Jimmy Tee Rex

SUMMARY: Gene Simmons shares his personal philosophies and advice aimed at young men to help guide them to success (financial and with the opposite sex), including anecdotes from his own life. While including much sound and insightful advice, Gene tends to repeat himself and get carried away (particularly with his views around marriage). While it could be improved with better editing, this book is still worth reading for the nuggets of gold mixed in. RECOMMENDED FOR: Young men of ambition in their late teens and early 20's. SYNOPSIS/MAIN POINTS: *Throughout the book, Gene stresses the immigrant-style work ethic as essential to success. Through working standard jobs, earning money from gigs and buying and selling comic books (all 7 days a week with evenings off but no holidays), Gene was reportedly able to save $10,000 by the time he graduated college and started working as a teacher (a phenomenal feat back in 1971). -SOUND ADVICE *Gene recommends developing a 'money mindset' based around a. Being a 'tightwad' b. Launching business ventures with minimal money down (i.e. using other peoples money) and c. Getting a co-habitation agreement if living with somebody for more than 2 years. -GENERALLY GOOD ADVICE, HOWEVER MY VIEW IS I'D RATHER LOSE MY OWN MONEY THAN SOMEONE ELSE'S AND BEING A TIGHTWAD IN THE EXTREME (REFUSING TO TAKE A LADY OUT FOR DINNER AND INSTEAD INVITING HER RIGHT OVER AS GENE RECOMMENDS) CAN BE AS FOOLISH AS BEING A SPENDTHRIFT! *Gene recommends sticking with your day job as you work to turn the things you enjoy into a legitimate revenue stream. If this succeeds, you can pursue your hobby full-time, if it fails you have a fall-back position. He recounts the story of his friend who worked a successful job on Wall Street but was passionate about flea markets. He kept his job while he worked to establish a successful flea market business, having a fall-back if it failed. Gene himself kept working until Bill Aucoin started paying him a weekly salary, allowing him to pursue Kiss full-time. -SOUND ADVICE *Gene advocates in 'self-reinvestment' over investing excess capital in shares (which he discourages for most readers), i.e. investing in your own business ventures and upskilling. -SOUND TO MIXED ADVICE, SHARES ARE GOOD INVESTMENTS IF THE INDIVIDUAL HAS THE KNOWLEDGE AND DISCIPLINE. *Gene gives his theories about men, women and relationships (that would give a feminist reader a heart attack). He stresses the physiological differences between men and women that underpin the behavioral differences, how the legal system is unfairly titled against men in a marriage (he advocates against marriage point blank) and advocates having agreements drawn up at the start of a relationship laying out what it will entail for both parties to avoid later disputes. -WHILE MAKING MANY VALID POINTS (PARTICULARLY THE LATTER ARGUMENT), GENE FOCUSES MORE ON THE PROBLEMS THAN THE SOLUTIONS. HIS STATISTICS ON INFIDELITY (ESTIMATING 90% OF MEN CHEAT) ARE LIKELY INFLATED AND ARE MORE LIKELY IN THE REALM OF 50% ACCORDING TO THE KINSEY REPORT (THE 1948 STUDY ALSO FOUND AN ESTIMATED 25% OF WOMEN CHEAT ALSO).