Robert P. Miles on Millionaire Teacher

 

“Put away your check-book.  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 of Warren Buffett Wealth

Larry Swedroe on Millionaire Teacher

 

“Andrew Hallam’s book is just the right one for novice investors.  He not only provides the winning strategy in terms of your personal financial life, but in investing as well.  The book contains Hallam’s Nine Rules to become a millionaire, and he has them all right.”

Larry Swedroe; Author, The Quest for Alpha; Principal and Director of Research for the Buckingham Family of Financial Services

Michael B. O’Higgins on Millionaire Teacher

 

“Unlike most investment book authors, Andrew Hallam has become a millionaire by living frugally and investing HIS OWN MONEY successfully.  His book is a great guide…”

Michael B. O’Higgins; O’Higgins Asset Management, O’Higgins Asset Management Inc., Author, Beating the Dow and Beating the Dow with Bonds

William Bernstein on Millionaire Teacher

 

“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.”

William Bernstein,  Author, The Investors Manifesto and The Four Pillars of Investing

Scott Burns on Millionaire Teacher

 

“This is a great book.  If there was a course called Life 101, this book would be its primary reading… 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

Robert Wasilewski on Millionaire Teacher

 

“Andrew’s book is my ‘go to’ book from here on out when asked for a recommendation for that graduating high school or college student.  It is a joy to read and will undoubtedly raise the financial literacy of young people as well as adults.”

Robert Wasilewski, President of RW Investment Strategies

John Heinzl on Millionaire Teacher

“Andrew Hallam is proof that you don’t need a high salary, complex trading system or even a financial adviser to achieve financial independence.  You can get rich by living within your means and using simple wealth building tools.  Millionaire Teacher is a sensible and highly readable guide to investing that packs a lot of wisdom into its nine simple rules.”

John Heinzl, Finance/Business columnist, The Globe and Mail

Bill Schultheis on Millionaire Teacher

“Millionaire Teacher is an enormously thoughtful gem of an investment book that every serious investor should read, study and learn from.  This wise and witty book gives the reader a fresh perspective on the simple concepts needed to sustain financial freedom.  Most of all, it is delivered with a genuine simplicity that will capture the reader’s attention from the first page and hold it to the end”

Bill Schultheis, Author of The New CoffeeHouse Investor, CFP Soundmark Wealth Management

Charles E. Kirk on Millionaire Teacher

 

“Every once in a great while I read a financial book that I think should be shared with everyone I know.  Millionaire Teacher is that book!”

Charles E. Kirk, The Kirk Report

Paul B. Farrell on Millionaire Teacher

 

“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.”

Paul B. Farrell, JD, PhD; Author of The Millionaire Code; The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing

Burton Malkiel on Millionaire Teacher

 

“The newbie investor will not find a better guide than Millionaire Teacher”

Burton Malkiel, Author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street and professor at Princeton University

Robert P. Miles on Millionaire TeacherLarry Swedroe on Millionaire TeacherMichael B. O’Higgins on Millionaire TeacherWilliam Bernstein on Millionaire TeacherScott Burns on Millionaire TeacherRobert Wasilewski on Millionaire TeacherJohn Heinzl on Millionaire TeacherBill Schultheis on Millionaire TeacherCharles E. Kirk on Millionaire TeacherPaul B. Farrell on Millionaire TeacherBurton Malkiel on Millionaire Teacher

Dec
27

What International School Teachers Should Consider

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December 27, 2011

 When I give financial seminars to international school teachers, I tend to shock them with this:

“As international school teachers, you aren’t as wealthy as your counterparts in England, Canada, the U.S., Australia or New Zealand.”

At first, they stare at me with the crazy look you’d reserve for someone who just ate a handful of cockroaches.

Their salaries are often higher than those of their teaching counterparts back home, they think.  And their taxes might even be lower.  So how can they, as international school teachers, be poorer than the teachers in their home countries?

Consider this:

Upon retirement, the average public school teacher usually has the following:

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Dec
26

How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 4 of 7

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December 26, 2011

We’re going to poke a bit of fun at Royal Bank of Canada. 

There’s a great 1709 quote by Alexander Pope, from his Essay on Criticism, which goes as follows:

A little learning is a dangerous thing; 
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: 
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
and drinking largely sobers us again.

The Pierian spring is a source of knowledge.  Pope suggests that if we drink a small amount from the Pierian spring, we’ll become sophomoric—potentially leading us to trouble.

RBC was hoping to take advantage of shallow draughts when they offered their own brand of low cost index funds. The only trouble for keen, would-be index investors was that the funds weren’t “low cost” at all. 

They were some of the most expensive index funds on the market.

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Dec
23

How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 3 of 7

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December 23, 2011

If you’ve read the first two articles of this series, you might be starting to get upset with the financial advisors at your local bank. 

But it’s important that you go easy on them.  Most of the bank’s reps are great people, and like you and me, they’re just trying to make a living.  What’s more, it’s not in the banks’ interests to educate them on the fact that lower cost investment products are the only reliable determinant of an investor’s success.  For most of the bank’s financial advisors, they really are trying to help you.  But most of them aren’t aware of what the banks’ strings are leading them to – poor investment results for most of their clients.

  • High investment costs are good for Canadian banks
  • Low investment costs are good for you

Today, I’m going to focus on the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) after focusing on TD bank in my previous post.

Like we did with my previous article, I would like to compare the decade long performances of the bank’s high cost funds focusing on the U.S. stock market, the Canadian stock market, the International stock market and the Canadian bond market, while comparing the results to some lower cost alternatives.

But I won’t be able to do that.

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Dec
19

How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 2 of 7

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December 19, 2011

Most Canadian investors don’t realize that their banks walk all over them—hanging heavily weighted costs on their investment products which can hamper would-be flourishing nest eggs.

We’ve learned the importance of fighting for great mortgage rates, understanding that our banks don’t usually offer competitive rates unless we barter for them.  And we’re starting to learn, slowly, that the same rule applies with our investments.

When it comes to the performance of an overall portfolio, the lower the fees, the higher the long term returns for investors.  The higher the fees, the larger the long term returns for the banks.  It’s our choice.

Today, I’m going to focus on Toronto Dominion Bank. 

And over the course of this series, I’ll examine the comparative returns of what the banks want you to buy, juxtaposed with the lower cost alternatives that you could be buying instead.

Here are two of the most important investment rules:

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Dec
18

How to Add 50 Percent To Your Investment Portfolio

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December 18, 2011

Can a 40-year-old run a four minute mile on a diet of Mars bars and Cheetos? 

It’s about as likely as building a portfolio of actively managed mutual funds and (over a lifetime) expecting it to keep pace with a portfolio of index funds, after all taxes and expenses.

If you’re already on track, however, with an efficient portfolio of indexes, how can you juice your investment account even further?  Coupling your portfolio with highly touted hedge funds or gambling with puts and options could act as a short term investment steroid (if you’re lucky) but like disgraced sprinter Marion Jones and others who were caught, such shortcuts bring short term glory and long term pain.

Fortunately, there’s a far easier way to increase the size of your eventual retirement account without increasing your risks.

Here’s how…

 

 

Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/how-to-add-50-percent-to-your-investment-portfolio/

Dec
17

How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 1 of 7

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December 17, 2011

You might feel a touch of anger after reading this series of articles.

I’m about to show you how much money the average Canadian is paying the big five banks, when trusting the banks to invest their hard-earned investment dollars.  Think of it this way:  If you were to build a $100,000 investment portfolio over your lifetime with actively managed mutual funds from CIBC, TD, Bank of Montreal, Scotia bank, or the Royal Bank, you would likely be giving up half of your portfolio’s potential.   Surely, $200,000 sounds a lot better than $100,000, doesn’t it?

This series of articles will point out where the average Canadian is wasting their money, and in my final column of seven, I’ll explain, very specifically, what you can do about it.

I haven’t committed to this series of articles to make you angry.   Instead, I’m hoping that you’ll be empowered.  You see, as an investor, you’re in a battle with your investment firm.  They have a prime directive that’s different to yours.  Financial service companies have a goal to make money for their firm, and you have a goal to make money for yourself. 

Think about this for a moment:  You can’t blame the banks for wanting to make high profits.  That’s what they’re in business to do.  If you’ve ever haggled on mortgage interest rates, then you know what I’m talking about.  The banks will usually offer a high interest rate, and it’s up to you to barter downward.

Low cost investment products, as a group, outperform high cost investment products.

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Dec
16

America’s Promise

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December 16, 2011

chinese flag
© AssetBuilder

We’re all getting smacked with reports about the U.S. economy and how Asia’s young academic tigers are going to hammer home runs against America’s kids, relegating the next generation of Americans to play second string to world-leading superstars in China.

True, U.S. educational cutbacks could have devastating future consequences, but from my perspective, as an international teacher based in Asia…

 I see something different.

Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/americas-promise/

Dec
15

The Crazy Success of Millionaire Teacher

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December 15, 2011

My book’s publisher in Singapore, Nick Wallwork of John Wiley & Sons emailed me last week to say that Millionaire Teacher is the most successful book he has ever produced.

Exactly what components come together to create a best-seller?  Obviously, the book has to be decent, but loads of great books go unpublished—and hundreds (even thousands) of bestselling books have their readers scratching their heads and asking, “How did this book become such a hit?”

Millionaire Teacher is a book that, I think, fit a market niche.  My fellow teachers at Singapore American School guided me to keep the book simple and engaging.  I have hundreds of my fellow educators to thank.  I also want to thank MoneySense Magazine’s founding editor (and now the Features Editor at The Globe and Mail) for convincing me to write this book, and for putting together such an amazing Foreword.

The book wouldn’t have been published in the first place if it weren’t for the great work that David Dixon of Singapore Online Services did on my personal finance blog.  That’s an understatement.  He convinced me to start the blog, and it caught the attention of John Wiley & Sons when they received my initial book proposal back in June of 2010.

The powerful endorsements from many of the world’s greatest investment writers gave this book immediate credibility.  Thank you to Burton Malkiel, Scott Burns, Robert P. Miles, Paul B Farrell, William Bernstein, Larry Swedroe, Bill Schultheis, Charles E. Kirk, Michael O’Higgins, John Heinzl and Robert Wasilewski.

Giving the book its incredible wheels were the bloggers, interviewers and financial writers who created reviews and profiles.  My apologies if I missed people (I’m sure I have) but I want to do my best to thank everyone who played a role in this book’s success, including Scott Burns and Kennon Grose at Assetbuilder.  Here are some of the people who put an unlikely author on so many American, Singaporean, Canadian, Malaysian and Chinese nightstands.  (Yes, the book is being produced in basic and orthodox Chinese, for Taiwan and mainland China)

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Dec
14

Confessions of a Timeshare Seller

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December 14, 2011

timeshare-seller
© AssetBuilder

I have a confession to make.

I’ve sold two holiday Timeshares. And the guilt hurts. Like most people who have done the math on these holiday resorts, I understand that they’re a good deal for salespeople, but they’re usually a bad deal for buyers.

Here’s my story.

Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/confessions-of-a-timeshare-seller/

Dec
04

Millionaire Teacher Counts Americans in Cuba

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December 4, 2011

If you’re an American without family in Cuba, then the only way you can legally visit Castro’s old haunts is to beg your way through Havana.

It’s an American law, not a Cuban one. 

Americans aren’t allowed to spend money in Cuba, so any intrepid law-abiding travellers from the U.S. have to fly there from a non U.S. country and beg for food and accommodation.  Most of the world’s major tourist areas have their share of panhandlers, but when I leave for Cuba tomorrow evening, I don’t expect any of those pan-handlers (if I see any at all) to be American.  Some things just aren’t worth the hassle.

Are you an American who has visited Cuba?  

Leave a comment (anonymously, of course) and give me your side of the story.  If you were breaking U.S. law, then why?  And can people who don’t agree with a law choose to break it just because they don’t agree with it?  If you’re a non-American, did you see any Americans (of non Cuban descent) on Cuban soil? 

On an unrelated front:

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Dec
02

New Shipment of Millionaire Teacher at Amazon.ca

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December 2, 2011

A new shipment of Millionaire Teacher is now available for purchase on Amazon.ca

Amazon Canada – http://amzn.to/mtcanada

Amazon USA should be receiving their new copies soon.

Again, I’m very sorry for the delay.

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Nov
30

Millionaire Teacher: Absent With Out Leave?

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November 30, 2011

When John Wiley & Sons published Millionaire Teacher, they anticipated moderate success.

But they didn’t expect to knock out any lights. Fortunately (and unfortunately) my feet are crunching over light bulbs.

The book has sold out on Amazon USA a few weeks back. Here’s the bottom line:  You can still place an order for Millionaire Teacher. 

Wiley ordered three more print runs:  two in the U.S. and one in Singapore.  If you order through Amazon USA, the book will likely arrive within the next couple of weeks.  True, the site indicates that they are “out of stock” but you can still place an order and receive your book well before Christmas.

The book also sold out on Amazon Canada yesterday.

Again, you can still order it (despite the “out of stock” message) and easily get the book before the holidays.

I’ve been trying to keep up with emailed queries about the book’s availability, and I feel terrible about the wait.  I was in Vancouver this week for an interview on Global Television.  Doing that kind of thing is tough when you know that anyone ordering the book will have to wait a few weeks for it.

The publisher has pushed this train into overdrive, and the book should soon flood the bookstands with the ”bestseller” label.  Until then, thank you for your patience.  And I sincerely apologize.

On another note, I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to write alongside the legendary Scott Burns, for Assetbuilder.  Scott has been writing about Personal Finance for more than 40 years, and his support is one of the reasons my book has been such a hit.

If you’re interested in checking out my first Assetbuilder article, here it is.

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