Wealth Secrets: How the Rich Got Rich

"Want to become "obscenely" rich, as the subtitle of this illuminating book has it? Well, the best bet is to be born that way. The next best bet is to have a "wealth secret," the better-mousetrap sine qua non for building an empire. Economic forecaster Wilkin, head of business research at Oxford Economics, has good fun looking at how some fabulously rich people got to be that way.... Eye-opening."--Kirkus Reviews


"Wilkin is a knowledgeable guide to the world's greatest fortunes.... Thoughtful, playful prose."--Bryan Burrough, New York Times Book Review

"An amazing read... Get on to one of those [secrets] and you too can light your cigars with $100 bills.."--Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago

"Sam Wilkin combs history for a provocative and well-written account of the secrets of wealth formation. Just reading this book will make you richer."--Darrell M. West, Vice President of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust

"So how do our billionaires make their billions? Business analyst Sam Wilkin offers up the real scoop.... Delicious and insight-packed."--Sam Pizzigati, Too Much

"Clever, entertaining.... Rich and poor will enjoy it equally, and if you have a modest entourage, I would consider getting copies for them too."--Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail (UK)

"Pay attention.... What makes this book different is Sam Wilkin is an inside man."--Joe Shute, The Telegraph (UK)

A "highly entertaining and useful guide to the 'fascinating economic puzzle waiting to be solved' behind every billion-dollar fortune.... If you too would like to get your hands on today's equivalent of 250,000lb of fattened goose meat, Wilkin's book is a brilliant place to start."
--Julia Richardson, Daily Mail (UK)

"This is at heart a theoretical book, not an historical one. Its merit lies not in the stories it tells, but in the connections it draws between them."--Nick Wolven, Washington Independent Review of Books

"A great read.... Infused with a great sense of humor."--Life Elsewhere

From the richest Romans to the nineteenth century's robber barons to today's bankers and tech billionaires, Sam Wilkin offers Freakonomics-esque insight into what it really takes to make a fortune. These stories of larger-than-life characters, their strategies, and the sacrifices they made reveal how history's very wealthiest did it--whether it was through taking advantage of legal loopholes, working around bureaucratic systems, or creating obstacles in order to defeat the competition.

Wealth Secrets ventures beyond what you already know and shows how the roughly 0.0001 percent who have achieved billionaire status actually got to the top. Thought-provoking and rigorous, with a smart sense of humor and a wealth of cocktail-party trivia at his fingertips, Wilkin reveals that behind almost every great fortune is a "wealth secret"--a moneymaking technique used only by those focused exclusively on huge returns.