Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Book Review: Income Investing Secrets

Income Investing Secrets (2010) by Richard Stooker

This e-book provides information on a wide variety of investments for generating income in retirement. Its breadth is its strength – it covers several lesser-known types of income-related investments, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each one. There is also helpful discussion of the tax implications of various investments. However, the book has some major weaknesses. It is poorly written in the sense that the text consists almost exclusively of bullet points and one- or two-sentence paragraphs. It reads more like a detailed outline than a fleshed-out discourse. Even though it covers a variety of investments, most of them are discussed only briefly in about 2 to 5 pages (the exception being a long and dull 41-page discussion of variable annuities), resulting in a 300-page book with 58 chapters. The writing itself also verges on being unprofessional at times, with the author showing a lot of attitude. He offers 7 principles for income investing, none of which are really "secrets" or particularly profound. Although I agree with his suggested approach at an abstract level, I don't care much for his specific investment recommendations.

Note: I read this book in October 2011.

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