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The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth
W. Randall Jones
By
Published: May 06, 2009
Category:
Money
Have you noticed that almost no one ever seems to ask the rich about the subject they know best?
No, on the “Fiddler on the Roof” theory — “When you’re rich, they think you really know” — the rich get to sound off on all manner of topics outside their expertise. We’re regularly served their views on inheritance taxes, wars, medical research and the arts. What’s harder to ferret out: what they know about becoming and staying rich.
Randy Jones — W. Randall Jones to you, but I once worked for him when he was the publisher (and founder) of Worth Magazine — got interested in money when he was a kid in Georgia. As far as I can tell, he has amassed piles of it. In addition to the duplex in Manhattan, there’s a house in Westchester. I doubt his kids have ever been shamed by clothes from The Gap. And his wife needed an operation on her earlobes a while back, thanks to decades of wearing earrings encrusted with massive diamonds. (No. Not really. But you get the idea.)
A few years ago, Jones decided to write a book about his favorite obsession: how you make money. In The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth, he crisscrosses America to interview a slew of self-made millionaires. (Actually, the poorest of the people he interviews has at least $100 million.) Then he divides their knowledge into buckets — “the twelve commandments of wealth”.
It’s a simple structure. It’s a simple book. There’s almost nothing here that you haven’t read, heard or thought before.
So why aren’t you rich rich rich?
For one thing, you may be confused. “It’s good to be rich” is not the same as “Greed is good”, but because so many of the visible rich are selfish bastards who would greatly benefit from a stunning increase in the tax rate, it’s easy to think that wealth and sucky values go hand in hand. “Yeah, I’ll have no money worries if I get rich,” you think. “But I’ll also be an asshole.”
Not so, Jones says. Wealth is the byproduct of worthy activity. It’s what happens when you perform a useful service or make a decent product, then market it aggressively and treat customers decently. It’s about Right Livelihood, not pursuit of money. Sharks may score big for a while, say Jones and his interviewees, but over the long haul it’s the good people who win biggest.
And good people don’t put “success” and “wealth” in the same sentence. They measure success by satisfaction: their pleasure in the enterprise they’ve created, in the work they do each day, in their families and their causes. The high life in the big city? Most shudder at the prospect — they’re still living in their hometowns.
Each chapter in “The Richest Man in Town” is peppered with anecdotes, and they serve that chapter’s commandment. Don’t work for other people. Trust yourself. Be obsessive. (Robert Stiller sold his first company — he made EZ Wider “cigarette” papers — and started Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which required him to use every dollar he ever made and go out to sell the product himself.) Early work experience gives you a solid work ethic. (Your kid is 14 and still going to summer camp?) Education matters; Harvard doesn’t. Take care of your health. Have lots of sex. (“My sex drive and my business drive are co-dependent,” one richie told Jones.)
A lot of kids will be given this book for graduation, birthdays and holidays. Good. They’ll get something out of it. And so will Randy Jones, who not only has made a very good product here but made damn sure I got a copy.
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