“Millionaire Teacher” Informal Book Review

*This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure

HUGE thank you to Jordann from My Alternate Life for sending me this book. It has been an eye opener!

Hey homies, what’s up? Well, I have had a blast this past week picking up an analog book (you know, a REAL book) and reading through it. I haven’t done that in a LONG while, possibly even over a year! And I probably wouldn’t have done it with this one either, except that I set it on a shelf right next to my bedroom door so I had to stare at it every time that I left the room. Last Tuesday, I finally picked it up and decided to see what it was all about. And I’m glad I did.

Millionaire Teacher By Andrew Hallman

The book’s title actually annoyed me, as I’ve seen so many hyped up “Millionaire This or That” type books around, I figure the gimmick has been overplayed. But the idea of a person on an American teacher’s salary becoming a millionaire is always intriguing, so I decided to dive in.

Make Good Money Decisions Young

The book started out with a basic theme that I expected from a teacher who became a millionaire. He talked about avoiding consumerism, saving a large portion of your income, and getting and staying out of debt. All things I talk about here as well. He talked about not wasting money on new cars, not buying homes that are too expensive, and generally practicing the principles of frugality. I found myself nodding my head as he told stories of people he financially admired, and he seemed to do all the right things, without wasting money like a typical American.

He went on to talk about how he started investing at age 19. I think this was a key point, as he put an emphasis on investing ANYTHING as soon as possible. I related to this, as I opened a Roth IRA at age 18, and maxed it out for two years. Now, I haven’t put any more into it, but it has grown (even after the “financial crisis”), and has many, many more years to compound. He broke down the principal of compounding interest in an awesome way, showing the power of a young investor.

Invest In Index Funds

Most of the rest of the book was spent de-constructing the typical investing plan which most people put together through a financial planner or 401k plan at work. And he did a darn convincing job too! Using real facts, studies, figures and quotes from VERY well-known investors, Andrew showed how most financial plan involve fees that are gouging the typical working family out of tens of thousands of dollars, possibly more. And as someone with little “hands-on” investing experience, this was very good information. Andrew’s writing style is very approachable, and the pages just flew by as I absorbed the information with ease. I mean, if my peanut-sized brain can handle it, anyone can!

I was sucked into the details of how financial planners are compensated, especially since I want to become a financial advisor someday. It was enlightening knowing how many fees and charges are built into the typical “mutual fund” investment portfolio, especially compared side-by-side with an index fund portfolio.  This is going to trigger a conversation with my financial planner, or possibly with a few CFP’s I know, and then just transfer my investments elsewhere, as I feel I have been getting nickeled and dimed for a long while now. I like the idea of semi-passive investing, with annual rebalancing and analysis.

The Nine Rules Of Wealth

Andrew put this book together based on his “Nine Rules Of Wealth”. Here they are:

1. Spend Like A Millionaire
2. Start Investing As Early As Possible
3. Invest In Low Cost Index Funds
4. Understand Stock Market History
5. Build A Complete, Balanced Portfolio With Stock And Bond Index Funds
6. Create Indexed Accounts No Matter Where You Live
7. Learn To Fight An Adviser’s Sales Rhetoric
8. Avoid Investment Schemes And Scams
9. If You Must Buy Common Stock, Do It With A Small Percentage Of Your Portfolio

As you can see, a good chunk of it is based on your investing strategy, and luckily he broke it down in a simple, digestible format for even the greenest investor.

Take Some Action

I read this 180-page book in 2 days after work. I felt like I was learning some valuable information, and am excited to take some action to get more education on my investments and what my current options are at work and through my Roth IRA. Who knows, maybe I’ll lower my fees a ton and get some sweet index funds. I’ll report back here as soon as I make some moves. And if anyone has any experience in this area, feel free to hit me up directly to let me know if this book is all lies and how I need to shutup and just let the professionals manage it. 😉

You can find the book on Amazon for like $12 by clicking here (affiliate link). Even if you find it elsewhere, or just borrow it from a friend, I do highly recommend this read! I would be giving this book away as part of the review, but I want to keep it for reference 🙂

Comments: Has anyone out there read this book? What did you think? Are index funds really that much better than actively managed mutual fund portfolios? How have you lowered your investment fees over the years? Let me know, I’m soaking all this info up! Thanks!

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link to the book. I definitely recommend it to those wanting to know if their money invested it actually being nickeled and dimed to death without them knowing it! I do receive a very small commission if you decide to buy through my link, and as always, I appreciate the support 🙂