28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 25 Year Perspective on the Origins and Problems of Today's American Billionaires, September 29, 2007
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to earn, spend, and give away billions of dollars without having to think about reining in your whims? That's the way Bill Gates and many other billionaires live now. All the Money in the World takes a look at those who have appeared on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans over the last 25 years to see how these billionaires got on the list, what kept them on the list, and what the consequences of their wealth have been for their lives and those of their families.
Malcolm Forbes started this list to show that wealth counts, not inherited position (as the social 400 in New York had once implied). The list has now reached a point of having become an icon in an age of remarkable wealth building. A good part of the book shows how the list itself is beginning to influence the behavior of people who do and don't want to be seen on the list.
The amount of information contained in this book is staggering. In addition to hundreds of vignettes about wealthy individuals and families, there are also lots of lists of who does the most of whatever (earn, spend, divorce, have children, give away money, or own yachts).
You might expect that such a book would glamorize billionaires, but that's not the case. The authors do their best to keep a little distance between the glitz of wealth and power and the reality of what kind of people these are. In many cases, you'll quickly decide you don't like certain people . . . and certainly wouldn't want to use them as a role model.
Other books on the wealthy tend to make them seem like they are superior in many ways, but that's not the reality as this book shows. I was particularly impressed to see that the book contained a discussion of how some piles of money are created by accidental factors. Of those who earned their own wealth (the majority), extreme risk taking was often rewarded when huge increases in prices turned poor cash flow into an asset-based bonanza.
Some of the factoids will fascinate you. Bill Gates had wealth in 2006 greater than the annual GDP of 11 African countries with a combined population of 226 people. The authors also adjust wealth over time by comparing it to GDP in the United States which allows you to compare Bill Gates to John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Perhaps the most interesting factoid is that those without much education are worth a lot more money than those with a lot of education. Card players will be intrigued to find out that many fortunes were started from poker winnings.
For those who love gossip, some sections positively reek of gossip.
Here is how the book is organized:
Introduction
Part One: What It Takes
Chapter 1 -- Education, Intelligence, Drive
Chapter 2 -- Risk
Chapter 3 -- Luck and Timing
Chapter 4 -- Winning Is Everything
Part Two: Making It
Chapter 5 -- Blue-Collar Billionaires
Chapter 6 -- West Coast Money
Chapter 7 -- Entertainment and Media
Chapter 8 -- Beyond Wall Street
Part Three: Spending It
Chapter 9 -- Conspicuous Consumption
Chapter 10 -- Heirs
Chapter 11 -- Family Feuds
Chapter 12 -- Giving It Away
Chapter 13 -- Power and Politics
Afterword -- Money and Happiness
I have studied how billion-dollar businesses are created for many years, and have often surveyed wealthy entrepreneurs in that process. In addition, I try to stay up-to-date on what's going on with the wealthiest people as part of my studies for the 400 Year Project. But a great deal of the information in the book (about 30 percent) was new to me. If you are not so focused on the wealthy as I am, you'll probably find more than half of the book will be new to you.
The book is a pretty fast read if you skim over anecdotes you already know.
Have a rich experience!
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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well-Executed and Helpful in Multiple Ways, September 21, 2007
I bouight this book partly on a whim and partly because a new non-profit a bunch of us have created, Earth Intelligence Network, is about to start fund-raising from the foundations. For the one page list of the top foundations and what they focus on, alone, I was fully satisfied.
However, and this was a very pleasant surprise, the book suggests that in the Forbes 400, average worth of those without a college degree is 5.96 billion, while those with a degree have a lesser averaage wealth of 3.14 billion. I have an extremely bright and talented who scorns most structured classes, and I am going to give him this book as a way of considering his options. I am certainly coming to believe that online education and "free universities" need to explode, and structured classroom learning reduced at the same time that all learning should become open books team learning, not competitive rote learning. This book actually reinforces that view.
The book opens by emphasizing that a great deal of the wealth today came about because of the equivalent of the Oklahoma land rush, the combination of President Reagan cutting taxes, the wireless "landgrab", and smart people, generally already rich, borrowing money to buy under-valued assets (in contrast to the subprime mess we are in now).
The book examines factors in success, and after luck or intuition it lists drive, a willingness to take risks, self-confidence, and even obessive attention to detail. A lack of ethics and a willingness to commit crimes against stockholders, employees, and the government are featured in perhaps 10% of the Forbes 400 caught and convicted, and I would speculate another 30% in gray areas. The book cites one person's view that a major recession is coming, and the public's perception of the super-rich as having gotten there by greed and abuse, a factor to be reckoned with in the near future.
Part I focuses on individuals, and we learn that three families, Buffet, Gates, and Walton, hold 14.5% of the total wealth represented in the Forbes 400 list.
Part II focuses on specific economic sectors where fortunes have been made.
Part III was the most interesting part for me, it focuses on how the super-rich spend their money. Heir and trophy wives, how to stalk and marry a billionaire, yachts (over 200 feeet long, the top ones being over 400 feet), helicopters at eleven million, art, competing for the America's cup, a multi-year cost, all quite interesting.
Best of all is the chapter on Giving It Away, and the table on page 278, listing 36 top givers and their interests.
Bottom line: I do not consider this a voyeur type of book, but rather a book that is enjoyable to read on a Sunday morning, and one that could spark useful reflections in both adults, and seniors in high school, or those in college. I regard this as a very fine gift, and will be passing my copy on to my oldest son.
Ten other recommendations (other than my own books):
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?The Politics of Fortune: A New Agenda For Business LeadersState of the World 2007: Our Urban Future (State of the World)Within Our MeansThe Money CultureThe Working Poor: Invisible in AmericaNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in AmericaWar on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War on the American Dream and How to Fight BackThe Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It BackBlessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What it takes to become a Forbest 400 member;, March 10, 2008
I was particularly interested in Part One; 'What it Takes'. A fantastic chapter on Education, Intelligence, Drive, Risk, Luck & Timing. The essence is that 1) if you don't inherit money, you have to take a lot of risk and 2) not everybody can become a billionaire, but a billionaire can come from everywhere. Particularly interesting is that Forbes 400 types have often a different perception of risk and often sink their money into deals that are the opposite of what conventional wisdom deems a prudent investment.
Astonishing 70% of the Forbes 400 list in 2006 were self-made. A lot to learn on financial success incl. people like myself who never ever aim at become a billionaire.
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