The latest book review here at Richer by the Day is The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth by W. Randall Jones.

W. Randall Jones had a wonderful idea to explore in his research which led to this book:  by interviewing the wealthiest person in towns large and small, all throughout the United States, he hoped to uncover common trends that led to their success.  The book is split into three parts.  First, background information about the project is given.  Next, the “12 Commandments of Wealth” are described.  These are the common traits Jones consistently found among the richest man or woman in each town (RMIT).  The final section described the lifestyles of the RMIT and gave a short biography of each man or woman.

I am excited by the premise of some some books.  For others, I am pleasantly surprised, despite my preconceptions.  In The Richest Man in Town I found the rare combination of both.  The idea behind the book set my expectations quite high, yet Jones was still able to exceed my expectations by a wide margin.  I ignorantly assumed that a book by the founder of Worth magazine would be dated, stuffy, elitist, and dull.  I sincerely apologize for those assumptions.  The Richest Man in Town was none of those things, was ripe with pop culture reference from the Simpsons to Zillow, and could better be described as destined for a place among the other breakthrough books on the rich, such a The Millionaire Next Door.

A premise of the book is that since the poorest of the RMIT is worth $100 million, achieving $10 million should be a realistic possibility for just about anyone else, i.e. everyone who implements the tenets of the book.

A few takeaways about most RMIT:

They will die liquid asset rich and were self-made without the help of inheritance.

The journey towards riches, not the destination, was the most enjoyable part of the experience.  This is a point missed by get-rich-quick schemes and lottery winners.

RMIT are never satisfied.  This sounds like a curse, but is actually a description of the drive it takes to find success.  If you redefine “never satisfied” from not having enough or always wanting more to always striving to improve you’ll understand the distinction.

They agree that the key to achieving money and happiness is to remember which is the cause and which is the effect.  This is not intended to say that money buys happiness, but rather that pursuing happiness will more likely lead to money than pursuing money will lead to happiness.

Some of the commandments of wealth are completely at odds with the view of today’s society.  Jones argues, for example, that if you put your mind to it, you  can’t be anything you want.  This sounds like terrible advice, but it holds a lot of truth.  It is by playing to your strengths, or what Jones calls finding your perfect pitch, that you can become incredibly successful.  The example of Hartley Peavy was given.  Try as he might, all the practice in the world couldn’t bring his level of guitar playing high enough for him to become a great musician.  Success came when he instead focused on an area in which he had talent, designing electronics for musicians.  He was able to stay in the industry he loved and his name became synonymous with the best music electronics in the world.

I was also surprised to see that RMIT put much more emphasis on progress than on goals.  If you get better at something everyday, then planning to reach some big goal is much less important.  This ties in nicely with the idea behind this Richer by the Day blog: take small actions to enrich your life each day rather than making big plans that are never successfully implemented.

Some aspects of The Richest Man in Town have been covered in other books many times.  An example is the subject of failure.  Many books on wealth have discussed the importance of failing, why you shouldn’t get discouraged, and how to learn from the experience.  But even advice you’ve already heard is better coming from the RMIT, because the same theory seems to have more credence when repeatedly validated by so many successful people.

Another piece of advice you often hear in wealth books is to never retire.  I’m more of the Peter Gibbon’s from Office Space philosophy: “If I had a million dollars, I would do nothing.”  The idea of working despite not needing to is foreign to me.  I’m doing everything in my power to retire by age 45.  One of the richest men in town gave a new perspective of the never retire idea that totally changes my opinion.  He said “I love what I’m doing so much that I have been retired all my life.”  In that sense, if you could find a career that was more fun than anything else you could do in retirement, you too would want to retire to that job and never leave.

A recurring theme echoed by many RMIT was to stay paranoid.  Doing so will keep you thinking about how to adapt if something goes wrong.  Even if things go right, you’ll have practiced your crisis management skills.  Tiger Woods is famous for his calm under pressure.  He has said that growing up his father would often knock over clubs or otherwise try to distract him during a shot.  By repeatedly preparing for the unexpected, his focus is second to none.

One of my few criticisms of the book is that it is somewhat repetitive when reintroducing characters.  Rather than just say the RMIT’s name, or name with a quick background to remind you of who they were, there were sometimes complete sections to reintroduce a character discussed just a chapter or two before.  When Carl Icahn was referenced in part III, an entire paragraph used to describe him in part II was repeated.  Perhaps this oversight was only present in the advanced copy of the book I read and will be eliminated from the final publication.  That being said, this only proved to be a minor annoyance and only worth a mention because the book had no major flaws.

Despite the likely widespread appeal of The Richest Man in Town, I would most recommend it for the under-30 crowd, the younger, the better.  Youth gives you the time to build a successful life (and recover from the inevitable mistakes) but it is also when you have the fewest restrictions in your life.  Think of the opportunities a high-school student, whose parents provide food, shelter, insurance, etc, can pursue that someone with a spouse, dependents, a mortgage, etc might shy away from.

All visitors to Richer by the Day would benefit from reading The Richest Man in Town.  It is destined to become a classic and has certainly found a prominent place on my recommended reading list.

The Richest Man in Town is published by Business Plus and will be available on May 4th, 2009.

[update] I’m giving away three copies of this book.  See my post Free Book Giveaway: The Richest Man in Town for details.