The Secrets of America’s Richest Families: Building Wealth and Passing it On

USA (SANEPR.com) July 24, 2008 -- You have a high income job with a 401(k) plan, you have established a college fund for your children, and you take a family vacation every summer. If this sounds like you, then you are probably one of the 33.4 million American households considered “mass affluent,” worth between $100,000 and $1 million. However, while you have worked really hard to achieve this status, your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will have to start from scratch in order to reach the same level of success.

But what if there was a way to attain perpetual wealth—enough wealth to keep you rich through your lifetime and keep the heirs you will never meet rich forever?

“Such a legacy is within the reach of most people today,” write McBreen and Walper, “and they don’t even know it.”

Based on over 10 years of quantitative research with thousands of real millionaires, GET RICH, STAY RICH, PASS IT ON: The Wealth Accumulation Secrets of America's Richest Families (January 2008; Portfolio) identifies the two consistent strategies that can help the “mass affluent” become Rockefeller rich:
1) Own income-producing real-estate—in addition to your primary residence. Such an asset earns money for you today and can be passed down to your heirs as part of your legacy.
2) Practice continually innovative entrepreneurship—having a substantial stake in a company, product or service that represents a whole new way to make money.

“Households that have achieved—or are on their way to—perpetual wealth typically invest at least 50 percent and as much as 68 percent of their assets in private enterprises and real estate,” say McBreen and Walper. While there are just two main ways to build sustainable wealth, McBreen and Walper walk through the myriad of ways to invest in real estate (homes, stores, office buildings, undeveloped land, rental property, REITs, time shares, shared investments, and commercial real estate) as well as the many investment alternatives to starting your own business (franchises, partnerships, private equity, and venture capital).

McBreen and Walper can discuss:
• The two tried and true strategies for gaining and sustaining wealth
• How to make smart real estate investments
• How to take advantage of small business opportunities
• Inspiring stories of families that went from ordinary to mega-wealthy
• How to protect your legacy from unnecessary estate taxes

Catherine S. McBreen is the managing director of Spectrem Group. A lawyer and trust specialist, she’s an expert in financial strategies and a popular lecturer.

George H. Walper, Jr., is the president of Spectrem Group and has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of wealth management, retirement, and trust services. Both authors live outside Chicago.

They write a bi-monthly column for On Wall Street, focusing on wealth and investments, and have also written for American Banker and Research magazine. They have been interviewed on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and National Public Radio.

For more information, please visitwww.millionairecorner.com
To schedule an interview or receive media information, contact
Babs Chandrasoma, babs@prbythebook.com, 512-289-4339, www.prbythebook.com