Wealth Secrets of the One Percent

May 18, 2015
This exhaustively researched, misleadingly titled tome by economics consultant Wilkin claims that nearly every enormous fortune is founded on a “wealth secret,” a slightly dodgy, if not actively illegal, strategy. The author aims to provide guidance to those who are interested not just in a “minor” increase in their fortunes, but in achieving private-island, personal-jet, “diamond-encrusted light fixtures” levels of wealth. Acquiring billions takes both smarts and luck, and all of the world’s living billionaires—there are over 1,600—had both. The author tells the stories of individuals, companies, and groups throughout history that attained astronomical wealth, including J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Circuit City, and neoliberal-era Indian industrialists. What he offers are not so much secrets as lessons derived from well-documented success stories: “don’t be the best, be the only”; “bigger is still better”; own your own business; network like a fiend. While the history is intriguing, the tone and approach—presto-change-o magical thinking—are not. Readers looking for a shortcut to wealth are likely to be disappointed. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.