Customer Reviews

Rags to Riches: Motivating Stories of How Ordinary People Achieved Extraordinary Wealth

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This is one of the best personal-finance books that you could read. "Rags to Riches" takes you beyond the usual advice, while including useful wisdom of wealth accumulation. The authors provide something much more compelling than the standard retelling of how to save, grow and protect your money. The best thing about "Rags" is that it brings the reader face-to-face with real success stories, told with a true feeling for the people behind the pocketbooks. For those of us who hope to succeed, the stories in this book are inspirational. And what's even better, these successful people are just like you and me. There's an affinity there that can't be matched by headlines about Donald Trump or George Soros. This book makes a perfect gift for college or B-school grads, mid-career folks and even someone nearing retirement age. These strategies could even work for those second- or third-career folks.

As a lover of success stories and biographies, I was looking forward to reading Rags to Riches. The idea seems perfect--profile regular folks who have established wealth, and tell how they did it. But what I found was disappointment.

Each profile is rather long and, most annoyingly, poorly structured. The stories are not linear--making it hard to follow the story--and also repeat themselves. Many stories share a wealth of details unrelated to the subject's financial success. I suspected that the profiles to follow the exact course of the verbal interview, with no editing and restructuring to benefit the reader. While I enjoy rich stories (no pun intended) I found myself bored and frustrated with the lack of focus.

In some cases, the authors chose to profile individuals who they could not interview. I believe these profiles damaged the book, as the authors can only suppose how the individual achieved their wealth. In particular, the profile of Maya Angelou told me very little about how she grew and managed her wealth--how much was deliberate, what kind of advice did she receive, how does she retain it? It seemd the authors were enchanted with Ms. Angelou for reasons other than her financial success, and that was why they chose to include her. I received little benefit from reading the profile, as interesting as Ms. Angelou is in other regards.

With only 16 profiles and many of them flawed, I'd recommend looking elsewhere for this kind of insight. It's too bad--I had high hopes for the book.

In the Introduction the authors state "their stories can serve as an inspiration to all of us."Then later they talk about how David Geffen lied to his employer about being a college grad and then arrived early each day to go through the mail to find letter from college. When it arrive he steamed it open, obtained a new letterhead and wrote his own letter verifying he was a graduate. Great lesson on how to get ahead. Just what I want my children to learn.

Rags to Riches interviews (in most cases, though not all) various people who have achieved the status of Millionaire. But it is not the typical easy overview of unattainable wealth--as in the story of Bill Gates or Donald Trump, but people you feel you could know--or be. Their stories are told in a homey, up-close-and-personal kind of way, and you barely realize you've been given tips or advice until you think back on the words you read. At first I had a problem with some of the stories--I didn't exactly like or agree with everything these people said, then I realized that's what made it so inspiring for me! "Millionaire" is many different people, and here are a handful of them. Just as they are.

Finally, I found a book about real people, including some celebrities, and the innovative ways they made their millions. Their climb to financial independence is told with interesting anecdotes and in their own words. Most compelling are the stories about Jay Thiessens, who overcame illiteracy; Lisa G. Redshaw, who once lived in and chased rats in a parking garage and now operates a $28 million dollar string of Maryland parking garages, and Joe L. Dudley, born black with a speech impediment and failed to pass two grades but managed to create a multi-million-dollar cosmetic company. It's a fast, inspiring read.

Most books that focus on people with money ignore some basic traits on how they got that way. This book not only explores the human side of wealth, it illuminates what you can do to achieve it. If you want some real-life advice on building a nest egg that doesn't involve hot stocks, the Internet or Warren Buffet, this is the book for you. After reading this book, you may well conclude that you will never have to buy another book on personal finance.

I was somewhat skeptical when I started this book: what kind of useful advice could a successful golfer or a poet give me, since I'm not likely to make my fortune in either of those fields? I soon realized, however, that the message of this book is not a short-sighted "Follow these steps and you will become rich," but rather, "Do what you want to do, be willing to take risks, and anything can happen." What all the subjects of the profiles have in common is an individual vision and a willingness to sacrifice in order to reach it, and that is a message everyone can profit from. An inspirational read and a good lesson for life.

I could not put this book down. I am a successful businessperson, but the tips I got after reading about each individual's triumphs encouraged me to trust my instincts. In the few short weeks since discovering this handy guide, I have been able to see new possibilities.

These stories which are put together by Finance Columnists Gail Liberman and her husband Alan Lavine are about ordinary people like you and me who have come into extraordinary wealth.

These stories presented to us people who overcame poverty and middle-class lifestyles, to achieve financial success to the highest degree.

This book contains inspiration for everyone, but first let me say here that these people did not become successful by good luck charms or magic or by just simply having a 'godfather' or any such thing. The folk in these stories were strong-minded individuals with faith in the ventures they had set their sights on, and they all made it single-handedly. They were not from high-society backgrounds or people with influential friends who were always in the limelight, for they had tremendous struggles, fighting against great odds. Each of them had some handicap.....some stumbling block in their pathways. Eg. Jay Thiessens who built a five million a year business was an illiterate man......yet he was a great mathematician.

These millionaires were especially challenged as children but most of them were given the encouragement from family members which allowed them inner strength and taught them how to make sacrifices and to be fearless of taking risks.

Read this book of excellence and meet David Copperfield, Maya Angelou, David Geffen, Lisa Renshaw, Del Hedgepath, Juan Rodriguez and so many more. You'll definitely be motivated and hopefully your strong will too will carry you from RAGS TO RICHES. Highly recommended!!

Nutface
March 9th, 2002

I read each chapter with a certain awe. I hadn't realized how important it was to go it alone. I always thought if you just worked hard enough, all would come your way. The writers genuinely helped me see what I was missing in following the crowd. Thanks!