The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jim Taylor, Doug Harrison, Stephen Kraus
Publisher: AMACOM
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 67735
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0814400485
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.024010973
EAN: 9780814400487
ASIN: 0814400485
Publication Date: September 10, 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
We are all fascinated by them--that enigmatic class of people often referred to as the rich. With all the emphasis on the rich and famous in America, we would think we know everything about them. In reality, very few of us truly understand those who make up the very wealthiest Americans--those with liquid assets of $5 million or more. What is this new class of people and how did they get that way? In The New Elite, the authors reveal what motivates our country's most powerful and influential class, what they want, where they shop, and how they really spend their money. With candor and unique insight, they reveal that the people who drive our economy are not Ivy league- educated, luxury-seeking socialites. While they include luminaries like Bill Gates, David Geffen, Ralph Lauren, and Donald Trump, they also include the small business owner next door. Based on unprecedented research with hundreds of interviews with members of this unique group,The New Elite uncovers the five classes of America's newly wealthy--including those who struggle with its implications, those who refuse to let it change them, and those who give it away, and how each of them is changing our culture and economy. This is an entertaining and enlightening look at America's ruling class, the profound ways they have redefined what it means to be rich, and how we court them.
Book Description
We are all fascinated by them—that enigmatic class of people often referred to as the rich. With all the emphasis on the rich and famous in America, we would think we know everything about them. In reality, very few of us truly understand those who make up the very wealthiest Americans—those with liquid assets of $5 million or more. What is this new class of people and how did they get that way? In The New Elite, the authors reveal what motivates our country’s most powerful and influential class, what they want, where they shop, and how they really spend their money. With candor and unique insight, they reveal that the people who drive our economy are not Ivy league-educated, luxury-seeking socialites. While they include luminaries like Bill Gates, David Geffen, Ralph Lauren, and Donald Trump, they also include the small business owner next door. Based on unprecedented research with hundreds of interviews with members of this unique group,The New Elite uncovers the five classes of America’s newly wealthy—including those who struggle with its implications, those who refuse to let it change them, and those who give it away, and how each of them is changing our culture and economy. This is an entertaining and enlightening look at America’s ruling class, the profound ways they have redefined what it means to be rich, and how we court them.
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| Customer Reviews:
Surprise! December 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
You are likely in for a shock when you read this well written and well researched book on the rich. Donald Trump and Paris Hilton are the image many people hold of the elite. But the research reveals the very wealthy are quite different from these images.
First off, there has been an explosion in the number of the wealthy, not only in the US, but world wide. And having a net worth of one million only puts you in the affluent range; you need at least 5 million to have arrived at real wealth.
Most interesting is the research into what the wealthy are like compared to the beliefs of marketeers. Marketeers believe only about half of the very wealthy are married; the truth is that 83% are. And while fully 48% of the wealthy consider luxury items such as expensive watches and cars as a "waste of money" (p 19), marketeers think only 18% of the very wealthy would agree.
Further shocks: about 36% grew up in either poverty or lower middle class circumstances. Both the wealthy and the children of the wealthy believe strongly in hard work, in school and later. And they like to shop at places like Walmart and Target. The very wealthy named Ralph Lauren and MAC cosmetics as among their favorite brands, brands which are available in most malls.
The area that has seen the biggest growth in the wealthy is in Africa. The area that has seen the least growth is Europe (p 157). In the US,so many people are now well off, if not wealthy, that luxury has pervaded the US. "Once exotic items, such as sushi and refined organic products, are now found on grocery store shelves" (p 94).
Full of eye opening information.
An intreging look into the little understood lives of the wealthy September 28, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
It has been said that the wealthy are different. Well, not so much. In fact, according the in-depth study done by the authors of this book, the wealthy came not from wealth but from middle class backgrounds. They therefore have all of the middle class ethics and needs, wants and desires.
Yet within the wealthy, there are differences. From first becoming wealthy to having had wealth over a decade or more, money brings different meaning to the groups within the wealthy.
If you're a marketer, you should read this book. I came to it as someone who makes a living understanding different groups and how to sell to them. To that end, I got a good deal of useful information from the book.
You'll learn what they read, what they buy, how they feel about their wealth and money in general. You'll learn far more about them by reading this book than anything you might see on television.
It is full of research. It has lots of facts and figures and very little editorializing, which I like. This is by far the most interesting and best written book on this subject that I've read and I highly recommend it to you.
- Susanna K. Hutcheson
Best book on The Minds of The Wealthy to Date September 24, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've spent the last 18 months researching academic journals, scientific and popular literature about how those who achieve the top 5% of wealth end up where they are. I've gone through three dozen books, of which four were quite good and the others were brutally poor.
The New Elite by Taylor, Harrison and Kraus stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The book serves two broad purposes.
1) You learn how wealthy people think and who they really are.
2) You learn the fundamentals of how they will perceive your marketing to them. (Are they interested in what you have to sell?)
Either of the two is a good enough resaon to pick up and devour this book.
THK have undertaken their own research which asks all the right questions. Their analysis is spot on and what readers of every income bracket can gain from what is here could be life changing.
This is not a self help/how to be successful book. It does not set out to accomplish that, but if you simply read between the lines...
Five stars.
Kevin Hogan
Author of The Science of Influence
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