Lego blocks and mantras

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 23

Lego blocks and mantras

Making Money Made Simple. By Noel Whittaker. Beckett Publishing, 1989. 271 pp. Index. The Instant Millionaire. By Mark Fisher. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1988. 96pp. $29.95. (Reviewed by Glyn Strange) Noel Whittaker, one of Australia’s foremost financial advisers, has adapted for New Zealand conditions a book he wrote two years ago for his home market. It covers in plain language and simple terms everything from household budgeting to dabbling in the sharemarket. It teaches how to build one’s fortune in small, easy steps — saving, setting goals, borrowing, investing, and so on — rather like putting together a palace made of Lego blocks. In a deregulated market where there is a babble of voices exhorting us to buy, borrow or invest, independent financial advice like this is invaluable.

There should be more of it. Mark Fisher, a young Canadian millionaire, takes an entirely different approach. Compared to Whittaker’s avuncular advisory stance, Fisher is a wide-eyed yuppie saying “Go for it!” Repeat until you believe them statements like, “This year I will earn $60,000” and, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” That is, set goals and then keep urging yourself on. No further advice is deemed necessary. The thought of budding Bob Joneses muttering such mantras in pursuit of some numismatic nirvana may seem ludicrous, but the method worked for Fisher, who became a millionaire in just six years. As an investment, Whittaker’s book seems sounder — but any decision on this may depend on one’s preference for a practical rather than a mystical approach.