THE THIN GREEN LINE: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy by Paul Sullivan, Simon & Schuster 2015
Do you want to be rich or wealthy or super-rich? As Hilary said, "What difference does it make...?"
Well, Paul Sullivan shows why being wealthy means being comfortable and free to do what we really want to do, while being rich means having piles of money, whether or not you get where you want to be. Sullivan draws a distinction - that thin green line - between wealthy and rich.
He says: "Wealthy means having more money than you need to do all the things you want to do - "not a number so much as a psychological feeling; you weren't worried about running out of money because you had more than enough, even if it might be less than someone who was worried about going broke." Rich, on the other hand, is a number "and as we saw in the Great Recession, one that did not equate to being financially secure."
So I'm shooting for wealthy. I want to head west in a big safe car and visit Eleanor and Franklin in the Rose Garden, and I don't want to spend the night at the In-town Motor Inn with the avocado shag rug and shower that doesn't drain. Next month I want to see "Tower of Power" at the Wilbur and "Earth, Wind and Fire" at Mohegan Sun. If I can get tickets to Bonnie Raitt with James Taylor at Fenway, that would be heaven - super - wealthy! And if Van Morrison ever leaves Ireland to tour the East Coast, I'm going to be there no matter what the tickets cost. Sullivan covers this idea of comfort and freedom wealth in his first section.
Section 4, Giving Money Away:
And I want to send money to Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael - http://www.guidedogs.com/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_dog_kennel.
Having been born blind and regained my sight, and then my unfortunate incident with the stairs, gave me insight into how hard it is to move about our world with what I call "impediments," handicaps that need major assists.
My husband's elementary school in San Rafael was across the street from the Guide Dog Center where blind people were brought for training with their dogs. Out at recess he remembers hearing the graduation ceremonies broadcast over the PA system as the new graduates - human and canine - completed their training.
The program began after WWII when so many veterans returned home sightless. Their first guide dogs were mutts or German shepherds, but at some point the decision was made to go with Labrador Retrievers specially bred for their perfect fit to the job. But it takes money to house these special pups, and to sort and train the right ones to be forever working companions - full-time vets on staff, thousands of pounds of kibble, buckets of treats, all the vaccinations, harnesses and leads. But what could be a better use for our extra bucks? Not much, I say, except Bonnie Raitt tickets. Makes us feel downright golden sending money to these guys.
So that's my idea of wealthy. And we want to continue to do this well into the slow years.
Sullivan's section three covers how not to go broke, how to enjoy the money, and how best to use it to educate your children (but we'd like to blow by that part - too late, its mine! hah)
Section 2 covers three ways to save money - not the usual coupon-clipping exercises. Sullivan undertook a survey in 2013 to learn what was different about the One Percent, and what he found can help the Rest of Us Percenters:
* When it came to investing, almost all of them had a financial advisor
* over 80 % had an accountant
* 2/3 of them had a lawyer they consulted regularly
* the one percenters were actually more likely than the top 5% to make common investing mistakes - overconfident in their investing abilities, they made many more trades and paid too much attention to the ticker!
Sullivan's book needs to be read in chunks. Read a section, think about it - find your own self in the examples, make corrections, track, and move to the next section.
Mill Girl Verdict - a great starting place for planning a happy wealthy life, even if you, as Sullivan says, a retired school teach on a tight pension. Not a great rich quick scheme.