There’s a new country in America.
It’s a country within a country.
No passports are needed.
No membership cards to fill out.
But it’s a secret country and it takes great wealth to get inside.
I didn’t know of it before the other day.
I’m talking about Richistan.
Richistan is the title of a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank. It documents the new wealth in the good old USA. These are people making vast fortunes (I’m talking huge) from the oddest things, whether selling ceramic towns or timber or services on the Internet.
Richistan is the story of these people, how they got and are getting wealthy, and how they are handling their colossal wealth. It’s fascinating reading.
When I was researching books and writing styles to develop Hypnotic Writing as a concept, I quickly learned that the feature stories on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) were some of the most riveting available.
So when I learned Robert Frank is a WSJ reporter who wrote a book based on his popular column (see The Wealth Report blog link on the left), I had to have it, like right now.
I’m loving Richistan.
For one thing, the writing style is, well, hypnotic.
Frank knows how to tell a story to communicate a message. His sentences are tight. His paragraphs are descriptive. The passages are engaging.
The book is worth reading for that reason alone.
But there’s a real education to be gained from learning about the new wealth in America and how people just like you and me are entering the secret world of Richistan.
While people still struggle with having money, in Richistan there seems to be a purer attitude to money.
Yes, people still spend it on jets and fancy cars and more than one mansion, but they also support worthy causes and create foundations to help change the world.
They seem to know money is a powerful tool for doing good in the world.
I’m endorsing Richistan and urging you to read it. It’s in book stores and of course at www.Amazon.com and www.bn.com.
Happy reading.
Ao Akua,
Joe
www.mrfire.com
PS –In Richistan, BMW is bumped for Bentley, Rolex is passed up for a Frank Muller watch, and first class flights are left behind for Gulfstream Jet ownership. The wealthy of Richistan are creating jobs for tens of thousands of people, and some of the wealthiest are using their resources to end poverty in Ethiopia. Read Richistan.
Reminder: If you like this blog post, be sure to “Digg It” using the link on the right. Thank you.
9 Comments
I am poised to enter the world of Richistan. (Love the name) I got inspired by Donald Trump’s book “Why we want you to be rich”. I have always wanted to create good in this world and his question, who do you serve by being poor, got me taking action. Money is a powerful tool to do good as you say and I am in the game.
Joe I did some digging and I found the digg it info and have it now on my blog!
Thanks for sharing this!
http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/03/add-digg-button-to-blogger-or-blogspot.html
YOXOMO
http://moniquedicarlo.blogspot.com/
Joe: Very interesting book; thank you for bringing this to the attention of your readers. I’ll add it to my amazon ‘wish list.’ For insights and excellent writing from another financial reporter, I highly recommend the new book, The Millionaire Meditation: Stress Management for Wall Street, Corporate America and & Entrepreneurs by Paul Farrell, J.D., Ph.D. The pdf ebook version of The Millionaire Meditation is available as a free download at http://paulbfarrell.com. Paul is a former JP Morgan investment banker who now has a regular column on Dow Jones’ MarketWatch.com. He is one of the most spiritually insightful financial writers around. His stuff is well worth reading if you enjoy finance, investing AND personal development. Best, D
Must be a nice book… but what a SCAAAARY picture 😮
I’ll put it on my Amazon list, thanks for the tip. By the way, Perhaps Richistan’s Youngest Self-made person on the list is 17 year old Millionaire: Ashley Qualls, earned over $1,000,000 from her website: whateverlife.com
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/118/girl-power.html
There’s the link, perhaps worth a look.
From the article:
“Ashley had no connections. No business professionals in the family. No rich aunt or uncle. In the working-class community of downriver Detroit, south of downtown and the sprawling Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, she bounced back and forth between her divorced parents, neither of whom attended college. Her father is a machinist, her mother, until recently, a retail data collector for ACNielsen. “My mom still doesn’t understand how I do it,” Ashley says. To be fair, she did go to her mother for the initial investment: $8 to register the domain name. Ashley still hasn’t spent a dime on advertising”
Thanks for the continued inspiration!
David
I dugg it. Good stuff, Joe.
I’ve been wondering abou that book. Now I know.
p
Joe —
I dugg this story too. Because it is providing me lots of opportunities to clean on beliefs I have about the rich and super-rich.
I have avoided even picking up that book at the bookstore because of all the projecting I was doing. I immediately knew what it was about just from the cover.
It feels like the last taboo. And some of the beliefs come from personal experience as a butler many years ago. Among many experiences, I once had the pleasure of helping the CEO of a Fortune 100 company stumble into the bathroom because, at 2 PM on Easter Sunday, he was too drunk to do it on his own. I know lots of people drink too much, but that experience became an archetype of my beliefs in how people who are very wealthy should know better, etc. All of it’s BS, but there it is.
So, this is a big breakthrough staring me in the face.
I’m sorry.
I love you.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
[Repeat]
Thanks again for a big insight!
Frank
Thanks for the book recommendation Joe! Richistan sounds like an interesting read (gotta love that title too) — I will check it out for sure.
All the best,
John Pratt
Joe,
Thanks so much for the info. I’ll buy the book and continue working to join Richistan.
Armando Capo
http://www.amazing-home-based-business.com