Book Review: Taking the Mystery Out of Money by Lonnie Scruggs

January’s my favorite time of year to hit the bookstore and stock up on REI books. Something about leaving the excess of the holiday season behind  just begs a trip to Barnes and Noble to stock up on hideously overpriced, over-hyped books that call my name with promises of wealth and happiness (in 60 days or less.) I always leave the store with a bag of books and while I try so hard to be careful, there’s always a few clinkers in the mix.

My 2008 bag is sitting beside the couch, so expect a few book reviews in the days ahead. And anything I don’t find helpful to our situation here on the Gulf Coast will be offered gratis’ to whoever’s interested.

Lonnie’s Latest

I’ve mentioned Lonnie’s books before. They’re expensive– $34.95 for a 250+ page paperback and let’s say up front that he’s *not* sending free copies for review. I purchased both Deals on Wheels and Making Money With Mobile Homes several years ago. The binding of both books fell apart in record time, leaking pages all over the place… highly annoying for any book, but doubly so for one at this price point,  but here’s the thing– I kept the pages in ziplock baggies in the drawer by my bed for one reason— they’re that good (and no, I haven’t bought a single mobile home.)

Mr. Scruggs understands money. If you’ve read The Richest Man in Babylon, you’ll understand what I mean– his picture ought to be on the cover. His methods for buying and selling mobile homes and carrying the note distill the principles of compound interest and increase into everyday pictures that even an egghead like me can wrangle. I’ve read, reread, highlighted, underlined and marked up those two books multiple times. Over the last few years I’ve found myself thinking like Lonnie- when opportunities present, the principles in his books drift upwards into my consciousness.  He’s funny, clear, like-able (in print, anyway) and teaches principles that can be adapted to any place, any time, any situation.

And that, my friends, is so very rare in the real estate book market.

Taking the Mystery Out of Money is the book I hoped he’d write. He pulls out all the financial principles of the first two books, drops most of the mobile home talk and expounds profusely on money management and compound interest as the way to financial freedom. And because I can’t say it any better myself, here’s the blurb from his website:

Now Lonnie has a new book out…”Taking The Mystery Out Of Money.” This book teaches you what you never learned in school about money & financing. If you want a road map that will show you how to maximize your true financial potential, read this book. You will learn how to use a financial calculator so you can “punch your way to profits”. You will learn about notes, conventional & hard money loans, interest compounding, CAP rates & much more. This book teaches you the real meaning of how to make money work for you, instead of you working for money.

? How To Use A Financial Calculator
? Power Of Compounding Of Interest
? How Many Doubles Do You Have
? How To Create Notes & Cash Flow
? How To Use Notes To Buy & Sell
? How To Improve Notes For Better Yield
? How To Buy Notes In Pieces
? How To Make Big Yields From Little Deals
? Making Hard Money Loans
? Profits From Prepayments
? Time Value Of Money
? Rule Of 72
? Understanding CAP Rates
? Simple Interest vs Compound Interest
? Difference Between Yield & Discount
? How Much Does That New Car Really Cost?
? New Car Or ROTH IRA?
? Money Is Not The Problem.
? Is Being Poor Heredity?
? Job Security Or Financial security?
? Coulda–Shoulda–Woulda
? Who?s Planning Your Retirement?

So– if Mr. Scruggs had written this book first, I’d have saved $70 plus the heartbreak of leaking paper (a ridiculous statement as I probably would’ve bought the other two books later anyway since I love this one so much.)

Highly recommended, and no, I’m not giving away my copy

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Tags: , book reviews, Lonnie Scruggs, REI