Missed Fortune 101: A Starter Kit to Becoming a Millionaire

this book will change my life. the only people that could say negative things about it are those who do not finish reading it or try to skim it as i did the first time. i got busy while i was in the middle and almost did not finish it but believe me after completing it , it was worth it.

as a real estate investor i had a complete opposite view of financing, equity, cost of money and basic compound interest. these are ideas are rock solid and proven over and over.

i took a rental that was paid off and employed the stategies suggested and i will create over $90,000.00 of found money over the next 20 years on a 116,000.00 rental property.

a must read if your involved in real estate and/or mortgages or simply want to build wealth with o.p.m., other peoples money!

You may be reading all these reviews and wonder whether these principles are real or not, but I will tell you an even bigger missed fourtune. I prepare peoples tax returns for a living. And I see Mr. and Mrs. Smith who have paid off their house with all their hard earned dollars and at age 65 turn around and get a reverse morgage and only get half of the equity out of their house. They take out a reverse morgage because social security is all they have. To combat inflation and to still stay in their house they have no other choice. So if you read this book like I have and follow the principles of seperating your equity from your house and letting it grow you will not be like the Smiths and get a reverse mortgage and only get half of it back.

I always find reviews from people who don't read the book interesting.

So here are a couple of things that are being misunderstood and misrepresented. Mr. Andrew stresses that for a prudent investment to be valid, one has to follow, in order, these rules - Liquidity, Safety, Rate of Return and tax favorable position if possible. The investment itself - life insurance - is the only investment (besides a ROTH qualified plan) to provide tax free accumulation, tax free distribution, and tax free transfer. If you qualify for a tax free contribution using the deductibility of your home mortgage, fine, but the strategy still can work even if you don't.

The use of an Equity Indexed Life Insurance policy as the investment can be easily misunderstood. Often it is confused with it being an Equity Indexed Annuity, which it isn't. It does have a guaranteed minimum interest rate - which means your gains are not subject to loss if the index falls. It also has a "Cap" (the maximum percentage of the growth of the index that they will credit - if the index gains beyond the maximum percentage amount your account value is credited up to the Cap percentage).

Here though are three interesting things that should help clear up why this is the product of choice:

1. The minimum guarantee is covered by the reserves which are required of the insurance company - for every $100 they have to reserve $104 dollars (compared to a bank which only has to reserve $1.25 per $100). How many banks have failed vs life insurance companies in the past 125 years? Why do you think banks have to offer FDIC insurance?

2. The participation in the index is not DIRECT. The insurance company buys Options to cover the gains and protect against loss.

3. Each period (say, from one point this year to the same point a year later) any gain is applied to your entire account value and any loss still earns you the minimum guarantee. Then, regardless of what the index did, your starting point for the next measurement period begins there - either up or down from that new point. So your gains are LOCKED and your starting point is RESET. You only have interest risk, not principal risk.

A couple of side notes - had these investments been around for the past 30 years they would have averaged between 8 - 9.8% (depending on the product Cap) per year. So will the average remain the same over the next 30 years?

Additionally, on the downside, there are short term up front loads in the form of premium charges and cost of insurance (the latter because it takes about five years to fully fund your policy). Also, the company is free to change the Cap (which more than likely is to lower it) and to discontinue a specific product for new issue and homogenize new offerings to conform to industry standards.

How much insurance are you buying? Every dollar in the account value is yours and the amount of insurance you are "buying" is the difference between the account value and the death benefit. So if your death benefit is $700,000 and your Account Value is $540,000, you are paying for $160,000 of insurance. And... each year the amount of insurance will reduce as the account grows larger.

Most people buy "Death" insurance - As much insurance as they can for as little premium as possible - and term is great for this. But with "investment grade life insurance" you're buying the LEAST amount of insurance as possible (by putting in as much money as the contract will allow) and taking advantage of the tax free growth inside such a contract plus the ability to withdraw it in a tax free nature and pass it on to heirs tax free.

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to buy insurance? But what other investment instrument provides tax free accumulation, distribution and transfer without much risk? (Leave a review if you know one.)

This is not a "get rich quick" investment scheme - it is a methodical conservative strategy that will increase your overall net worth by .... ??? who's to say - could be millions if you apply it over enough period of years. At least Doug walks the walk by applying the strategies to his own growth of net worth.

So who would this book appeal to? Well consider this...

If what you knew to be true was no longer true, when would want to know... most people want to know Right Now. So just because we were taught to use Qualified Money Accounts(IRAs/401(k) type accounts) to save for retirement, it really is better to pay tax up front than pay it later. Create your own ROTH like investment without the "strings" that the IRS attaches to a ROTH.

Also when you pay the principal on your house to the bank or mortgage company, what do they do with your equity? They invest it for themselves. Do they EVER send you an interest check for any of what they use of your money? Fat chance! So why not look into creating wealth using money you pay out to other people?

Why leave a portion of your wealth in a building that ties up your equity in an unsafe, illiquid asset that earns no rate of return? (Talk to my sister, mother and niece who lived in New Orleans. Their equity which was tied up in the house is totally unavailable to them - and if you think "That's what insurance is for" means anything - think again!!) Better to have access to it and not need it than need it and not be able to get to it!

So if you are interested in how your mortgage can create wealth for you, read this book. At the very end of the book you will find a telephone number where you can call Doug Andrew and he will get you in touch with a qualified individual who can help you understand how this can apply to your situation. It's worth the price of admission.

And yes, I am a "qualified individual."

I've read the book. I'm a graduate of the author's seminars for agents (and mortgage brokers)and one who's sat through a friendly competitor's
version of same. I've also witnessed at least 6 public seminars on the subject matter and like to think I have a unique insight to the concepts
discussed in the book.
For one, the strategy is sound, both in theory and real life.
I have implemented the strategies myself and have no regrets.
The problem with the author's approach is that he beleives so strongly in his position, he trains his agents and mortgage brokers to aggressively push all prospective clients to place every last available cent they own in to an Equity Indexed Universal Life contract. Knowing the author's background and ethics, I can say without hesitation that he is a "True
Believer" and NOT a get-rich-quick Scam artist.
The "invest it all" tactic may be okay for some, but other agents/brokers simply educate the prospective client and try to get them to understand/acknowledge that home equity is NOT all it's cracked up to be. In fact it's often times a wasted, nearly useless asset.
But many agents have failed miserably using the author's "All-or-Nothing" investment philposophy. No surprise there.
Other savvy insurance brokers/agents simply ask, "Do you have any underperforming investments?"
Of course you do - who doesn't?
Then an investor can dip his toe in the water by investing a small amount of money in an EIUL policy. If the investment performs well after a year, he usually wants to consider placing more $$$ in the EIUL policy at the policy's anniversary date.
Bottom Line about the book and author: Good strategy. Bad sales technique.
If you want to try this concept, find an agent who knows EIUL's, has read the book, has gone through the training with either author Doug Andrew or 2 or 3 other gurus of Andrew's ilk AND, most importantly, is comfortable with your desire to start with smaller investment amounts.
If the agent/broker wants you to dump everything you own in to an EIUL, no matter how sincere his intent, he's NOT someone you want to deal with.
Find someone else.

Having read both the Missed Fortune & Missed Fortune 101 books I just have to say that Mr. Andrew really knows his stuff! This information is essential to anyone who cares about their resources and the longevity of their estate and family plans - anyone who finds importance in growing and optimizing assets (and I mean all assets not just financial assets) MUST study the stories and numbers contained in these books.

Being a younger consumer and having a lot of time on my horizon, knowing what these books have to offer becomes paramount and opens the doors to accomplishment I never dreamed where there. I work in the financial services industry, and I look at what I can do for myself and my family as well as those with whom I have a working relationship, and I just have to thank Douglas Andrew for putting his knowledge down on paper!

Anyone who really cares about their financial future MUST read this book - I don't care if you are rich, poor, old, young, or anything in between, what you can learn from these pages will only improve (vastly) what you have available to you - much of which you may be sitting on and don't even know it! "Today is the first day of the rest of your [financial] life."