Get rich in 15 minutes a week?

Section: Money, Pg. 11b

Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week!

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By Phil Town

Crown Publishers, 308 pages, $25 --- For most folks, there's nothing simple about investing. Don't tell that to Phil Town.

Town is the author of Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week!

What is the first rule?

Don't lose money -- advice dispensed by Benjamin Graham (author of 1949's The Intelligent Investor) and made popular by famed value investor Warren Buffett.

How do you obey the rule? Town says by trading a few cherry-picked stocks in tax-protected retirement accounts. "Inside an IRA you can buy and sell as much as you want, and you don't pay tax on the gains," he writes.

Note to readers: Investors will pay tax when those tax-deferred funds are withdrawn at retirement, unless they're invested in a Roth IRA where you pay tax upfront.

Town urges readers to forget about diversification, asset allocation, dollar-cost averaging, mutual funds, real estate, bonds, commodities and other strategies. And forgo financial services companies. Instead, he advocates buying shares of about five "wonderful" companies via an online brokerage.

He has great tools for anyone wanting to dabble in the stock market. But, truthfully, it's difficult to conceive of being able to buy and sell stocks and become a millionaire in 15 minutes a week, as he proclaims an ordinary Joe can do.

Moreover, it's genuinely doubtful that people struggling to pay down debt, buy a house, send their kids to college and/or set aside enough for retirement will take the time to do the homework needed to learn how to research, navigate the Internet and make the necessary trades at the right times.

No matter how simple he tries to make it, it's complicated -- and the stock market is inherently risky.

But Town forges ahead.

Town, a Vietnam vet, qualifies himself for "ordinary person" status by explaining that he didn't go to business school or work on Wall Street. He writes that a fellow he led down Grand Canyon rapids while a river guide in 1980 taught him this stock-picking technique that practically guarantees you don't lose money.

He hoped the man would offer him a big cash tip. Instead, he gave him advice on how to make money by value investing -- selecting stocks that the market has undervalued. Town refers to it as the "old feed-a-man-a-fish story." He wanted money, but the guy taught him how to invest instead.

Today, Town is a motivational speaker at Peter Lowe's Get Motivated seminars. He says he has made millions but won't disclose how much. Nor does he reveal what "wonderful" companies he has bought and sold over the years.

While there is nothing new about his method of picking good stocks, what he has going for him is a smooth way of explaining how to go about researching a company. It's good advice for any new investor -- whether or not they commit wholeheartedly to his program.

Plus, he offers his guidance at a time when the Internet has opened a gateway to financial information not available before to individual investors. Throughout the book, he provides the necessary steps to find the data online at sites such as Yahoo Finance and MSN Money. He provides screenshots to help you picture those sites.

Town's Rule #1 investing comes down to four straightforward steps:

*Find a wonderful business.

*Know what it's worth as a business.

*Buy it at 50% off.

*Repeat until very rich.

The heart of the book is teaching readers how to find a "wonderful" company at attractive prices.

Bottom line: Town is a charismatic, convincing voice and he is keenly aware of how overwhelming investing can be at first. In the end, even he admits that investors should be cautious and take it slow and steady to start. Town says it will become automatic over time.

(c) USA TODAY, 2006