Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School - Softcover

Hallam, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470830069 ISBN 13: 9780470830062

Publisher: Wiley, 2011

Synopsis

The incredible story of how a schoolteacher built a million-dollar portfolio, and how you can too Most people wouldn't expect a schoolteacher to amass a million-dollar investment account. But Andrew Hallam did so, long before the typical retirement age. And now, with Millionaire Teacher, he wants to show you how to follow in his footsteps. With lively humor and the simple clarity you'd expect from a gifted educator, Hallam demonstrates how average people can build wealth in the stock market by shunning the investment products peddled by most financial advisors and avoiding the get-rich-quicker products concocted by an ever widening, self-serving industry.
Using low cost index funds, coupled with a philosophy in line with the one that made Warren Buffett a multi-billionaire, Hallam guides readers to understand how the stock and bond markets really work, arming you with a psychological advantage when markets fall.

• Shows why young investors should hope for stock market crashes if they want to get rich
• Explains how you can spend just 60 minutes a year on your investments, never open a financial paper, avoid investment news, and still leave most professional investors in the dust
• Promotes a unique new investment methodology that combines low cost index funds and a Warren Buffett-esque investment philosophy

Millionaire Teacher explains how anyone can learn the ABCs of personal finance and strengthen their financial position.

About this title

Review:

Q&A with Author Andrew Hallam

Author Andrew Hallam

You've published personal finance articles for years. But this is your first book. Why do you think so many of the world's most respected personal finance authors have embraced your book so enthusiastically?
I think my book has a couple of differences to most personal finance books. First, it's very easy to understand—even for someone who knows nothing about finances. Second, it's real: I followed this advice myself, building a million dollar portfolio on a modest salary, at a relatively young age. My book doesn't just espouse financial theory, but it shows how I utilized that theory in real life.

And I chuckled while writing it, so readers get a chance to see my quirky sense of humor.

To be honest, many of the great endorsements I received came from my financial heroes---people who literally changed my life at a very young age, by teaching me (through their writing) the sound financial concepts that don't get taught in schools. My book espouses very similar, common sense messages about living below your means, investing effectively in low cost index funds, and thinking correctly about stock market swings (young people, for instance, should rejoice when the stock markets fall).

Why should anyone rejoice when stock markets fall?
Anyone with a job (who intends to keep working for a number of years) should prefer stagnating or falling stock markets. Foundations for great wealth are never established by purchasing stock market investments that are rising in value. Instead, we lay foundations for huge wealth when we enthusiastically buy assets that are cheap. For instance, the stock markets in the U.S. jumped up and down from 1965 to 1982 (17 years) without going anywhere. Most people, during this 17 year period, were growing distrustful of the stock market because they hadn’t made any money. But for patient investors who regularly invested during those 17 years, they were seriously rewarded when the markets erupted nearly 1,700 percent in the following 18 year period. All of those stock market assets they previously bought, at low prices, rose significantly during the next 18 year period (from 1982-2000). People who didn't start buying until the stock market started getting more expensive, voluntarily gave up significant, future riches.

The stock markets haven't made much headway in the past decade. Does that mean this is a good time to invest?
It seems counter-intuitive, but yes. And when the stock markets are volatile, or not moving much, the media is always suggesting that stocks are a bad investment—and that you should seek financial safety elsewhere. For 200 years, the same story has played out over and over again. The general population is always afraid of the stock market when it's most attractive, and they love investing when it gets more and more expensive to do so.

I'm currently preparing to teach a personal finance class to high school kids. And I'm going to show them a huge, long-term stock market chart, spanning the past 200 years. Then I'll ask them: "Show me what would have been the best 15 year historical time periods to plough money into the stock markets, on a monthly basis." Simply by asking them questions (and not giving them the answers) they'll quickly see, without me telling them, that the best times to regularly add money to the markets have always been when markets were stagnant or falling. And coincidentally, media headlines have always been scariest during those times as well! To maximize wealth, my students—and readers of my book---will need to think long term, not short term. And they'll learn to ignore the media.

Your book is a withering critique of the financial service industry. Why is that?
I definitely join the chorus of investment academics who believe that the investment business is (mostly) a giant scam, filled with empty promises and high fees, which hurt the average investor's returns. The big picture is pretty shocking. Take this example: If you had put $10,000 in the AVERAGE global stock, in 1981, and held it until today, with all reinvested dividends, it would be worth nearly $200,000 by 2011. I’m not talking about buying Microsoft or Apple shares, I’m talking about the average stock. But if you ask people who were investing 30 years ago, how many of them turned $10,000 into $200,000, you probably wouldn't find anyone who had. Most investors deal with brokers and financial advisors who skim money off the top, in fees that may appear small---but aren't. And people also become victims to the silly decisions that many brokers and advisors make.

You can find advisors without a conflict of interest (which my book shows) but you can also easily invest your own money. Warren Buffett suggests that, as an aggregate, financial advisors don't tend to add value. And I agree with him.

From the Back Cover:

“Andrew Hallam has distilled the timeless lessons for investing into nine easy to understand and easy to follow rules. The newbie investor will not find a better guide than Millionaire Teacher.”
 - Burton G. Malkiel, Author, A Random Walk Down Wall Street 10th Edition

“This is a great book. If there was a course called Life 101, this book would be its primary reading. It’s as easy to read as Tobias, Bernstein, or Solin, but it starts from Ground zero and walks you quickly to the true keys to personal finance and investing. It’s what you need to know, told with humor, in a way you can understand.”
 - Scott Burns, Chief Investment Strategist, AssetBuilder, Inc.
   Personal Finance Columnist, Universal Press Syndicate

“Put away your checkbook. Instead give this book to every young person and you will be gifting them a   lifetime of financial independence and success.”
 - Robert P. Miles, Author, Warren Buffett Wealth

“If you buy just one book this year, this is it. Studies warn that too many investors are financially illiterate today. Millionaire Teacher will educate and inspire a whole new generation of savvy investors who think themselves, regularly beat The Street and will retire successfully.”
 - Paul B Farrell, JD, PhD, Author, The Millionaire Code, The Winning Portfolio and The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing

“Do you spend too much and save too little? Do you wonder why your investments always seem to roll behind the eight ball? In clear, compelling, and highly entertaining prose Andrew Hallam will explain to you exactly why, and what to do about it. And if you’re a non-US resident, there’s an added bonus: strategies for long-suffering Canadian, Australian, and Singaporean investors that can easily be applied to other nationalities as well.”
 - William Bernstein, Author, The Investor’s Manifesto and The Four Pillars of Investing

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0470830069
• ISBN 13: 9780470830062
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208