.

By: Cortni Marrazzo

Cortni Marrazzo — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:08:31 +0000

I agree with his #1 point about investing extra money instead of paying down your mortage. At least for me this is the smartest thing to do because I’m in my mid twenties and my money will go a lot further in investments due to the length of time I have until retirement, instead of paying down my house which I will probably only be in for about 5 years anyhow.

By: Graham Lutz

Graham Lutz — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:40:35 +0000

I tend to like books. I treat books like the grocery store. I take what I need and leave the rest.

By: WeSeed Editor

WeSeed Editor — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:15:47 +0000

It’s a shame he will turn so many people off by trying to sell other books—that is not the way to get new people interested in investing, no matter what the advice is.

By: Saving Freak

Saving Freak — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:00:35 +0000

I’ll vouch for Trent being negative in the past. The word ruthless does not begin to describe some of his reviews. I was shocked he had so many in a row that he liked.

By: Trent

Trent — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:52:26 +0000

Kevin: I’ve had a run of books I’ve liked. I’ve been hardcore negative on books in the past.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:42:22 +0000

As usual this review does a great job of summing up the gist of a book. I’m happy finally see a review that isn’t all positive — I was starting to think you liked everything!

By: mshultin

mshultin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:25:45 +0000

@Frugal Dad:
OPEW is the only book that’s heavy on the personal testimonial side of things. All of his books are very conversational in delivery, and full of data and examples.

@Mrs. Micah:

Edleman isn’t a big fan of index funds. In several of his books he notes that index funds were not designed as investments, but as indicators of the market, as snapshots. The only association with index funds he uses are ETFs, as they’re currently based on index funds (the first actively managed one was approved for release last week). His firm goes more for institutional mutual funds, and increasingly ETFs.

@Credit:

Nicely put.

By: Credit

Credit — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:01:04 +0000

Index funds are not well diversified — especially the Vanguard 500 because it is weighted by large caps and high P/E stocks. If you want to lose money over the next 10-20 years, put everything you have in these funds. This advice seems to be a common myth that is extremely prevalent amongst the PF blog crowd and is quite disturbing. It would be nice to think that thought about investing is not necessary and mindlessly investing in an index fund is a panacea. I would advise that people do a bit more research into investing and balance the advice that Trent by also reading books by John Mauldin and Ed Easterling who provide a different perspective.

By: bushidozen

bushidozen — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:53:24 +0000

Keep in mind that the book was published in 2001 (meaning it was written in 2000), before the stock market bubble popped. If you think his words sound unconventional now, they were utter blasphemy during the tech rally.

Also, while I like Edelman and agree with much of what he has to say, Ordinary People, Extraordianary Wealth was not his best book. I emplore you to read his other book, Discover the Wealth Within You. The first third of this book talks strictly about achieving goals, while the remainder of the book focuses on how to structure your investments to make your goals a reality. I honestly think you will like this book better (with the exception of the advertising footnotes, which he does in all of his books).

Besides, if you can review, 2 (or more) of Jim Cramer’s and Dave Ramsey’s books, then you can give this guy another shot. :)

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:42:19 +0000

I would be interested in examing the “information overload” concept in further detail. I think that a lot..I mean a lot of people try to find the “secret” investing formula for wealth and forget to put anything into proactice to see waht works for them.
There are a lot of people making a lot of money in different ways, but those ways might not be a fit for you. One has to take action and figure out what strategies best suit their needs and personality. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to financial strategies.
Thank you for the review.
~Tyler

By: Becky@FamilyandFinances

Becky@FamilyandFinances — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:38:26 +0000

I really like #7. My parents were always very mum about finances and didn’t teach us kids how to manage money or encourage us to save. Most of us turned out ok with regards to financial savviness anyway, but I definitely want to be more proactive when I have kids.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:25:24 +0000

Re #2: Isn’t an index fund automatic diversification? Suddenly you’ve invested in bits and pieces of 500 stocks.

I see where he’s going with it, but it seems like he chose an awkward phrasing.

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:11:01 +0000

Timely review for me personally, I just picked up Edelman’s latest book, The Lies About Money, from the library last weekend. It’s currently on deck in my reading list and now I am less than enthused. I’ll give it a try anyway to see what nuggets I can extract. I usually only agree with half of what these “gurus” write anyway, with the exception of books like Your Money or Your Life, where I tend to soak up just about every idea presented.