On-the-money

Ok, here's the deal with this book (and his other "Kiss and Make-Up"): his philosophy is based on a typical I-was-poor-as-a-child-and-now-i'm-rich approach. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course. In fact, as simplistic as what he writes is, it doesn't make it any less true.
He basically states that if you save your money and create ways to make new money based off of what you KNOW ALREADY, you can't loose. Keep yourself clean (no drugs, alcohol, etc.). Keep yourself straight minded and accumulate allies/friends for the purposes of bettering yourself. Good grief, man! That's the American credo! I would think not taking this book for what it states would be anti-American!
insert funny footnote here: I've noticed that Gene continuously talks of how you should not waste your money and that you should live (just) below your means. And yet for his fans he has PLENTY of knick-knacks and trinkets that people can waste their money on. (some examples include [and I kid you NOT]: a KISS baby-bib, a KISS motorcycle, Key chains and even--get this--a KISS casket to bury your die-hard fan in. NO kidding).
So with so much to spend your money on, yet his advice is to save money...would the merchandise bus be just some giant test?! Too funny, Gene. Too funny. G*d bless ya.
Why only 4 stars? Come'on, nobody's perfect. Even Gene will tell you that.

I must admit to not being a big KISS fan . . . in fact, it would be
safe to say that if you asked me, I don't think I could recall even
one of the group's songs.

That said, for some reason, I picked up SEX MONEY KISS--the
latest book effort by Gene Simmons . . . perhaps it was the
outrageous cover (featuring a long red tongue against a silver
background), but once I got reading, I almost couldn't put it down.

Simmons, of course, was the founder of KISS and the mastermind
behind the group's enduring success . . . here he tells many
of the secrets that have made him so successful.

I found myself laughing in many spots, but also thinking to
myself in others that this guy makes a lot of sense . . . imagine
getting people to pay $100 to attend a one-day convention
about the band . . . even more amazing: how he self-published
KISSTORY and successfully sold that for an amazing
$158.95 (no typo!) . . . then came back with KISSTORY II and
sold still more books for the same price.

How did he do it? The same way that he urges readers to
do; i.e., save your money, don't smoke, don't drink, don't get
high, equate time with money and know that being rich is
better than being poor . . . he also espouses, more than once,
the following bit of advice: "The worst thing a man can do,
financially and biologically speaking, is to get married."

You may well find yourself disagreeing with some of what
he says . . . and regardless, you'll most likely come to the
conclusion that he is sexist in many of his beliefs . . . yet
if you read between the lines, you'll also find many thought-
provoking passages; among them:

* The word "cheap" is a wonderful word! Learn to love it. Be cheap,
just like me. And try this on for size: Less is more. That's right.
If you want more, try having less. The less you spend, the more you
have. That makes sense. We all know that. The less you smoke,
the more you live. Well, that makes sense too, but we don't need
to read it on the side of a cigarette pack. Or do we? We keep
smoking anyway. It will cost you a fortune. And that doesn't take into
account the cost of your future medical bills (remember cancer?) The
less you complain, the happier you are. Perhaps. And tread lightly
on this one: The less you marry, whether it's once of multiple times,
the richer you are and will be. And, of course, the less you eat, the
thinner you are.

* The idea that anybody in their twenties or thirties would ever think
about taking a vacation before they've amassed fame and fortune
is a wonderful idea-for losers. Not everyone can climb Mount Olympus;
somebody's got to wrap fish. Perhaps it's Nature's way of weeding
out the winners from the losers. Those who work harder make more
money-period. Two people who work at the same job and earn the same
salary and have the same relative talent will make the amount of money
if they work the same number of hours per week. However, if one decides
to work on the weekends, he or she will not only make more money,
but usually at double or triple rates . . . and of course your boss will take
note, hint, hint!

There's something almost heroic about Gene's single-minded ability to gouge as much money from his fans as possible.

But the results don't lie. Gene gives solid advice and tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to.

I can't wait for his lectures to be put on dvd. Man, he's got me buying more Kiss Krap!

Carlson started his writing career as an editor, then as a solicitor. He got leading self-help authors to contribute articles to form books. The only difference is that he now paraphrases good advice instead of quoting. He then pacakages it into his consistant 100 fragmented-pieces format, with no glue or system to make them stick in a person's life. His books are merely lame survey reports on other peoples' work. Even his title is a rip off. He is the new king of self-help junk food. He's the one not worrying and making money. . . off of readers looking for quick-fix, warm-and-fuzzy (but hollow) advice on success. The real contents of the book should be how he found a book-writing system to get rich via empty cleverness. The only good things in his books are from the original thoughts of others, thus the 2 stars instead of none.

In the introduction he describes how giving is a pleasure. Jesus told us it is more blessed to give than to receive. On page 9 Carlson writes "Money is 'circulation.' It needs to flow." He doesn't limit giving to one arena either. He expands by adding, "If you want more love, or fun, or respect, or success, or anything else, the way to get it is simple: give it away" (p. 9). Being detached enhances objectivity and increases freedom. When a person is passionate about a process, it becomes a joy. Carlson reminds us that successful people find ways of overcoming challenges and are not limited by excuses. A few pages later he restates the point in an even stronger manner by writing "A life without worry is a life of abundance, a life well lived. That which we focus our attention on expands" (p. 59). Consequently, he admonishes us to think the proper thoughts to acquire the desired results. Carlson makes a point I've heard other writers make, i.e., we all have the need to be needed. "Those who are willing to help others are always paid bacak in one way or another" he tells us on page 70. He includes wise advice on thankfulness and making correct assumptions. This is a positive, encouraging, practical book.

I used to think that the only way to make more money was to work longer, later and more. I spent all the time at work, worked o.t. and even worked a second job to supplement my income. What I acomplished was to burn myself out!

I also fell into the trap of the more I made, the more I spent. I was on a treadmil, going nowhere.

This excellent book by Dr. Carlson will have you working less and enjoying it more. You will learn to delay gratification, live within your means, sock away money for emergencies and most importantly, spend more quality time with your family and loved ones.

I received my "Bounce Back from Bankruptcy" book on Wednesday, 9/11. I opened it immediately and I was not able to put it down - except when I had to cook dinner. I had finished reading it and in the process of re-reading it. It was very helpful. Now I am going to use Paula's sample letters to correct some information on my credit reports. I also told my 19-year old son to order his credit report from one of the credit bureaus and we found out errors in his personal information.Thank you so much for this wonderful book. I will be writing to Paula to let her know how it has helped me improved my credit score. Keep up the good work.

This book is a must have for any person who is trying to rebuild their credit after filing bankruptcy. Reading this book helped be to hold my head up again and move forward to rebuilding my credit. It also helped me to see that I am not alone nor am I a terrible person because of past financial mistakes. It is full of helpful information, sample letters and wording to cut through the red tape of dealing with CRA. You won't regret getting this book.

I really enjoyed her idea about how to get a gas card. very creative.

This book had a little more meat in it than the Learn and Earn. Solid information if you are just starting out
Summary:
Join an investors club
Pick a maximum of 10 companies
Buy stocks or stocks in a mutual fund
Buy them on a regular basis
Know something about those stocks
Hold your course regardless of outside factors
Do your homework: PE, book value, goodwill, debt, and same store sales just to name a few
Buy more good stocks when others are selling
Perform a regular six month check up
Overall this book is good but not Great

They've has done it again, this book is very funny and filled with useful tips from seasoned investor Peter Lynch. This book has several of "Peter's Principles" (which are very humorous one-liners that make a lot of sense for investors.) My favorite parts of this book are: The story about the St. Agnes 7th grade portfolio managers (these kids beat out 99% of fund managers when they had a two year gain of 70%.) Another part of this book that I enjoy are the subtle tips for evaluating stocks. Mr. Lynch doesn't tell you to do this, that, and another thing to find the ten-baggers, but he does give clues throughout the text.

Reed Floren

My profession is writing, but my business is investing. With over 50 years of experience in the stock market and having made millions, I think I know what's up. Not only is this book definitive on stock picking, it is also fun and easy to read and the author's humanity comes right through. And the core message that you can do better than the fund managers (for a variety of reasons) is, from my own experience, true. Try Lynch's system: What worked for him, might work for you. Oh yes, by the way, this book is mainly a repeat and better version of his previous work and represents a more masterful and confident telling of the ways to beat the street.

Simply put, this is a bad book. It is poorly written and is bad history.

When the author stops digressing, he has many unimportant and trivial anecdotes about the dollar in American history.

His interpretation of American history is terrible. Just a few examples: Early in the book he cited Hawthorne, Thoreau and Twain (who lost a fortune trying to be an industrialist) to reach the conclusion that Americans did not collect and hoard money in the nineteenth century. Apparently he did not read the rest of his book which went on ad nauseum about Americans in the nineteenth century chasing and counterfeiting the dollar. In another instance he concludes that all civil rights were suspended during the civil war (not that this had anything to do with $) - completely ignoring the fact that the Supreme Court overturned Lincoln's attempt to suspend habeas corpus. Lastly (I could go on and on), he finished the book by noting that on our dollar bills are the icons that were present at the birth of our nation. This, after telling how Grant and Cleveland were on our bills! Last I looked they lived late in the next century.

I kept hoping that some pearls about the dollar would come shining through. Whatever pearls there might have been were muddied by his erroneous history and his horrible interpretations of the history he included.

I felt I wasted a good deal of time reading this book. If one wants to read the only useful part of this book, limit yourself to the chapter(s) describing the private banknotes. Nothing before or after is at all worthwhile.

Jason Goodwin is a polarizing author, whose books are either hated or loved by his readers. As in his best-known previous book, "Lords of the Horizons", in "Greenback" he uses a lot of wonderful anecdotes to spice up his prose and keep the reader interested. As in that book, his grasp of the essence of the subject is pretty good, although one could disagree in the details.

I am one of those readers who choose to stay away from rigorous, traditional history books because I am turned off by the stuffiness and the pedantic detailed narrative that they often provide. (I came to this end after having read a good deal of them...) I believe that the history of any subject is the sum of the personal histories of the people who participated and formed those events, famous or obscure, big or small. Jason Goodwin gives us plenty of those little personal stories and thank God for that as far as I am concerned.

I found this book very enjoyable to read and rich in information, although not as exciting as "Lords of the Horizons", so I am giving it 4 stars instead of the 5 I gave that one. I hope Jason Goodwin keeps giving us those great books on his diverse subjects and full of those colorful characters, and I am looking forward to his next book of non-sterilized history.

This is a very enjoyable work, well-written and researched, with numerous anecdotes and sidelights. I thought particularly strong the early chapters on colonial and post-revolution America. One sees in Jefferson an early version of a common type today: the person who is adamantly opposed to debt and credit instruments because he himself is hopelessly swamped in debt. Today's debt paranoiac shuns credit cards and deferred payment schemes of all stripes in favor of cash (paper dollars and checks drawn on bank accounts). But for Jefferson those very paper dollars and banks were suspect. For him, the only "real" money was metallic: gold or silver. The only stores of value in his opinion were coins or bullion or land.

This brought him into opposition to Hamilton, who wanted to inaugurate the new republic by assuming a huge load of debt (all the promises of payment represented by the wartime "Continentals"). Hamilton had a plan to set up a bank and issue paper money backed by gold reserves which didn't exist yet, but which he was confident could be built up by land sales and import duties. His plan, a risky scheme in Jefferson's opinion, was approved by Congress, and our little country began its life with a whopping 42 million dollar debt (p. 102). In spite of Jefferson's misgivings, the scheme worked so well that some twenty years later Jefferson himself was able to double the nation's land area by buying Louisiana from Napoleon.

I was disappointed that in this book, devoted as it is to various forms the dollar took over the years, no mention was made of the exact type of payment by Jefferson for Louisiana. Was it gold bullion? American gold dollars? Spanish gold dollars? Was there some of the paper money that he so despised? Was there a mortgage involved? Or a more racy installment plan (No interest and no payments until May 1808, or until the emperor conquers Russia, whichever comes first! Don't delay! Act now!)

"Greenback" then goes into satisfying detail on the banknote phenomenon, the system of the 19th century whereby banks printed notes (dollars, promises to pay) and either backed them up or did not back them up with gold in their vaults. As I understand it, the US government did not start printing such notes until the Civil War, and it did not become the sole legal printer of dollars until the 1920s. I would have liked more detail about how that latter change came about. What was the exact last day when you could use a dollar printed by a bank. Why did they wait so long to pass such a law, which seems perfectly natural to us now? Might the conversion have had anything to do with the subsequent worldwide depression? All fascinating questions for a follow-up volume which I hope will come from the febrile pen of Mr. Goodwin.

Sure, make an outdated license.. get busted and go
to jail. Try drinking at a place that doesn't
ask for ID. Duh?

This book has nothing to do with other ID. This book is ALL about making fake driver's license.

Granted this book goes into nice detail on how to design and make them but it fails to let you in on some details. New York and Florida have PLASTIC driver's license. With a Florida license it looks like a credit card with a black data strip in the back. The police officers, when they pull you over, will swipe your card through their machines and pull up all of your information. The idea was to save on time when pulling someone over to write up a ticket. With New York licenses, the cards of made of a flexible plastic with the picture digitized on them. Getting your hands on either of these materials would be highly difficult. All it would take is one astute person from that state or someone who regularly sees multiple state IDs to catch on that its not a real ID.

This is the first book of this nature i bought, and can honestly say its awesome. It tells you everything you will need to make a novelty license including, different printers, paper, computer software, templates, etc and where to get these items, it goes ionto great detail and walks you step-by-step through the whole process.

Don't waste your money or your time. When I first started reading this book, I thought the writers might be going a bit overboard. They had not even begun.
In a nutshell, Las Vegas is ugly, corrupt, evil, racist, anti-union, but don't blame the city, it truly represents all of the US.
I was starting to think the book sounded like a press release from the old Soviet Union, only to find they actually refer to workers as "the proletariat".
Las Vegas corruption also helped cause the Vietnam War, the Reagan Administration, and if you were one of the few "good guys", your death would most likely be suspicious (an "apparent" heart attack)
But worse of all, its absolutely boring!

Sorry, I see the reviews here for this book which is why I ordered it, and it certainly does NOT read like a thriller. I labored through about 300 of the 400 pages. The authors are little overboard on the whole conspiracy issue, Kennedy, Lansky, Hoffa, Hughes, Wynn, Nixon, Bugsy, etc. An argument can be made that any major metropolis; NY, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, is the center of an international crime network, how they try to link Las Vegas to some of them is too much. Las Vegas is not the heart of all things evil. There is a great deal of chronological detail in the beginning and then many time skips and jumpbacks, very annoying. Good points; details on many back stories on the "founders" of Las Vegas, deals, side deals and stuff you didn't know. If you look what was there in 1950 compared to what it there today it is astounding. 100,000 hotel rooms in the middle of the desert, billion dollar structures dedicated to our fascination of beating the house. Without our desire to gamble the city could never have reached its growth and popularity. The authors detail the influential power of gaming, but casinos have as much clout as any other trillion dollar industry.

As an author and professional tour director I'm always on the lookout for insightful material to share with my travel clients. This book was recommended to me by a bookstore in Las Vegas saying that this was the real history of the city.

I found this book to be more than a Bugsy Siegel or Godfather Part II interpretation of the past. The cast of characters is far more reaching (Steve Wynn, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, the Kennedys, Howard Hughes, Senator Paul Laxalt, the Rat Pack, the Jewish underworld, etc.).

I particularly found the part about Joseph P. Kennedy to be interesting. Here's a man that was head of the SEC and our Ambassador to Great Britain, yet a man who President Truman said is "As big a crook as we've got anywhere in this country."

I would also recommend a book titled, "Double Cross" as one to read when it comes to understanding the Syndicate, the Kennedys, Hollywood, and Las Vegas.

This book gives you a deep understanding of how Las Vegas was created and helps make a trip to this city far more interesting and intriguing.

Should be subtitled, "How Two Seattle Yuppies Retired Early on 3.5K a Month". This book contains some helpful info, but I was hoping to see someone with a negative net worth pay off their debts and become FI. What I got was the story of a couple of yuppies saying, "Whoa, were worth a bundle and if we refuse to pay for our kids' college we can retire early". Not too impressive to me. I would not read this book if I were looking for material on voluntary simplicity. Why does Vicki Robin endorse this book?

We read Duane Elgins excellent book Voluntary Simplicity decades ago, and would simply caution that this book Getting A :Life will probably appeal to those who have lots of money and really do not have to worry about making ends meet. For those who are on some type of a fixed income. or those with middle class incomes in a precarious economy it doesn't have much useful information. And I agree with those reviews that note the "yuppy" element.

We run a small simple living group in the Sierras, that is like the ones we ran in Alameda and San Joaquin counties here in California. So we are not new to the live simply and get out of debt ideas. And I note that there is a big difference between spoiled brats needing to learn what is really important in life and those who know what is important in life and want to know even more about how to simplify their lives.

The Intenet be it google searches or Yahoo groups has a whole lot more free information that is useful than this book. Amazon[.com]offers a whole lot more books on the subject that I would recommend.

After reading Your Money or Your Life by the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Getting a Life: Strategies for Simple Living Based on the Revolutionary Program for Financial Freedom Your Money or Your Life seemed to be a natural progression.

This book *does* offer some very helpful examples of individuals who used the advice in Your Money or Your Life. However, after reading the original book, I was somewhat disappointed by these authors' inconsistent choices in areas of voluntary simplicity. For example, they talk about how they cut their food bill down to just ($) a month for two people, and I know many couples who are into voluntary simplicity who can easily spend much less than that in a month. They also mention that they kept Call Waiting because they only have one phone line, which made me think, What did people do in the past with only one phone line when people were trying to call them? It just seemed inconsistent with some of the other advice they give in the book. Another annoyance was their example of a family who decided to go without health insurance, and just put money away in savings every month in the event of health expenses down the road. This would seem to me false economy. What would happen to this family if after saving a few thousand dollars they were hit with a serious accident or illness? Such an event could easily wipe out all of their savings.

In spite of the inconsistencies, this book does offer some good advice as well as list plenty of helpful resources for anyone interested in voluntary simplicity. The epilogue does a follow-up of the individuals listed throughout the book and tells you where they're at now in their lives. The epilogue is followed by a section of resources listing foundations, books, newsletters, organizations and other helpful resources for those interested in voluntary simplicity and financial independence.

This book isn't for women that want to help their husbands make more money. This book is written for women who are wishful thinkers.

As much as women may not want to hear it- supporting their husband means being an effective and productive household manager. It means being willing to defer gratification "wants" in favor not only of more income, but a steadily growing net worth which is the ultimate foundation for financial security. Women (and men) who are a bottomless, insatiable pit of "need" for destructive assets like automobiles, which the whole time you're making interest payments on them, are rapidly depreciating will never get ahead with mere "cheerleading" which seems to be where the advice begins and ends in this book.

Sorry, ladies but telling your husbands daily that they're "Smart enough, good enough, and doggone it- they're worth it" isn't a strategy. It's wishful thinking.

If this lady is so successful at getting hubby making money,
why is she marketing this? Why not help all us poor, unhappy, overworked women to save our children from the abuse of daycare by offering this wonderful advice for free?
Perhaps that mini van isn't in the driveway of her McMansion yet.
Or maybe, being June Cleaver/Donna Reed wore thin and she needed to find something to do to help her pass the time.
If you want to and can be a SAHM, fine. But don't insult yourself by becoming the "little woman" this book depicts.

Obviously a lot of the reviews written here are about people's objections to stay-at-home moms, not the book itself. I am a feminist, and there is nothing wrong with helping yourhusband or partner earn more money (man, if you don't like the idea of staying home with your kids, than don't do it-- don't tell people to earn thier own money and let the husband stay home! Geez! Feeling a little insecure about your own choices?)

This book is really a great idea, and not a new idea either. This is the attitude my grandmother had about her husband's work, and she was much more financially stable than most women today. Obviously you want to have your own work skills, bank account, savings account, in case of death or divorce, but for many women who can not possibly do any more penny-pinching, and who either don't want to use up thier time with thier children running a business from home, or are already doing so and could use more money, this is agreat resource.

Good job to the author! Thank you for writing a book about something that us women have been thinking about.

I think this book is worth its price, even on a stay at home mom budget!

Kids have the right to be cared for by people who love them, and I think any book that helps a women or man stay home with thier own children is a great addition. I am going to recommend to my library that they buy this book.

As for the folks who review this book and criticize moms at home, why are you reading tis book in the first place? Seems thou dost protest too much.............

This book contains some good information, but is is poorly written and poorly organized. There are lots of spelling and grammatical mistakes, making me wonder if the author is not a native English speaker. She also channeled some of the book from her spirit guides, so maybe they don't spell so good in the spirit world. In any case, she should have had a good editor. There are much better books on hypnosis available, so I would look elsewhere rather than buying this book.

This is one of the worst books ever written. I am not even sure it can be described as a book on hypnosis. If I have to put a title to this book, it would be "An anthology of an unassuming human being". Please do not buy this book if you want to learn anything about hypnosis. It has nothing to do with hypnosis, except part you with your money. I have read virtually all the major texts on hypnosis. Stick to Ormond McGill's books on the subject if you want to learn anything. Anyone giving more than one star to this book is basically being untruthful.

This book isn't very practical. The information it provides is very airy-fairy and not very rooted. My biggest gripe about the book is that it teaches religious undertones to what I believe to be a purely scientific subject. I don't really want to know about my spiritual guides - I'm not the type to buy into that stuff. That being said, the book does cover the physiology related to hypnosis quite well. I suppose I bought the book with the wrong idea in mind - the title conveys to me a book detailing how to make money and become happy practicing hypnosis as a profession, whereas the book is actually about making money and being happy through the use of hypnosis on yourself.