Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On: The Wealth Accumulation Secrets of America's Richest Families
By Catherine S. McBreen and George H. Walper Jr.
(Portfolio, January 2008)

If your already-rich client wants to get wealthier, stay that way and leave the cache to his or her heirs or favorite charity, then perhaps they should follow the two-pronged approach laid out by co-authors Catherine S. McBreen and George H. Walper Jr., managing director and president, respectively, of the Spectrem Group.

McBreen and Walper of Spectrem, a consulting group that's been studying the prosperous for nearly 20 years, are very specific in their recommendations. First, own income-producing real estate in addition to the primary residence. Second, practice continually innovative entrepreneurship by "being involved in or investing and reinvesting in a company, product or service that represents a whole new way to make money."

According to the authors, more than 33 million Americans have achieved wealth, or mass affluence, and fewer numbers populate the millionaire and mega-millionaire ranks. Excluding primary residence: mass affluence, write McBreen and Walper, is having a net worth of between $100,000 and $1 million, whereas millionaires (7.9 million of them) have one of between $1 million and $5 million and mega-millionaires, more than $5 million (some 1.14 million Americans altogether).

Who are these Americans? According to the co-authors, the richest tend to be 65, on average, whereas the less wealthy are usually still working. Those in all groups usually have at least an undergraduate, if not an advanced, degree, and many are in the professional classes—doctors, lawyers and the like—or own their businesses in other fields.

Even though the subtitle refers to "America's richest families," the examples cited sound more like composites and are of anonymous individuals or families. That's unfortunate, because revealing real names and specific details and recounting the nitty-gritty of their successes, and setbacks, would have been more compelling and instructive, particularly in the passages on developing fresh income streams through novel practices. And it's one reason that, of the two main points, acquiring revenue-generating property comes across as the more viable and accessible path to greater affluence.

Throughout, the authors serve up a combination of statistics, charts and quizzes to drive home their thesis and prep the investor to take the next steps. However, what's in this easy-to-understand 250-page book for the advisor is slim, as it's geared to the general reader, albeit a sophisticated and money-smart one. In a concluding chapter, the authors say that of all professionals employed by wealthiest clients to help them shore up their portfolios, the customers are more likely to rely on brokers and tend to be loyal to them—staying with them for at least a decade.

The authors also enumerate a play-by-play of how an advisor worth keeping ought to service his or her client. He or she should: contact the customer every quarter with news about how to grow his or her wealth, convey to the client regularly the latest in the markets and in the world and how it affects his or her investments and goals; and understand and advise according to the customer's risk tolerance.

Following McBreen and Walper's two recommendations, how can an advisor steer clients toward fattening and diversifying their holdings?

They can't really, as the tips in this book are better suited for a financial planner or business coach in the role of advisor, not a broker.

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