Jackson, Sly Stallone, Richard Zanuck, and relatives of an Indonesian dictator and Saudi Arabia’s king). He then flashes back to the creation of this fabled district, built on dusty lima bean fields and carved out of the rugged impassible mountains between the city and the sea. Using the century-long evolution from adobe huts to $100 million mansions as the baseline of the story, he reveals how a few powerful and often ruthless oil and railroad magnates imposed their idyllic vision of the good life on the Los Angeles landscape to create the legendary communities known as the Platinum Triangle.            Gross goes on to give vivid, riveting accounts of the most lavish of the many lavish houses that started springing up almost immediately (with only a brief slowdown during the Depression). But the stories of these homes are just a window onto the lives of their owners and occupants over the course of the twentieth century, and onto the bigger story of a people and a storied region that have become, in Gross’s words, “the Mecca of self-invention.”            As one might imagine, there is a truly glittering cast of characters. Apart from the many Hollywood stars who have passed through these houses—Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Harold Lloyd, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, George Hamilton, Tony Curtis, Cher, to name just a few—you will meet decadent Spanish land-grant families, desperado oilmen and railroad titans, the country’s first all-powerful corporate legends, con men and pyramid schemers, porn magnates, and Arab potentates, not to mention contemporary tabloid luminaries from the worlds of business and entertainment. Taken altogether, their stories read like a cross between Valley of the Dolls, Hollywood Babylon, and Gross’s own 740 Park—with a little of the film Chinatown thrown in too.             Los Angeles provides Michael Gross with his broadest canvas yet; Unreal Estate will surprise, fascinate, and most of all entertain you with a story you don’t know about a place you think you do.

    Through his reminiscences and meetings with other persons related to the deceased, he reflects about life, relations, morality and cosmological questions.

    For many, home values are still too low and unemployment is still too high. Others have prospered despite the ups and downs. In Clark Howard's Living Large for the Long Haul, the renowned broadcaster examines our new paradigm through the eyes of those whose financial portfolios have beaten the odds, and those whose economic situation has gone off course. Through these fascinating personal accounts, listeners will uncover amazing opportunities and smart decisions, finding advantages in bleak times for lasting payoffs in the long run.

    The conventional approach used by experts to determine how much money you need to retire is fundamentally flawed. The worst part is you won’t even know it until it’s too late.This book takes you behind the scientific facade of modern retirement planning to reveal:• Why most estimates for how much you need to retire are a case of garbage-in garbage-out causing you to either overspend and run out of money or underspend so that you never get to enjoy your savings.• The 5 critical assumptions that can destroy your financial security. Which one are you making?• 3 models for estimating how much money you need to retire (your financial planner only knows 1 and it’s not the best).• How to reduce the amount you need to retire by $300,000–$600,000 or more.• How to plan for inflation, changes in Social Security, and much more so you don’t run out of money before you run out of life.• 7 creative ways to spend less while also improving lifestyle.• 3 strategies to maximize spending today while protecting for the future in case you live longer than expected.• How Monte Carlo calculators cause a dangerous deception that can leave you broke.• Explains step-by-step how to accurately calculate the amount of money you need to retire—the very first time you try, simply, and without being a math genius.• No computer, software, or online calculators necessary—it’s that simple.In one evening you can know more about how much money you need to retire than your financial adviser. This book is a practical, no-nonsense guide complete with a step-by-step plan that tells you how much money you need to retire with confidence.No retirement is secure without it.

    And now, in this highly accessible guide, he’s going to show you how to do it, too. You’re about to discover investment opportunities that portfolio managers, business-school professors, and top investment experts regularly miss—uncharted areas where the individual investor has a huge advantage over the Wall Street wizards. Here is your personal treasure map to special situations in which big profits are possible, including: -Spin-offs -Restructurings -Merger Securities -Rights Offerings -Recapitalizations -Bankruptcies -Risk Arbitrage Prepared with the tools from this guide, it won’t be long until you’re a stock market genius!

    Now what do I do?"All too often business owners and real estate investors are asking this question. They have formed their protective entity -- be it a corporation, LLC or LP -- and don't know what to do next.Run Your Own Corporation provides the solution to this very common dilemma. Breaking down the requirements chronologically (i.e. the first day, first quarter, first year) the audiobook sets forth all the tax and corporate and legal matters new business owners must comply with. Written by a Rich Advisor Garrett Sutton, Esq. who also authored the companion edition Start Your Own Corporation, the audiobook clearly identifies what must be done to properly maintain and operate your corporation entity.From the first day, when employer identification numbers must be obtained in order to open up a bank account, to the fifth year when trademark renewals must be filed, and all the requirements in between, Run Your Own Corporation is a unique resource that all business owners and investors must have.

    In it, you'll discover exactly how you can use your life insurance to benefit you while you are alive—and help you build financial security. In addition, it will reveal ways to make the best of your policy no matter what age you are. Most people don't realize what a powerful tool they have in their life insurance policies—this book will be your guide.Life insurance is one of the oldest financial products around, and yet it is one of the most misunderstood. People debate its efficacy from every angle, but rarely is it championed. That is, until recently. Now, in this landmark book, you'll discover:• The invaluable CLUE concept• How to leverage opportunity and investment capability• How one dollar can do many jobs• How to use your death benefit while you are alive• Why you should set up a family bank• And much more."Live Your Life Insurance" is a book about life and living—using and benefiting from your life insurance while you are alive to enjoy it. And, in today's economy, it is more important than ever to understand and utilize all the financial tools we have at our disposal.

    Provides a portrait of the stock market with the strategies, tools, and techniques investors need to maintain their focus and achieve meaningful stock returns over time.

     If you've made the promise to cut back or have rules regarding when or how much you're going to drink, then this book will address why those seemingly clear lines in the sand are always crossed. Alcohol is SH!T will provide you with the foundation to move forward in life without alcohol through: Showing the reader how alcohol is the most addictive and dangerous drug on the planet Debunking myths surrounding alcohol such as alcohol doesn't relax you but slows down faculties in the brain and body Demonstrating how to formally say goodbye to alcohol, so both the conscious and unconscious mind are on the same page Shining the light on the primordial addiction: thinking Empowering the reader with the understanding that quitting drinking isn't a sacrifice, but the OPPORTUNITY of a lifetime Informing readers that an alcohol-free life isn't a "no" to alcohol, but a "yes" to a better life and this path can be a lot of fun Educating readers on where and how to start recovering the person you were always meant to be With lightheartedness, clarity, and no BS, Alcohol is SH!T will allow the reader to remove the fog created by alcohol and provide them with the tools necessary to quit drinking. Follow the advice in this book, and your new life awaits — one filled with inner peace, self-compassion, and an abundance of joy. Within the first couple of pages, the reader will begin to feel a weight lifting, and for probably the first time, will know what role alcohol is playing in their lives. What's stopping you from stepping into your new life? Scroll to the top and click the "buy now" button.

    The cost of these "deals gone bad" total millions of dollars in losses, years of unproductive activity and incalculable emotional stress. However, you’ll obtain the enormous benefits of the powerful and profitable learning lessons from these 21 mishaps without the costs! You’re about to gather lifelong, extremely valuable real estate investment and house flipping wisdom that has taken others a lifetime and a fortune to learn. This book is a must read for anyone planning to be or is already a real estate investor because you'll find out what NOT to do in real estate.

    If you're serious about investing for the long run, you have to take a no-nonsense, businesslike approach to your portfolio. In addition to covering all the basics, this new edition of "All About Asset Allocation" includes timely advice on: Learning which investments work well together and why Selecting the right mutual funds and ETFs Creating an asset allocation that's right for your needs Knowing how and when to change an allocation Understanding target-date mutual funds"All About Asset Allocation offers advice that is both prudent and practical--keep it simple, diversify, and, above all, keep your expenses low--from an author who both knows how vital asset allocation is to investment success and, most important, works with real people." -- John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group"With All About Asset Allocation at your side, you'll be executing a sound investment plan, using the best materials and wearing the best safety rope that money can buy." -- William Bernstein, founder, EfficientFrontier.com, and author, The Intelligent Asset Allocator

    His chief strengths are his uncanny ability to identify undervalued companies and his farsighted reading of the market trends. In this volume, Jim Slater makes available to the investor - whether the owner of only a few shares or an experienced investment manager with a large portfolio - the secret of his success. Central to his strategy is The Zulu Principle, the benefits of homing in on a relatively narrow area. Deftly blending anecdote and analysis, Jim Slater gives valuable selective criteria for buying dynamic growth shares, turnarounds, cyclicals, shells and leading shares. He covers many other vitally relevant aspects of investment such as creative accounting, portfolio management, overseas markets and the investor's relationship with their broker. From The Zulu Principle you can learn exactly when to buy shares and, even more important, when to see - in essence, how to make extraordinary profits from ordinary shares.

    This revised edition includes a brand new chapter on Property Options, New case studies and extra content such as: The 5 questions to ask Estate Agents to get them to find the best properties for you; How to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 10 years and build a property portfolio at the same time: How to quickly and easily asses if a property will make positive cash flow for you; and How to recycle your deposit every 6 months using “Momentum Investing”. The essence of the book is that no matter where you live, there are motivated sellers in your area who will sell their property to you for well below the true market value. This means that you can build a substantial property portfolio using very little of your own money. Simon will show you how to find these motivated sellers, how to deal with them and structure an ethical win/win deal. The book is designed to open your mind, stimulate your thinking and make you aware of some of the current possibilities available in property investing.

    Canada has the highest investment fees in the world, as well as a confusing tax system that features four-letter words like RRSP and TFSA. Fortunately there are low-cost index funds that make it easy and rewarding for you to become a do-it-yourself “couch potato” investor. With a focus on developing good processes to minimize the room for human error and step-by-step instructions, the book will walk you through the elements of managing your finances for the long term: how to devise a savings plan, stick to it through automation, determine how to allocate funds balancing risk and reward, invest using low-cost index funds, track your investments, and deal with the inevitable issue of taxation. Putting your money to work can look suspiciously like math at times, but this book lays out a simple approach that anyone can follow. Inside you will find tools and templates, along with easy suggestions and rules-of-thumb to help prevent analysis paralysis and get you started fast. Control what can be controlled; minimize fees and effort. Investing doesn’t have to be complex to be successful. Keep it simple and you will succeed.