Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire

Michael Masterson

ISBN: 978-0-471-78675-7

Hardcover

247 pages

October 2006

It is often said that once you’ve published one successful book, they’ll publish your laundry list. Well, here’s your proof. Michael Masterson’s previous books, such as Automatic Wealth and Automatic Wealth for Grads, were fine resources, full of sensible advice for getting out of debt and building a nest-egg. This makes Seven Years to Seven Figures especially disappointing.

At 247 pages, this would be a thin volume even if it were dense with valuable information. As it turns out, though, a full 150 of those pages are devoted to stories about various Masterson proteges, and how they achieved their success. Even worse, every one of the people covered followed essentially the same path: copy writing. Case studies have their place, of course, and copy writing can be a fine business venture, but this is excessive. One of these stories would have been ample, and the saved space could have been put to much better use. Masterson attempts to weave some “lessons learned” into the stories, but these amount to little more than standard platitudes. There are no grand insights or hidden gems to find.

The remaining 90-odd pages can be boiled down to small list of bullet points:

  • You can’t get rich as an employee, unless your name is Michael Jordan or Bradd Pitt.
  • There are in essence only three ways to get rich: by inheritance, investing (especially in real estate), or owning a business.
  • Barring a rich uncle dying, the only practical way to get rich quickly is to own a business.
  • To raise capital to invest or start a business, either be the best at your job and get a raise, or switch to a higher-paying job. Either way, focus on increasing your company’s profits.

These may all be reasonable points, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they comprise a “Fast-track plan to becoming a millionaire.” By all means, read some Michael Masterson. He has a great deal of solid advice to offer. But give Seven Years to Seven Figures a pass. I’m certain you have a laundry list of your own to read, should you have the urge.