Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth (Paperback)

The section on the benefits of regular investing and compound interest is one of the very best I have seen. It shows how as little as a dollar a day invested can be turned into a million dollars over a lifetime. That is followed by 50 ways to save $50 a month so you'll be able to make these investments.

He then has a good section on the money skills you need: "value" money; "control" money; "save" money; "invest" money; "make" money; "shield" money; and "share" money for worthwhile purposes (your legacy). I agree that each of these areas needs work. I do think that the "control" and "shield" sections are overdone for the average person. They are more an indication of personality that is compulsive than of necessary steps. I have known hundreds of people who have achieved financial security through their own efforts, and none of them to my knowledge employed more than a small amount of what is described in those two sections.

I also liked his "moneytree" concept for what kind of a stream of income you should try to build. I do think he makes it sound much easier than it is. I have personal experience with most of these areas, and I thought that they each took a lot of work, strain, and sweat. I also had to put significant financial resources into them before I was done.

The stock investment section is pretty good until he starts talking about buying calls. Don't do it. His advice on buying indexed, no-load mutual funds is good, but he veers off into encouraging sector funds. Don't do it unless you are very knowledgeable.

I thought the real estate section was good, but he makes it sound easier than it is to handle the human interactions necessary to get the real estate with no money down and to do the renting and fix up. Many people would find it excrutiating to do those things. Someone with a lot of emotional intelligence would find it fun. Don't forget that needed repairs can put quite a dent in your wallet, as can having deadbeat tenants (or no tenants).

The tax lien section is pretty good, and more people should look into that.

I thought the network marketing section was woeful. Yes, celebrities have an easy time with network marketing. Are you a celebrity?

I think that licensing will be too tough for most people, although it was a good idea to have it here. This is more appealing for people who are lawyers.

I wish it were as easy to make money from writing a book as he suggests.

The tax material was decent, if a little light.

Overall, Mr. Allen seems to have a need to show off. He likes to tell about his personal successes. I agree that he is a talented man. And I agree that I am not as talented as he is in these areas. So why should I try to follow his advice? Most things require skill or knowledge to do well. If he looked for things that 90 percent of the people succeed in earning a good income from with limited risk, this would have been a great book. But he keeps wanting to pull rabbits out of a hat, by describing places where a few will make a killing while most will get killed. A good example is the section on building an Internet business.

I do recommend that you read the book. But check out the ideas for their difficulty to implement, and their risk, before choosing ones to do. Generally, simpler, safer, and easier are better. If you did everything he suggests, you would have a very complicated life just taking care of your finances.

Before reading this or any other investment book, I suggest that you think through how your would like to spend your time on achieving and retaining financial security. Then, as you read this and other books, check out the ideas to see how well they coincide with your idea of what you like to do. Reject those that push you in directions that are uncomfortable for you. You probably won't follow through, or will do it badly, or will feel lousy all the time. Money just isn't worth making yourself unhappy for.

Keep money in perspective in terms of your goals for a wonderful life!

Donald Mitchell, co-author of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution