Money Unlocked: How to Make It, Keep It and Multiply It: THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

by John Lee

Genres: Money, Personal Finance, Business, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published May 12, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There are multiple authors in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Lee*, Mystery & Thrillers, Journalist
John Lee, 1850-1922
John Lee, Fiction, wrote "Unicorn Saga"
John Lee, b.1946, History
John Lee, British actor, voice actor, professional narrator, and playwright
John Lee, Allergist
John Lee, Travel writer
John Lee, "the Wealth Dragon", Entrepreneur and property investor
John Lee, Gay Love & Erotica
John Lee*, Fantasy
John Lee*, author and illustrator, "Joy Sun Bear"
John Lee, 1779-1859
John Lee, "the Dealionaire", real estate investor
John Lee, Baron, British MP
John Lee, wrote "MonsterFungus" series
John Lee, petroleum engineering
John Lee, English, early modern studies
John Lee, economics, South East Asia

An asterisk (*) indicates that this is a Goodreads Author

Reviews

[Angela Hatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I approached this book hoping to find practical insights into how to truly “make it, keep it, and multiply it.” While there were certainly gems of useful advice scattered throughout the pages, overall I found the book fell short of the prescriptive guidance promised.

Some of the concepts presented were valuable: making space for opportunity, investing in personal growth, thinking strategically, and recognizing the importance of mentorship. However, I found myself wanting a deeper exploration of the actual journey, including the obstacles, failures, timing, circumstances, and decisions that contributed to the author’s success.

At times, I struggled with the repeated references to symbols of wealth, including luxury cars, expensive watches, millionaires, and billionaires. Rather than making success feel accessible, it created a sense of separation between those who have achieved significant wealth and those still trying to find their path.

I also found myself questioning how universally applicable some of the advice really is. Not everyone has assets they can sell to invest in mentorship, and not everyone is positioned to take the same opportunities at the same moment in time. Success is often a combination of effort, knowledge, relationships, timing, circumstances, and opportunity.

Ultimately, while I did find some worthwhile ideas, I felt the book was less a roadmap and more an introduction to the author’s broader philosophy and programs. I tried to keep an open mind, but my final impression was that it left me wanting more substance, depth, and actionable guidance.

[Zach King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this during a season of deliberately working on my money story — not my financial literacy, which I already had, but the felt scarcity underneath it. That lens is what made the book land. Money Unlocked is less a technical finance book than a mindset book about earning, keeping, and multiplying, and John Lee is at his best when he’s naming the internal patterns that keep capable people small: the reflex to under-ask, fear dressed up as prudence, the inherited stories about what money is even for. I’ll be honest about what it isn’t — if you want granular, prescriptive tactics, pair it with something else. But as a reset of the beliefs upstream of the behavior, it did real work on me, and a couple of reframes have already changed how I show up around pricing and asking. Worth it for the right reader — for me, it showed up at exactly the right moment.

[Li Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected something more professional of this book, guidance, solid advice or strategies. It might be good for a person who has 0 control over their life and this is their "aha!" book, but it repeats phrases throughout pages. Reciting "time is everything, make things count, work smart not hard, I started small etc" all over again. And many pages are getting wasted because of these repetitions. Like listening to a motivational speech on Youtube. Stating obvious things like "if a task isn't moving you forward, it's pulling you back". Like really? 😓

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for incredibly insightful secrets like "Being wealthy means having wealth" and "Many people fail to become wealhy because they won't pay $2,000 to take a weekend workshop."

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI psychosis in book form. I'm close to disowning the person who recommended this to me.

Underwritten, repetitive, and often contradictory. This book serves as an introduction to a sales funnel for overpriced courses rather than a coherent piece of literature. However, the author seems extremely confident in both himself and his teachings. So I researched this "entrepreneur" to see if these claims of social media fame and successful businesses are actually true, and had a much more engaging reading experience.

-Socialblade shows an abysmal 0.01% engagement rate on his Instagram, and the majority of the following is based in India (known hotspot for bot farms) paired with terrible engagement on youtube, there's strong evidence to suggest the large following is purchased. And what little engagement the business does have actually comes from high ad spend (as evidenced on google and meta ad libraries)

-A quick google reveals he's currently facing major legal action from his previous company, Wealth Dragons. Following a suspension and exit from the company for the vague but worrying reason of 'misconduct'. The Austrian financial authorities also issued a warning about this company following a very messy IPO launch.

-Companies house contains all his business records, and shows nothing but dissolved companies, major debt, and over-leveraged assets. A complete contradiction to claims of success and 'financial freedom' he boasts and promises to share with his students. And it also shows his wife left the company in July (possibly divorce, but considering her dormant property company became active again in March, buying x2 expensive properties, there's serious concerns that this could potentially be an attempt to hide assets before the litigation enters its endgame, perhaps?)

-His Trustpilot was dormant for nearly a decade before an insane surge of positive reviews this year, the timestamps on the reviews show they were being made to leave reviews DURING introductory events. meaning despite over a decade of selling courses, I've been unable to find any reliable positive testimonials from people who have finished the courses (but plenty of negative ones).

-Even this 'bestselling book' has evidence of foul play. While it DID make the New York Times list, if you go and look at it, its been given the 'dagger of death', this often means the book was purchased in bulk to force the book onto the list. This is further evidenced by social media users making posts that they've received free copies in the mail without prior knowledge or consent, and a company called 'missiondrivenpress' citing him as a client for the book. The company seems to specialize in such chicanery to "boost industry credibility", as explained on their website.

So its hard to deny that this probably isn't an honest or constructive contribution to literature. But also after seeing just beneath the heavily astroturfed public persona, it seems to be a chaotic and lonely world underneath, paired with the intense obsession he seems to have with AI, I developed both great sympathy and concern for the mental wellbeing of the author.

However, in looking at the negative reviews for these expensive courses. There's people who've lost their savings, gone into debt, or worse due to this charade. Lives have been ruined by this supposed 'futurist', so unfortunately my sympathy expires and I personally see it all as predatory and the whole industry is in dire need of regulation.

I know times are tough, money is scarce, work is hard. But please please please exercise some basic critical thinking when someone offers a simple solution, is the secret to wealth REALLY going to come from an expensive masterclass in a sweaty conference hall in the back of a hotel? I don't think so, no matter how much this book tries to convince me otherwise.

Tldr: there's this thing in books called an 'unreliable narrator'

[Martyn Beeny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Money Unlocked offers a straightforward and accessible guide to building long term financial success. John Lee breaks down the essential principles of earning, managing, and growing wealth in a way that is practical and easy to understand.

Rather than focusing on quick fixes, the book emphasizes financial discipline, smart decision making, and sustainable wealth creation.

An insightful read for anyone looking to improve their financial confidence and take greater control of their financial future.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally thought this would be more about finance, numbers and specifically what to do with money. Thought the book i started to be disappointed because this is not what I was planning to read. As I continued through, this book was exactly what it should be and what I needed to absorb. Especially in the final chapters.