Oh where, oh where have the all the B.O.O.K. reviews gone? Well, welcome back sweetheart. The Ren Men recently opened a used car lot, and quickly learned, it’s easier to buy and sell a house than to buy and sell a car. We put our systems in place, and we have since made the car lot 95% self-sufficient and passive. The result was more free time for us to read books. Ms. Annie Sorensen (thank you, by the way) sent The Ren Men two copies of Big Bob Kiyosaki’s latest book, The Business of the 21st Century.
It’s all about Network Marketing. Kiyosaki breaks down the entire business and gives a great blueprint of the industry for newbies. This book was incredibly helpful with tips and a fast easy read, less than 130 pages. The Ren Men haven’t participated in any network marketing as of today, this doesn’t mean we won’t–we just haven’t, yet.
The product description says it all..”The 8 Wealth-Building Assets of Network Marketing Robert Kiyosaki believes in the power of network marketing! In his new book, he explains why this is the best time to start your own business and secure your financial future! For the past several years, multimillionaire businessman, entrepreneur, and investor Robert Kiyosaki has been a staunch supporter of network marketing. Like many people, he was skeptical about the industry at first … until he learned firsthand what network marketing is all about: helping people. In his latest book, the author of the phenomenally successful Rich Dad Poor Dad series shows why network marketing is indeed the business of the 21st century. Robert shares the eight wealth-building assets offered by network marketing that allow you to take advantage of these tough economic times to build a strong financial future and happier life. John Fleming , the publisher of Direct Selling News, and Kim Kiyosaki, author of Rich Woman: A Book on Investing for Women, join Robert to share their thoughts on why network marketing is the perfect opportunity for both men and women.”
We recommend this step-by-step book to any newbie interested in network marketing. Thanks again, Annie…
TRM
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
We’ve talked about network marketing before and you know my opinion. I’m not a fan. That doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s a good opportunity. Obviously, some people do make money on network marketing opportunities, but my experience has been that most don’t.
The biggest thing I don’t like about network marketing is how it turns every encounter you have with a friend or family member into a potential business opportunity. Maybe at it’s heart network marketing is about helping other people, but most people don’t want to be helped, at least not if it involves joining a network marketing business.
To each his own. Some people love network marketing. However, it’s not my cup of tea.
Grant and Alan,
Thanks for your book review of RK’s latest authoring (or at least the latest book which has his name and color scheme applied to it); I have to wonder how much contribution he makes to such a varied and rapidly produced set of texts. That being said, I’m really looking forward to his upcoming release, “Rich Dad’s Guide to Small Diesel Engine Repair” Ha!
While I enjoyed the book review, I felt that this entry was a bit light when compared with past submissions. Where is the Ren Men take-aways – The “here’s what we want to apply to our businesses and lives”? It should be easy enough to identify this content, simply open the front cover of Alan’s copy and pull a few cherries from his scribbled-down, bullet-listed tree of wisdom.
BTW: It was super-cool of Annie S to send those two copies to you. May I recommend returning the favor by visiting her Amazon.com wishlist (http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/YZQGIO5ZJQ3M) and choosing a few choice selections that you can have shipped directly to her. Sweet!
Cheers,
Matt
Matt! Such a kind suggestion, thank you.
What’ve you been reading lately?
Annie,
I go through phases in which I read multiple books on specific topics. Recently, I’ve been covering two topics:
Travel:
Just finished rereading Rolf Potts “Vagabonding”, which I enjoy http://www.amazon.com/Vagabonding-Uncommon-Guide-Long-Term-Travel/dp/0812992180/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275583732&sr=1-3
Reading “The New Retirement” by Cullinane and Fitzgerald, which is not very good, but I’ve pulled a few valuable tidbits out of it http://www.amazon.com/New-Retirement-Revised-Updated-Ultimate/dp/1594864799/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275583826&sr=1-9
Buddhism:
Reading “The Buddha in Your Mirror” by Hochswender, Martin, and Morino which is a very simple read for gaining a bit of Eastern sensibility http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Your-Mirror-Practical-Buddhism/dp/0967469783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275583961&sr=1-1-spell
Preparing to read Causton’s “The Buddha in Daily Life” which my wife is reading presently http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Daily-Life-Introduction-Buddhism/dp/071267456X/ref=pd_sim_b_10
There are a few more books that I pick up from time to time as well…I always like to have 4 or 5 books handy which I read simultaneously, putting one down and picking up another when the mood strikes or when I want some variety.
How about you? Any recent favorites discovered?
Cheers,
Matt
Awesome, Matt! I too go in streaks with the subject matter of my books. I also do that with authors sometimes. I’m currently in a running book streak – I’ve read Born to Run and 50/50 and am about to begin The Ultra Marathon Man. I haven’t read any fiction for too long (I start to get the itch), so I plan to take a week or two this month to throw back a couple fluffy novels. That’ll be fun.
I’ve heard of Vegabonding and The New Retirement – aren’t those the two books that Tim Ferriss really recommends? They were both on my list, so thanks for the recommendations! I’ll definitely pick up Vegabonding based on your comments.
Do you ever post reviews on Amazon or anything?
Recent faves include Born to Run, Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich, and 1 Dead in Attic. I just created a list of everything I’ve read so far in 2010…interesting to see the range of topics you cover, you know? And it makes it easy to quickly remember which ones you loved.
Ahh, books….
Annie,
Indeed, Ferriss does recommend Vagabonding, not sure if he recommends The New Retirement – I wouldn’t personally recommend it; I have a hard time quitting a book…At some point, it becomes a goal to finish what I’ve started even if it’s not what I expected. Potts also wrote “Marco Polo didn’t Go There” which is a collection of his stories with comments. It’s a good read as well if you’re into travel. He also has a decent website, albeit a bit cluttered.
It sounds like you’re reading some good material. I know what you mean about reflecting upon the range of reading material. I went through phases in which I read a great deal about sailing, living in isolation (An Island to Oneself by Tom Kneale is great as is One Man’s Wilderness by Sam Keith with Dick Proenneke), cabin building and living, mountain climbing, business, retirement, investing, etc. Funny, as I look at the list I realize it’s not really that diverse after all
I haven’t read fiction for a long time – I see how some people relax with it, but I don’t feel that I’m accomplishing anything reading fiction. I suppose it’s a good way to distract oneself from reality, but I have enough distractions as it is – Ha ha.
Good times,
Matt
Vagabonding – Still a must read, for damn near everyone…
What are the tidbits from the New Retirement? Saves us from reading it…
Buddhism will check it out…
Alan is reading Letter from a Stoic and may start the World is Flat…
Grant is sticking with his comics…he really enjoys some Explorer named Dora…
Grant, Alan, and Annie,
I just finished reading ‘The New Retirement’ and would grade it a C. It took me longer to read than expected because I put it down for a week and read ‘Lunch in Paris’ by Elizabeth Bard, which was a pretty enjoyable read, especially for those of us who love cooking and eating good food.
Back to ‘The New Retirement’ – It’s a little less than 500 pages about what you can do in retirement, how to prepare, whether to relocate, and then it goes into potential geographic locations for retirement in about 14 desirable states (BTW: Ohio didn’t make the cut, I guess that they haven’t discovered the retirement havens of Ironton and Akron yet; ha ha).
The book incorporates a handful of real-life stories that are enjoyable to read and I did pull a few tidbits of value from the text, such as:
- “Install low-heat thermostats (set around 40 degrees) to prevent pipes from freezing while saving money over conventional thermostats which typically have their lowest setting around 55 or 60 degrees”. This advice is meant for those owning dual residences, but I thought it could come in handy for my heated garage, which waste’s some excess heat during the winter months.
- Interesting fact: “The average American spends more than 90,000 hours working toward retirement but fewer than 10 hours actually planning it”. I’ve well exceeded that retirement planning effort many times over. It’s an amazing stat.
- I enjoyed reading about the island-living opportunities off of Washington State and the Carolinas. I also liked checking out the website http://www.privateislands.com which was shared as a website (quite disorganized though) which allows you to buy your own island – Talk about privacy!
- The book included overviews of three international retirement destinations, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. I could see myself spending some extended durations staying in places like these, but likely not as a primary residence during a long-term retirement – There is just too much to see and do in the world to lock into any one location once you aren’t tied down due to work commitments.
- I liked the tax quote from former Senator Russell Long, “A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform”.
- The section about FICA (Soc Security & Medicare withholdings) tax limits taught me something I didn’t actually know. The FICA tax is imposed (for the years 2009 and 2010) only on the first $106,800 of gross wages. This I knew, but what I wasn’t aware of was, “if a worker starts a new job halfway through the year and has already earned the wage base limit for Social Security, the new employer is not allowed to stop withholding it until the wage base limit has been earned with them. That worker can file to have that overpayment counted as tax paid when they file their Federal income tax return. If the taxpayer is due a refund, then the FICA overpayment becomes part or all of the refund.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Insurance_Contributions_Act_tax). I looked it up on Wikipedia because the books stats were a few years old.
All in all, a few nice little pieces of information came from this text. But it was an arduous task to read and it contained multiple typos (How do major typos find their way into books in this modern day of spell check and advanced editing functionality?) I should have recognized that this read wasn’t going to be easy when I realized that the authors bio pictures on the back cover were copy written by Glamour Shots (I kid you not!)
Hope you enjoyed this review.
Matt
Great info, thanks for the synopsis, another book we can cross off the list.
It was surprising to me when Kiyosaki praised network marketing in cashflow quadrant. The only flaw I find in network marketing is that you’re in business for business sake, where as, 4hww and crush it and 3 feet from gold and pretty much every book out there tells you to pursue your passion. So, if your passion is networking then, so be it, you’ll do great.
TRM – My oh my, I need to send you books more often! I send, you immediately read and review…this could be fun.
Glad you enjoyed the short and sweet read. It’s an interesting book and, frankly, kind of fascinating that Kiyosaki is so crazy for network marketing considering he’s never been a part of any nm companies (or so he says).
Keep the awesome stuff coming!
Hugs,
Annie
Be on the look out for http://www.anniesorensen2.com
lol just saw this. The url is still available, I guess MCE wasn’t up to the task of handling it?