Rich in America: Secrets to Creating and Preserving Wealth

By Jeffrey S. Maurer

Advance Praise for Rich In America "I highly recommend Rich in America to investors of all economic levels. While certainly no company understands the wealthy better than U.S. Trust, Jeff Maurer has done a wonderful job of turning the wisdom he gathered during his distinguished career at this venerable institution into advice that will benefit anyone interested in making smarter financial decisions." -Charles Schwab Chairman, The Charles Schwab Corporation "Jeff Maurer is uniquely qualified to advise the affluent and those who would be. Rich in America is packed with insight and wisdom gleaned from his long and tremendously successful career at the very pinnacle of wealth management." -Timothy C. Forbes Chief Operating Officer, Forbes Inc. "For thirty-three years, Jeff Maurer helped build U.S. Trust Corporation into one of the nation's most prominent and respected wealth managers. In this book, Jeff combines his own experience with the knowledge gleaned from a decade of U.S. Trust research into who the affluent are, how they earned their money, and how they keep it. The U.S. Trust approach to building and maintaining wealth makes relevant reading for anyone eager to provide for their own and their family's financial well-being." -Alan J. Weber Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Trust Corporation "Jeff Maurer has distilled more than three decades of investment advice to affluent clients into a concise, informative, and extraordinarily readable work. Readers who are trying to preserve accumulated assets, as well as those who are setting out to build substantial wealth, will profit from this wide-ranging book." -James Poterba Mitsui Professor of Economics, MIT

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471445487
• ISBN13: 9780471445487
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: WILEY
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Personal Finance Ideas For The Wealthy

"Rich In America: Secrets To Creating and Preserving Wealth" by Jeffrey S. Maurer studies clients of U.S. Trust to learn about wealthy Americans. "Rich In America" focuses upon the top 1% of Americans based upon net worth ($3.75 million) or income ($300,000 per year). We learn that about a third of these wealthy people earned their money through lucrative corporate jobs; about a third earned their money through private businesses; and about a third earned their money from professional practices. Most of the affluent attributed their financial success to hard work. Time was also a factor. Only 7% worked ten years or less to obtain their financial status, while the average time worked to obtain their status was 21 years. About a quarter of the wealthy needed 30 years to attain their success. Today, the average, wealthy person still works 48 hours per week. So, I guess, the first "secret" to creating wealth is to work hard for a long time. Most respondents said they felt they gave up time with family, friends, and hobbies to obtain their current financial success. We also learn other interesting statistics, such as 7.1 million households (6.6% of the population) have a net worth above $1 million. And, throughout the last 20 years, the largest gains in income and wealth have predominantly gone to the richest 1% of the population. Maurer points out that creating wealth and preserving it are two different things. He writes: "There is an old saying: Concentrate to become rich, and diversify to remain rich." While Maurer argues that saving (the average respondent saved 23% of his/her income) and compounding help build wealth, he says "...you can forget the notion that investing alone will make you wealthy. ... All those books that say you can make millions in real estate or the stock market overnight are not accurate, but you probably knew that already." "Rich In America" goes on to argue against simple buy-and-hold investing (which I like). He says you need professional financial advisors today. He also argues that a private banker is nice. At this point, for awhile, the book reads like a promotion for the financial planning services industry, with a special focus on the advantages of U.S. Trust. Maurer likes hedge funds. (Incidentally, if you read the current 2004 issue of Forbes, which features the richest 400 people, there is a good demonstration of just how rich many hedge fund managers are. Partially due to the excessive fees, I'd argue hedge funds should be avoided by the average investor, even the average, wealthy investor.) After the promotional digression, the book returns to surveying core topics, such as: -Taxes ("Do not let the tax tail wag the investment dog[,]" writes Maurer. -AMT -Estimated Tax Payments (with which nearly every businessperson quickly becomes familiar) -Stock Options -Insurance -Retirement Planning -Estate Planning "Rich In America" does a good job covering some topics not covered in basic financial planning b

The man knows whereof he speaks

What impressed me most about this book is how directly useful and applicable it is, and not just for people who have bags and bags of money. Clearly, Mr. Maurer has a lifetime of experience working with very rich people and families whose affairs are very complex. But, if you have any significant property of any kind, the odds are that you fall into the same basket as many others--paying insufficient attention to making sure it works for you and that it gets into the hands you want (e.g., family and friends) rather than the hands you don't want (e.g., Uncle Sam and probate attorneys). This book feels like it's written by an expert, but written for everyone in this situation. I think it's first rate.

Rich in America by Maurer

This work is replete with comparative statistics on how thewealthy obtained their position in life. The author makes apoint of the fact that only 4% of the wealthy come from apreferred social class. The remainder earned their wealththrough hard work and sensible investments. Portfoliosshould have both balance and diversity. Investors should notget too greedy. Lastly, an estate needs to preserve wealththrough careful planning. This book is aimed at investorswho are self-employed or earn a living through a privateemployer. The presentation would be helpful for anyonecrafting a personal financial plan for the intermediate tolong term future.

It's About Time

Finally, a book that speaks the truth about building real wealth and financial independence. It takes time (a lifetime even), discipline, and hard work to not only become wealthy, but hang onto hard-earned assets for your retirement, your children and your grandchildren. If you're looking for an intelligent, thoughtful read to help you navigate through the complexities of amassing wealth, this is the book. Whether or not you aspire to be rich, the insights on smarter financial planning are important for anyone trying to make the most of their money. And, who better to learn from than someone who spent his career giving financial advice to the rich?

The Real Inside Story

Other books speculate about why the rich are "rich." This book tells the real story.Jeff Maurer has counseled rich people for decades. He knows what he's talking about. And if "lay people" really want to learn how the rich do it, they need look no further than this primer. Other books speak anecdotally about "rich people next door" or "how I became a millionaire." They're of little instructive value. This book, by contrast, presents the areas of focus and tactics of wealth building that can actually help an ordinary person get there. Sure some of these estate planning and tax planning and investment planning suggestions may take some thought to understand. But who ever said getting rich is easy? If it was, there'd be a lot more "millionaires next door."The real answer to getting rich is exactly as author Maurer poses it. It takes work. It takes study. It takes focus. And it takes a strategy.After reading this book, you'll finally understand how rich folks do it. The rest is up to you.