The Last Chance Millionaire

by: Douglas R. Andrew

Published by: Hachette

Every once in a while a financial self-help book comes along that pushes
open hidden doors to new ideas and concepts about money management,
breaking free from traditional investment advice to give the reader an edge
in today’s and perhaps tomorrow’s economy.

Douglas Andrew’s The Last Chance Millionaire is one of these special books. The monograph is clearly targeted at people with thoughts of funding their upcoming retirement lifestyle in the front of their mind. But the book can also teach a few new tricks to younger investors who might have just opened their first IRA.

Andrew starts by covering the mistakes made by most people in positioning
themselves for retirement. The root of current investment advice, according
to Andrew, stems from adults who grew up during the Great Depression.
People today are taught to save, save and save, and then in retirement
spend, spend and spend. Andrew shows why this process fails for so many
people, and he urges readers to continue to leverage mortgage tax
advantages and real estate appreciation in retirement, just as they had
prior to retirement. Andrew challenges readers to assess how they’re
handling their retirement savings: Are you crawling toward retirement with
traditional investment vehicles, or are you sprinting toward the end goal
with tax-advantaged vehicles?

As impressive as the book is with regards to stimulating thoughts of
retirement investing, it is weak in a couple of areas. First it discounts
the fact that real estate costs more than the price of a monthly principal
and interest mortgage payment. Then Andrew discounts that real estate
markets sometimes sour for long periods of time, and he firmly believes
that mutual funds generating annual returns of 7.2% or better are easily
found.

But even with these shortcomings, the book still succeeds in getting the
reader to think outside the traditional retirement investment box. The
truth is that there are ideal real estate investments, perfect mutual
funds, and optimum tax situations that do support his platform. And for
these reasons The Last Chance Millionaire is a book worthy of serious
consideration.

Armchair Interviews says: If you are nearing retirement, or want to be ahead of things, this is a good start.