Andrew Hallam - Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School

Contents

Advance Praise for Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School

Andrew Hallams book is just the right one for novice investors. He not only provides the winning strategy in terms of your personal financial life, but in investing as well. The book contains Hallams Nine Rules to become a millionaire, and he has them all right. If you know people who are financial train wrecks waiting to happen, recommend this book to them. It may be the best investment they make.

Larry Swedroe

Author, The Quest for Alpha , Principal and Director of Research, The Buckingham Family of Financial Services

Millionaire Teacher is an enormously thoughtful gem of an investment book that every serious investor should read, study, and learn from. This wise and witty book gives the reader a fresh perspective on the simple concepts needed to sustain financial freedom. Most of all, it is delivered with a genuine simplicity that will capture the readers attention from the first page and hold it to the end.

Bill Schultheis

Author, The New CoffeeHouse Investor , Principal of Soundmark Wealth Management, LLC

Every once in a great while I read a financial book that I think should be shared with everyone I know. Millionaire Teacher is that book!

Charles E. Kirk, The Kirk Report

Unlike most investment book authors, Andrew Hallam has become a millionaire by living frugally and investing HIS OWN MONEY successfully. His book is a great guide for the average person seeking financial independence.

Michael B. OHiggins

OHiggins Asset Management, Inc.,

Author, Beating the Dow, Beating the Dow with Bonds

Andrew Hallam is proof that you dont need a high salary, complex stock trading system or even a financial adviser to achieve financial independence. You can get rich by living within your means and using simple wealth-building tools such as low-cost index funds. Millionaire Teacher is a sensible and highly readable guide to investing that packs a lot of wisdom into its nine simple rules. There are important lessons here for everyone, from newbie investors to experienced stock pickers.

John Heinzl, Business/Finance columnist, The Globe and Mail

Andrews book is my go to book from here on out when asked for a recommendation for that graduating high school or college student. It is a joy to read and will undoubtedly raise the financial literacy of young people as well as adults.

Robert Wasilewski, President RW Investment Strategies

Author, Do-It Yourself (DIY) Investor blog

Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd.

Published in 2011 by John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd.

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Neither the authors nor the publisher are liable for any actions prompted or caused by the information presented in this book. Any views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the organizations they work for.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-0-470-83006-2 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-470-83008-6 (ePDF)

ISBN: 978-0-470-83007-9 (eMobi)

ISBN: 978-0-470-83009-3 (ePub)

To my mom and dad (Roger and Hilary Hallam) for your love, guidance, and model of what a fabulous marriage is meant to be.

And to Pele Hallam-Young, for being such an amazing wife.

Acknowledgments

Id like to thank Ian McGugan, for encouraging me to write this book, and for showing me what great financial writing is supposed to look like. To the teachers at Singapore American School, who prompted me to write an understandable guide for the layperson. Many of you have turned an important corner by saying no to the excessive fees charged by certain financial service operators, and Im excessively proud of you for that.

Hats off to Kris Olson, Keith Wakelin, Deb Wakelin, Neerav Bhatt, Gordon Cyr, and Seng Su Lin for allowing me to pry into their financially empowered personal lives for the betterment of others.

And for helping a technological Luddite, cheers to Excel master, Dan Skimin; the Jedi of patience, Lavinia Vasundran; technological coach, Dianna Pratt; and graphics guru, Paul Welsh.

Thank you to Facebook master Alex Wong; webmaster of infinite degrees, David Dixon; artist supreme, Fang Yang; my secret agent, John Kimzey; and the supplier of nutritional power, Jane Antique.

Nick Wallwork, of John Wiley & Sons, deserves my sincere gratitude for believing in this project, as do production master, Janis Soo; editor extraordinaire, Jennifer Wells, and the marketing tag team of Cynthia Mak and Cindy Chu.

Finally, thanks to my wife, Pele Hallam-Young, for her unwavering encouragement. Every day with her is Christmas.

Foreword

Every magazine editor cringes when a plain brown envelope with an unsolicited manuscript arrives in the mail. Chances are, it contains a letter that begins: Dear fellow truth seeker. The international conspiracy to control our minds with fluoride is revealed in the 15,000-word article enclosed. Call me immediately to discuss when you will be publishing it.

Despite the cranks, an editor lives in the hope that one of those plain brown envelopes may lead to something great. I can tell you that once a decade or so, that hope actually materializes. My proof? Andrew Hallam.

I had never met Andrew when an envelope landed on my desk at MoneySense magazine www.moneysense.ca/ . It contained a typewritten article about Warren Buffett. I remember reading the piece in my office and staring out over Front Street in Toronto as I debated what to do. The writers enthusiasm jumped off the page; he also seemed unusually knowledgeable. On the other hand, who was the writer, this Andrew Hallam guy? And why did he spell Buffetts name with just one t ?

I decided to phone Andrew and I will always be glad that I did. He explained to me that he was a teacher on Vancouver Island. Investing was his passion. And, sure, he would be happy to rework his piece a bit and even give Mr. Buffett his full consignment of t s.

The article turned out well, and over the next few years, Andrew became a regular contributor to our pages. He filed fascinating stories on the stock market, the art of haggling, and, eventually, on his decision to move to Singapore and take up a teaching job there at a school for international students.