A Million Bucks By 30: How to Overcome a Crap Job, Stingy Parents, and a Useless Degree to Become a Millionaire Before (or After) Turning Thirty

A great read -- Corey cuts through the nonsense and gets right to his goal

This is a terrific, fun, honest book. I read the book after hearing Corey speak at a B&N reading in NYC and passed it on to a 20-something guy in my office, who said, after reading several chapters, 'My God, I think I can do this!'

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Fabulous Book For Complete Beginners

I am an experienced real estate investor who is constantly "trying" to elicit the interest of friends and family members to learn about investing. However, they usually view my own success as a result of me being "smarter" or "luckier" than them. I picked up Corey's book because I wanted to find a book that I can give to someone else that is SIMPLE to read and not "directly" a self-help or Investing book. Interestingly, because his photo on the front appears somewhat geeky (sorry Corey), I thought the photo made it non-threatening and casual for someone to want to read. This book is creative, laugh-out-loud funny, and targets complete beginners. Corey combines "saving" and "investing" in a way that is simple to understand at any level. To the point of the person who wrote the review in which he/she characterize Corey's habits of "eating ramen noodles" and living "in the projects" to save money as *dumb*, I think this review misses the point. Corey is demonstrating the principals of frugality and thrift, and the roles that those concepts play in building wealth. He is building a psychological mindset inside of the reader. Further, he demonstrates that these are "choices" (which his friends did not make), that are in fact not always pleasant and do not provide immediate gratification. He isn't suggesting that the reader suffer from malnutrition or live in a dangerous environment. The topic of Thrift in accumulating wealth is documented back through the centuries as a major factor in building capital. His points about "saving" and frugality are "key". In the book "Secrets of The Millionaire Mind",T. Harv Eker suggests that "Investing" is something that poor people think is a privilege of the wealthy, and that the Wealthy credit as the vehicle FOR their wealth. In most cases, an investor will want to use some capital (money) that cannot be used somewhere else (like eating-out all of the time, driving expensive cars, living in higher cost areas, buying TVs, Toys..). These principals hold true for people who start with literally "nothing". I too began investing in real estate with "no money", so I can vouch for the effectiveness of his ideas and creativity. It is true that this book is not a step-by-step "how to" on specific strategies used for buying real estate investments, however he did accurately describe the process he used (albeit condensed). For this, you may want to buy a different book or program. I used Robert Allens' "No Money Down". Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) has a nice modern-day real estate investing program. Corey's book shows that ANYONE can build wealth. I enjoyed the way he uses humor to convey his complete initial ignorance of investment terminology (such as 401K). Many people think that they cannot become investors because they don't understand the terms. He also effectively shows how to take advantage of getting "free" money (employer matched 401K contributions, the credit card that offered savings bonds, etc.). Even though Corey DID experience with his rapid growth of equity from the real estate boom of the early 2000's, the same results can be attained in as few as 10 years, without a mega boom in the market. The only thing I would change is the title. You don't have be under 30 to build wealth or benefit from this book.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

No Good

I've read the first few chapters as well and skipped around the rest. I normally wouldn't review unless I've read the whole thing. However, right in his intro, he specifies that he had a full scholarship and therefore, no student loans so he started out with a meager amount that most recent college graduates would sell their soul for. He had a HUGE head start and that was enough to made me lose interest in the book. I've read everywhere else about pinching pennies, savings accounts, retirement accounts, interest rate reductions, brown bagging lunch, shopping at thrift stores, transferring CC balances, etc. When you think about it, it's all pretty common sense. This book may be good for someone that knows little about those subjects but a student loan is what most people are paying for most of their life and diving into that subject would've made this book more useful.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful!

One of the most motivating and easy-to-understand money books I have ever read. A must read for anyone looking to turn their fianances around, regardless of their age or even interest in the subject. Fun, funny, and enjoyable.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is disappointing. It doesn't help you. I more like autobiography.

I got this book and after reading 3 chapters I gonna take it back. I really sucks. This book is good if it was sold as autobiography. This book was sold as self help advice and some autobiography. Most of the tip do not help. Like eating ramen noodle for 3 month straight for lunch. Two a day for lunch. Ramen noodles is not good for you. Living in the projects to save on rent. You life is more important. Buy a video game system instead of going out is dumb. He show how much he saved or have in his account at the end of the chapter. No real advice or information on how he save so much on a low paying job in NYC. Come on even NYC isn't cheap. How can he go from 10,000 to 25,000 saved in over 1 year. Making his expense less then 20 thousand a year in NYC. The advice he offer is extreme. He talks about investment like 401k but never explain anything about it. The book at best is one man account of being a millionaire. It doesn't apply to most people. Save your 15 bucks and don't buy this book that is making him richer... No real sound advice...

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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