Customer Reviews

The Challenges of Wealth: Mastering the Personal and Financial Conflicts

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It is old, almost impossible to find, and I suspect that only the author and I have ever read it but it is a very good book.

I am a structured settlement expert and do financial planning for injury victims and often quote this book in lectures.

First book I ever came across on the psychology of receiving sudden wealth. The insights into the guilt that injured people and people who inherit wealth sometimes feel is priceless. Worth owning just for that.

Took me about a year to get a second copy of the book after my original was lost but it is worth waiting to have again.

Don McNay...

"The Challenges of Wealth" is full of practical information, exercises and tremendously useful advice. The authors address both technical and psychological issues; and in so doing, provide a complete exploration of the important concerns that wealthy individuals are likely to encounter. It is written in a clear, accessible style and is easy to read. The points made in the book are equally educational to the wealthy and to the financial planners, investment advisors, attorneys, accountants, philanthropy consultants and counselors who work with them. For anyone curious about this subject and looking for answers, this book is a must-read.

Just like the tag line on the cover "Mastering the Personal and Financial Conflicts" reads... this book covers all of the bases regarding the challenges of not only wealth... but money. The book covers how you view yourself, your reactions to wealth, your relationships with those around you, what it means to strike it rich, handing inheritances (not only the money but grief and guilt), trauma and divorce, growing up wealthy, passing money along, integrating money and self, all of this is only in the first part of the book. The second part covers things like what you owe and what you own, what you have to spend, scripting your future, protecting your future, where to find good financial help, trust and trustees, managing money for the old and the young and sharing. Highly recommended.

I am a Registered Investment Advisor in the state of Illinois. I ordered this book because I saw it recommended somewhere in regards to helping people cope with sudden increases in wealth.

I ordered the book new from Amazon and was a little surprised when it arrived. It was not a conventional bound book. It was an 8.5x11 photocopied version of the book bound in a plastic binder. It is a massive book, 1 inch thick, with 379 pages. The book came with an insert from one of the authors (Dennis Pearne) which said:

"The Challenges of Wealth" was published in 1988, in a 419 page, 17 chapter, hardcover edition. It went out of print in 1995. Since I continued to receive a regular demand for it, I obtained the rights, and reprinted and bound all 17 chapters in the current edition. I had authored chapters 1-9, "The Emotional Challenges," and Chapter 17 on giving and philanthropy. These are included, along with Chapters 10-16, which I did not author. The appendices and resource sections, now 20 years old, out-of-date, and even misleading, are omitted. The current edition is bound with the original front and back covers, and sells for the printing and binding cost on Amazon.

The printing format of the book turned out to be fine for me.

I found this book to be a very interesting read.

The book is split into 3 parts:

Part One: The Emotional Challenges to Wealth
*How you view yourself
*Your reactions to wealth
*Your relationships with those about you
*Striking it Rich
*Inheritances: Grief, Guilt, and Money
*Trauma and Divorce
*Growing up Wealthy
*Passing Money Along
*Integrating Money and Self

Part Two: The Financial Challenges of Wealth
*What you own and what you owe
*What do you have to spend?
*Scripting your future
*The next steps: Protecting your fortune
*Where to find good help today
*Trusts and Trustees

Part Three: Managing Wealth for the Benefit of Others
*Managing money for the old and the young
*Sharing

Since this book was published in 1988, it some ways it is a precursor to the current results of behavioral finance research. It focuses on the behavioral reasons why people struggle with sudden increases in wealth...then offers suggestions for how to cope with it.

I enjoyed the case examples of particular people dealing with specific situations.

I highly recommend this book to people who have come upon a sudden increase in wealth. It is also a great reference for financial advisors who are trying to help clients deal with this type of situation.