The Millionaire Code: 16 Paths to Wealth Building [Hardcover]

Paul B. Farrell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471426164 | ISBN-13: 978-0471426165 | Publication Date: September 26, 2003 | Edition: 1

Praise for THE MILLIONAIRE CODE

"A wonderfully worthy book, especially in an era when the wrong kind of capitalism has been in the driver's seat. The Millionaire Code is about something far more noble than money-the joy of living your life to the fullest simply by finding what it is you love to do, and then doing it. 'Hats off' to Paul Farrell for picking up where William Shakespeare left off: 'This above all: to thine own self be true.'"
-John C. Bogle
Founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"To make your savings grow, you need to know three things: the way the markets work, the way market history works, and the way you work. Let Paul Farrell take you on an enlightening, enjoyable, and profitable journey to the inner self of the successful investor."
-William J. Bernstein, PhD, MD
author of The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio and The Intelligent Asset Allocator

"Combining personality theory, solid investment advice, and Zen philosophy, Paul Farrell demonstrates concretely how necessary it is to combine your personality and investing styles in order to create meaningful wealth. If you want to learn what it takes to develop your own unique investment strategy-the only kind likely to succeed-this is the book to get."
-Dr. Richard Geist
Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry (Psychology)
Harvard Medical School

"An important work. Leave it to Paul Farrell to provide a truly unique insight into the minds of millionaire investors. I have been impressed with Paul Farrell's work for many years. His latest book, The Millionaire Code, provides an important contribution to the world of investing. Truly unique insights."
-Charles Carlson
author, Eight $teps to $even Figures: The Investment Strategies of Everyday Millionaires and How You Can Become Wealthy Too

"It's often said that if you don't know who you are, Wall Street is an expensive place to find out. By helping you understand more about yourself, this book will help you become a more successful investor."
-Ric Edelman
Chairman, Edelman Financial Services, author of Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth, and Discover the Wealth Within You

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Do you want to become a millionaire? Seriously, do you really want to become a millionaire? If the answer is "yes" then you’re in luck, because no matter who you are, you already have all the tools to achieve this goal. Dr. Paul Farrell will show you how to harness that power. First, you need to get in touch with your secret millionaire’s personality code. Then, get into action and travel the path that best suits your unique personality. The Millionaire Code will show you how to do all that and much more.

Unlike so many other books that offer a "one-size-fits-all" approach to becoming a millionaire, this comprehensive guide will help you discover the only real way you can ever become a millionaire–your way! Author Paul Farrell believes that understanding who you are is the first step toward becoming a millionaire. He has created a personality profiling system to help you discover the type of millionaire you really are. Once you’re in sync with your true personality type, you will quickly understand your individual strengths and weaknesses, so you can focus your efforts on becoming a millionaire.

Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, The Millionaire Code will clearly show you how to create a personal road map for success. In four intensely engaging and penetrating sections, this unique book will:

• Provide a valuable overview of the history and science supporting personality profiling
• Detail a simple self-test that will enable you to identify the four distinguishing factors in your unique Millionaire’s Code
• Discuss Millionaire Temperaments that will give you four quick "shortcuts" into the depth of your personality
• Discover your true character and mission in life, fulfill your dreams, and help you get rich in spirit and in fact

Once you take the test, have your unique four-letter code, and are pointed in the right direction, you’ll be introduced to sixteen different and fascinating millionaire personalities, from the visionary thinker to the results-oriented expert. Each profile summarizes the distinguishing characteristics of this personality type, what makes them tick, and how they are most likely to become financially successful in the world as well as fulfill their true destiny. In looking at each of these personalities you’ll receive invaluable lessons about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in your journey, and what you can do to get there.

There is no "one way" to become a millionaire because no two people are alike. Your way is the only real way–and you will find it within these pages. With The Millionaire Code as your guide, you’ll learn how to discover the real you and unleash the millionaire within.

From the Back Cover

Praise for THE MILLIONAIRE CODE

"A wonderfully worthy book, especially in an era when the wrong kind of capitalism has been in the driver’s seat. The Millionaire Code is about something far more noble than money–the joy of living your life to the fullest simply by finding what it is you love to do, and then doing it. ‘Hats off’ to Paul Farrell for picking up where William Shakespeare left off: ‘This above all: to thine own self be true.’"
–John C. Bogle
Founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"To make your savings grow, you need to know three things: the way the markets work, the way market history works, and the way you work. Let Paul Farrell take you on an enlightening, enjoyable, and profitable journey to the inner self of the successful investor."
–William J. Bernstein, PhD, MD
author of The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio and The Intelligent Asset Allocator

"Combining personality theory, solid investment advice, and Zen philosophy, Paul Farrell demonstrates concretely how necessary it is to combine your personality and investing styles in order to create meaningful wealth. If you want to learn what it takes to develop your own unique investment strategy–the only kind likely to succeed–this is the book to get."
–Dr. Richard Geist
Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry (Psychology)
Harvard Medical School

"An important work. Leave it to Paul Farrell to provide a truly unique insight into the minds of millionaire investors. I have been impressed with Paul Farrell’s work for many years. His latest book, The Millionaire Code, provides an important contribution to the world of investing. Truly unique insights."
–Charles Carlson
author, Eight $teps to $even Figures: The Investment Strategies of Everyday Millionaires and How You Can Become Wealthy Too

"It’s often said that if you don’t know who you are, Wall Street is an expensive place to find out. By helping you understand more about yourself, this book will help you become a more successful investor."
–Ric Edelman
Chairman, Edelman Financial Services, author of Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth, and Discover the Wealth Within You

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471426164
• ISBN-13: 978-0471426165
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is New-Age, Feel Good Investing, People, July 5, 2004

By 

Gregory McMahan (Tottori, Japan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Millionaire Code: 16 Paths to Wealth Building (Hardcover)

You gotta wonder about the kind of person who would write a book with 'Millionaire' in the title, especially a book written written on the subject by someone claiming to have a PhD. Then again, you gotta wonder about the kind of person who would read a book with the word 'Millionaire' in the title, but enough self-incrimination.

The Millionaire Code starts off with the right idea in mind. The author posits that the key to wealth-building begins with understanding one's unique personality, and he uses the (in)famous Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator test as a basis for pinpointing some general aspects of one's personality. Mr. Farrell then uses a variation of the Myers-Briggs test to identify 16 different personality types, analyze some general characteristics of each, and then recommend financial courses of action for each.

The book is liberally sprinkled with lots of Jungian-influenced pop-psychology, notable business quotes by the likes of none other than Warren Buffett and Donald Trump, among others, and is filled to the brim with excerpts from some of the more popular (and more obscure) self-help books. Because of this, I am not really sure how much of the book is the author's own original contribution, and at times I had to wonder about the integrity of the mix.

The book itself is structured in four parts. The first two parts lay out the foundation for the author's assertion that personality is the key to investing, and calls upon the works of Carl Jung, Isabel Myers-Briggs, and David Keirsey for support. It is here that the author boldly states that one's DNA determines one's financial destiny, and this is one claim that I find to be specious (and also unprovable) and which also shows the New Age, pop-LA cultural influence that is also liberally distributed throughout the text. In Part Two he provides a test for the reader to determine his or her personality type.

From there, the book becomes less insightful and original, and more repetitive shaky. Part Three consists of many generalizations about four temperaments to which supposedly every person can be categorized. Part Four presents the sixteen personality types based on these temperaments, and does even more generalizing about the characteristics common to each personality. For each personality, he offers some general comments on the types of profession people having this personality would gravitate to (and apparently most personalities gravitate toward the same professions), and offers some basic advice on personal financial planning for each. It is in this aspect that the book is weakest, as the advice on personal financial planning boils down to either: let a professional financial planner handle your financial affairs (for those whose personalities label them as performers, teacher-healers or artisans), go it alone (for those whose personalities label them as managers, administrators or leaders), or simply to not worry about it, forget about it and focus on other things (for those whose personalities label them as thinkers).

I highly doubt that one would meet with much financial success if one were to follow Mr. Farrell's dubious courses of action. Still, the book is useful, especially for those of us looking to feel better about ourselves and our stance towards personal finance. Each chapter begins and ends with a notable quote, and the author does provide a detailed list for further reading (which Farrell calls the Millionaire's Basic Training Library). Probably the most important chapters in the book are the first, second and epilogue.

The book as a whole is partly anecdotal, with some biographical tidbits about the author placed here and there, and is partly spiritual. This latter part probably reflects the impact that Marsha Sinetar's excellent book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow, had on the author. As such, I believe the book deserves to be read, partly for the great quotes from the diverse likes of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Gary Zukav, and Buckminster Fuller, and mostly for entertainment.

That said, I impress upon all readers to enjoy the book, and not take it too seriously, as more than a few of its assertions are rather tenuous. Still, being a fan of Mr. Farrell's frank commentary in his articles for CBS Marketwatch, I must commend him for having the courage to share a part of himself with us and for putting the interesting subject of personality and investing on the spotlight. In passing, much of the book could be used as a source of great fodder for some outstanding fiction.

Finally, this book does not take the reader off the hook for his or her financial decisions. Though it may offer some insight into how we approach (or should approach) our finances, it provides no excuse for not thinking and reasoning about what we are doing when we say that we are 'investing'.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Forget the path, September 28, 2005

By 

a reader (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Millionaire Code: 16 Paths to Wealth Building (Hardcover)

The book suggests that it will provide 16 paths to bulding wealth, one for each Myers-Briggs type. Unfortunately it does not do so. For mine, what the book refers to as a visionary or INTP, it says instead, to forget building weath because "money is not why Visionaries are here in this lifetime". "Use your talents" is the only suggestion. Maybe others are better, but it appears to use most of its pages to discuss psychology and spends little time prescribing financial strategies.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where's the Beef?, January 16, 2006

By 

Dale C. Maley "Index Fund Investor" (Fairbury, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Millionaire Code: 16 Paths to Wealth Building (Hardcover)

Over the years I have really enjoyed Paul Farrell's comments on investing, particularly when he recommends passive index fund strategies.

Farrell's theory for this book revolves around the fact that 96% of Americans are not millionaires....and the reason more people are not millionaires is that their savings and investment strategy is not matched to their personality type (as measured by the Myers-Briggs 16 personality types).

An interesting theory, but unfortunately Farrell provides no research to back up his theory. It would be interesting to random sample the 4% of Americans who are millionaires and determine if their success was determined by matching their savings, investment, and asset allocation strategy to their personality type.

Farrell spends a lot of the book on reviewing and explaining the history and practice of the Myers-Briggs personality tests.

I was expecting that Farrell would next review each of the 16 personality types and then explain how each specific type could achieve a relatively high net worth. He does spend time explaining each of the 16 personality types, but offers almost no explanations and recommendations for increasing net worth.

All in all, I was disappointed in Farrell's book. His theory would have much more validity if he had done the research which linked personality type to the proper savings, investment, and asset allocation strategies. He also should have spent time explaining how each of the 16 personality types could increase their net worth.

A more interesting book linking Myers-Briggs personality types to investment strategies is The Psychology of Money by Jim Ware. It offers more specific recommendations for improving your investment skills based upon your personality type.

I would suggest companion books to supplement this book including The Richest Man in Babylon, Bogle on Mutual Funds, The Millionaire Next Door, The 4 Pillars of Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Wealth of Experience: Real Investors on what Works and What Doesn't, The Coffeehouse Investor, and the Armchair Millionaire.