The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth

Dry...yet Fascinating!

What an interesting, complicated read this was! Mr. Jones' expertise on the subject of wealth and its creation rang from every single page, and if the book was at times slightly dry, even the places my mind wandered were with regard to his subject matter, and how it related to my own life. I was expecting to enjoy this book far less than I did, and I hope Mr. Jones continues to produce books as useful as this one. I agree with another reviewer on the relevance of his point regarding having 'silent goals' for ourselves - sometimes those goals of which only we are aware are the most important ones of all, because they are for our own happiness and no one else's.

Learn lessons from the experts

W. Randall Jones, founder of Worth Magazine, identified and interviewed the Richest Man in Towns (RMITs) in one hundred American towns and cities. Jones selected self-made types who found their own paths to success through hard work and their creativity. While members of this select group span a range of companies and industries, they share certain traits. Jones calls these traits the Twelve Commandments of Wealth.

Here are the first few:
1. Seek Money for Money's Sake and Ye Shall Not Find.
- Wealth comes from a contribution of real value
2. Find your perfect pitch
- Know your own unique strengths and talents and match them with your personal passion.
3. BYOB: Be your own boss
- Don't work for someone else, found your own enterprise. Choose partners carefully - only those who bring something critical to your success.

The bulk of the book is devoted to describing these Twelve Commandments of Wealth and sharing how successful men demonstrated these traits. Anecdotes come from a diverse group of successful folk. Here are just a few: Michael Dell, Stephen King, Sam Zell, Fred Smith, Carl Icahn, John McAfee, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and Larry Ellison.

Aside from describing the traits, Jones offers exercises to help us find our strengths and individual paths to wealth. For instance, when describing the need to look for more than money, he suggests writing your own obituary to visualize your lifetime goals.

I found The Richest Man in Town: the Twelve Commandments of Wealth to be an interesting and absorbing read largely because of the wealth of stories shared by his sources.

Some of the quotes are particularly memorable and here are a few that I can't resist sharing:

"I always tell young people there is no substitute for hard work and diligence. It takes eight hours a day of hard work to be a success, but it takes most people twelve or thirteen hours a day to do eight hours of good work."
- Joe Taylor, former CEO of Southland Log Homes and secretary of commerce for SC

"Everyone should have at least one silent goal. This is a goal that is known only by you. It's a reach goal, one that is extremely hard to attain, but potentially life altering, even world changing. These kinds of world-changing golas are realized by only very few people. If you don't reach them, you certainly won't be judged by others-it's your well-kept personal secret."
-Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., co-founder of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the largest for-profit hospital management company

As I read, my copy slowly filled up with post-it tabs and notes. I highly recommend the book for those interested in business books and personal finance and for their loved ones who might need personal finance tips.

100 Views on Wealth Creation

This book, "The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth" was an interesting read. One think I found different from other books that talk about being rich was the concept of doing what you're good at and not what you want to do.

A lot of books talk to you about being able to do anything you want as long as you set your mind to it. There is nothing wrong with that but when you really think about it you'll see that it makes more sense to do something that you have a passion for and are very good at.

This book looks at many people, a lot of them who started out with little to nothing, and how they made their fortunes. I would recommend this book to friends and family that would like to be inspired.

Loved it! A 12 Step Realistic Program to Making it Big. (ie., NO shortcuts!).

As an entrepreneur I could not stop nodding my head in agreement while reading The Richest Man in Town. Everything I believe to be true about making it big was outlined and reinforced through dozens of examples and endless insight from the nation's most successful business minds.

I'm a fan of biographies and I love reading about others who have done it. Somehow the author convinces the most successful people in the nation to talk to him, which can't be an easy feat. And then he distills the methods in which these leaders made it into 12 awesome commandments. Be a founder. Following your passions. Have integrity. It reinforces your confidence in the hard work it requires to do things the right way. All of these RMITs worked their tails off for dozens of years. As we all know, there are no shortcuts. You won't find any Enron or over-paid Bank of America CEOs, but true American success stories. A refreshing read in these hard times to know that you can do it. And that we all have time since the average age of a RMIT is in their 50s--the founder of Home Depot didn't even start until he was 49!

If you want a book about tricks to get rich or the latest buzz words and theories or a bunch of mathematical equations, then this is NOT your book. But if you want to be inspired by a fun and well written book on those who have really done it and the 12 commandments in which they all did it, then this is your book. Well worth the money and then some. And I like that the author does not claim to be a management or consultant guru. He is much more than that. He somehow gains access to the best minds in the nation (and probably all of business in the world) in order to give us invaluable insight. That is impressive. And the results leave me wanting more. I want more info from the 100 RMITs. More insight, more of their time.

Again, this is not a get rich quick book. But a more valuable tool that inspires and delivers extraordinary insight and motivation.

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