The Millionaire Manual
An Owners Manual for your financial life
by
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On balance it is not our nature to learn from our mistakes. For example,you would think that a person who bought a stock for $1.00 , then watched it go to $7.00 within a couple of weeks,before declining again, would know to sell the stock the next time. 20 years of experience in the field tells me that this is not the case. A test was done a few years ago with a large group of people shopping in a Midwestern Mall. Two bowls of candy were placed in a middle sitting area. Each bowl had wrapped candy in it and a sign was placed above each indicating a 100 dollar prize for a winning number. In the first bowl, three pieces of candy were placed with one winning number. In the second bowl , 24 pieces of candy were placed with 6 winning numbers. Afterday daylong studies involving hundreds of people,approximately 90% chose the larger bowl to try to get the winning number. What about you, which bowl would you have chosen? The odds of winning from the larger bowl were 25% and from the smaller bowl the odds were 33%. That is all there is to it. Therefore 90% of the public was wrong. This innate desire to choose the larger bowl is tied to our desire to buy stocks only after they have skyrocketed. Why do I mention the fact that we know George Washington existed eventhough we never met him and our understanding that it will be cold again in winter even though we are much too hot all summer? The simple answer is that when it comes to investing, we do neither of these things. We behave exactly like a person would who visited Buffalo in summer and then refused to take his coat with him when he returned in December.Regardless of the amount of data provided in the form of history of markets, market sectors and long term performance, people are able to convince themselves through some fault in a reasoning abilities that when things are bad they will get worse and when they are great they will get even better. To clarify,speculative stock prices on a day to day basis are like betting on who will win the British Open after day 1. If the odds for one golfer are 3 to 1 while another has odds of 50 to 1, you can benefit from the one day performance of the golfers. You can sell the golfer with 50 to 1 odds after he plays a good round and his odds improve. You can make a large profit without your golfer having to win. The momentum of this one day performance will increase his odds of winning. Thus the Wall Street adage,"Buy on the Rumor, Sell on the News"
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Book Details
About the Book
This book presents a refreshingly new method for coaching the individual on accumulating one millon dollars or more in the public markets. This uniqueness takes several forms. The first of these is the strucuture of the book itself. It is divided into four components. These components are Tools, Parts, Assembly and Warranty. In other words, it is set up as an Owners Manual for the individual. By analogy to other Owners Manuals which we have all seen and attempted to read, the Tools are generally things that are not included with a new item that we purchase and are required to assemble. We must either already have them or purchase them before we can begin the assembly process. The Tools section of this book is completely unlike other investment books. A reader can gain more from reading this section of the book than from most full texts on the subject. The Parts and Assembly sections of the book are in reality the how to of making money in the market. Although admittedly of little value without the first section,these areas combine academic theories with practical experience. Art and science are merged with real life examples of how you can make your money work for you. As a reader goes through these pages, his or her mind is transformed into new modes of thought. It is as if a light comes on and it all begins to make sense. The delivery is powerful and enlightening. The book concludes with a warranty section. It is of little value to accumulate assets if you are going to lose them. Insights are given on protecting not only your investment portfolio but other assets as well. There are full chapters on how to protect the home and auto as well as methods of getting maximum income while reducing taxes. The other area of uniqueness is the detail regarding how an investor must react to bull and bear markets and why they must act in a certain way. Making millions in the market is as much about being able to refrain from certain innate problems that we all possess as investors and converting our natures and subconscious minds in a way that allows us to be successful. Of particular interest are the stories which relate to everything from astro-physics to world history in teaching the reader about the investment world. This moves a rather bland subject from the area of boredom to very interesting reading. A reader will want to read this book again and again and keep it where it can be referred back to. It will be one Owners Manual that will not be locked away in a drawer.
About the Author
The author is a native of South Carolina. He is an honor graduate of the University of South Carolina and has done post graduate work in law and business. At present, he is the holder of 8 professional designations including the prestiguous CFP. Mr. Alford is the owner of 3 businesses and has more than 20 years of experience in the investment world. He is married to Dr. Siena Shields Alford, a family physician and the couple has three sons. Mr. Alford has previously written, In Search of Infinity,as well as a book on his family history . He has also written a brochure for private distribution titled,"Pathway to an Early Retirement." Alford has won more than 40 awards for excellence during his years in business and continuously been a civic and community leader.