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How to Be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth
"A truly enlightening work . . ."—Gordon Bethune, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Continental Airlines
"Fascinating insight into the subject of building wealth."—Ross Perot
Self-made billionaires all have one thing in common—they excel at making money. Hard work, thrift, and goal orientation are only half the story. The key money-making strategies of the super wealthy like Warren Buffett, J. Paul Getty, Bill Gates, and Laurence Tisch will surprise you. Wall Street guru Martin Fridson delivers a comprehensive study of the individual ingenuity, drive, and ruthlessness that underlie their great fortunes and shows how readers can apply these examples to their own pursuit of wealth. In engaging, direct fashion, he covers the core strategies and tactics that will increase readers’ wealth and business acumen.
Martin S. Fridson (New York, NY) is Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Company and a member of Institutional Investor’s All-American Research Team. He is the author of It Was a Very Good Year, Investment Illusions, and Financial Statement Analysis (all from Wiley).
Audio Cassette
First published December 24, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 7, 2017
Note to self: Work hard, be a great negotiator, frugality pays, copying pays more than innovating, go public in the stock exchange, investing in the market alone will not amass billions - but going out there and actually making deals with people face to face will yield a greater return.
September 2, 2018
If you can pay the price here are the strategies:
Decide to become super-rich
Choose a growing industry
Overcome the levelers
Resist social convention
How not to become a billionaire: ”relying on salary”, ”playing the stock market”, ”laziness”, ”not learning new things”, ”being wasteful”, "not having goals" etc.
A better mousetrap fallacy: being the original thinker does not always lead to wealth
Wayne Huizenga’s cardinal rules for closing deals:
1. Don’t lose a deal by failing to pay attention to it.
2. Never talk about a deal until it is signed.
9 fundamental strategies of self-made billionaires:
1. Take monumental risks
2. Do business in a new way
3. Dominate your market
4. Consolidate an industry
5. Buy low
6. Thrive on deals
7. Outmanage the competition
8. Invest in political influence
9. Resist the unions
Key principles from billionaires stories:
• Pursue the money in ideas
• Rules are breakable
• Copying pays better than innovating
• Keep on growing
• Hold on to your equity
• Hard work is essential
• Use financial leverage
• Keep the back door open
• Make mistakes, then learn from them
• Frugality pays
• Enjoy the pursuit
• Develop a thick skin
”Self-made billionaires, in short, approach every activity with fervor. While some are remarkably frugal, considering their means, none leads a cramped, miserly existence. Their friends speak of their incredible energy and zest for life. If these phrases do not already describe you, then you should immediately begin developing the habit of welcoming each day as an exciting new adventure. Tenacity is another trait invariably ascribed to the great fortune builders. The individuals profiled in this book have not grown immensely wealthy through luck alone. Instead, they have persevered until the breaks came. This, too, is a habit that you can and should form. The gold medalists in wealth accumulation are peple who like to set goals and perpetually seek new challenges. At some point intheir lives, as early as their grade school years, they made up their minds to be rich. Few if any started with a target of a billion dollars, but as their fortunes expanded, they kept raising their sights. Somewhere along the line, a seven-figure net worth became just one more height to scale. As soon as they achieved that rarefied level of wealth, they aimed still higher. More than loving money, the self-made billionaires loved the pursuit of money. To follow in their footsteps, you must adopt their mind-set, as well as their strategies, tactics, and principles.” p. 272
Decide to become super-rich
Choose a growing industry
Overcome the levelers
Resist social convention
How not to become a billionaire: ”relying on salary”, ”playing the stock market”, ”laziness”, ”not learning new things”, ”being wasteful”, "not having goals" etc.
A better mousetrap fallacy: being the original thinker does not always lead to wealth
Wayne Huizenga’s cardinal rules for closing deals:
1. Don’t lose a deal by failing to pay attention to it.
2. Never talk about a deal until it is signed.
9 fundamental strategies of self-made billionaires:
1. Take monumental risks
2. Do business in a new way
3. Dominate your market
4. Consolidate an industry
5. Buy low
6. Thrive on deals
7. Outmanage the competition
8. Invest in political influence
9. Resist the unions
Key principles from billionaires stories:
• Pursue the money in ideas
• Rules are breakable
• Copying pays better than innovating
• Keep on growing
• Hold on to your equity
• Hard work is essential
• Use financial leverage
• Keep the back door open
• Make mistakes, then learn from them
• Frugality pays
• Enjoy the pursuit
• Develop a thick skin
”Self-made billionaires, in short, approach every activity with fervor. While some are remarkably frugal, considering their means, none leads a cramped, miserly existence. Their friends speak of their incredible energy and zest for life. If these phrases do not already describe you, then you should immediately begin developing the habit of welcoming each day as an exciting new adventure. Tenacity is another trait invariably ascribed to the great fortune builders. The individuals profiled in this book have not grown immensely wealthy through luck alone. Instead, they have persevered until the breaks came. This, too, is a habit that you can and should form. The gold medalists in wealth accumulation are peple who like to set goals and perpetually seek new challenges. At some point intheir lives, as early as their grade school years, they made up their minds to be rich. Few if any started with a target of a billion dollars, but as their fortunes expanded, they kept raising their sights. Somewhere along the line, a seven-figure net worth became just one more height to scale. As soon as they achieved that rarefied level of wealth, they aimed still higher. More than loving money, the self-made billionaires loved the pursuit of money. To follow in their footsteps, you must adopt their mind-set, as well as their strategies, tactics, and principles.” p. 272
July 19, 2023
This book opened my eyes to what it takes to get to billionaire status. Millionaire is average but billionaire is extraordinary. You need to disrupt the market with a breakthrough idea or concept that will be huge if you want to be a billionaire.
Most of the book explores previous billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet etc and how they got to billionaire status. It's pretty educational.
Most of the book explores previous billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet etc and how they got to billionaire status. It's pretty educational.
December 25, 2012
As the book was first published more than decade a ago, it may appear somewhat dated by omitting some of the more recent fashionable billionaires, but nevertheless it provides a nice overview of the careers and principles of some of the most iconic billionaires in history. We are provided with a short business bios of the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller Sr., Ross Perot, J. Paul Getty, Sam Walton, Kirk Kerkorian and Richard Branson. In addition to these superstars of money and finance, I was also introduced to players I had only briefly heard about in the past of even not at all, like H. L. Hunt, John Kluge, Wayne Huizenga, Laurence Tisch, Carl Icahn and Phil Anschutz.
What I liked about the book was that it never set out to make its subjects all rosy and glossy, so some of their darker machinations and more questionable practices were mentioned alongside their deservedly lauded achievements. This provided a nice balance of both good and bad, thus making it all sound much more realistic. The principles of wealth the book tries to instill on the reader are all sound, although I have to question whether any of the readers of the book would actually ever be able to become a billionaire, either with the help of the book or without it. After all, there is a very limited number of billionaires in the world and the likelihood of anyone ever becoming one is probably even an order of magnitude smaller than winning the lottery.
Additionally, "how-to" books like these also always beg the question "so has the author achieved what he is trying to coach his readers to achieve?". Obviously not, but I don't think anyone expects him to have achieved it either an neither should the title be taken too literally and seriously. If this book helps someone on his way to becoming a millionaire or even just financially more secure instead of a becoming billionaire (which, let's be honest, is not a very realistic goal), it has served its purpose and as such, I can heartily recommend it.
What I liked about the book was that it never set out to make its subjects all rosy and glossy, so some of their darker machinations and more questionable practices were mentioned alongside their deservedly lauded achievements. This provided a nice balance of both good and bad, thus making it all sound much more realistic. The principles of wealth the book tries to instill on the reader are all sound, although I have to question whether any of the readers of the book would actually ever be able to become a billionaire, either with the help of the book or without it. After all, there is a very limited number of billionaires in the world and the likelihood of anyone ever becoming one is probably even an order of magnitude smaller than winning the lottery.
Additionally, "how-to" books like these also always beg the question "so has the author achieved what he is trying to coach his readers to achieve?". Obviously not, but I don't think anyone expects him to have achieved it either an neither should the title be taken too literally and seriously. If this book helps someone on his way to becoming a millionaire or even just financially more secure instead of a becoming billionaire (which, let's be honest, is not a very realistic goal), it has served its purpose and as such, I can heartily recommend it.
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September 27, 2018After reading this book the star-rating I will give it 5/5. The reason why i give it this rating is because it was a great book, i really enjoyed it, the author tells detailed stories and facts about the characters from the book.
I did not have more than 1 major question about the book. My major question about the book was what is a monopoly in business. The book states about John D. Rockefeller using a smart strategy in a Monopoly I had to research what is was to be able to understand what the book meant.
This book relates to my hero's journey because it states = “ All the successful men just didn't read about others success, they made theirs”. What that means is that you read about others success but you should also invest time to make your own success. It related because as a hero i want to make my success and i want to learn from those who achieved success in business.
This book changed me as a reader because i learned that sometimes re-reading pages or content is not enough and sometimes you need to go deep into research to understand something. example from the book. “ Sam walton expanded his marketing tributes to..”. I re-read it and didn't get it so i researched.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in doing business. This book changes the point of view of how to look at business, it gives strategies that help anyone. Besides it is not a boring book, it is a book that will put you in your challenge zone and you can take from book.
I did not have more than 1 major question about the book. My major question about the book was what is a monopoly in business. The book states about John D. Rockefeller using a smart strategy in a Monopoly I had to research what is was to be able to understand what the book meant.
This book relates to my hero's journey because it states = “ All the successful men just didn't read about others success, they made theirs”. What that means is that you read about others success but you should also invest time to make your own success. It related because as a hero i want to make my success and i want to learn from those who achieved success in business.
This book changed me as a reader because i learned that sometimes re-reading pages or content is not enough and sometimes you need to go deep into research to understand something. example from the book. “ Sam walton expanded his marketing tributes to..”. I re-read it and didn't get it so i researched.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in doing business. This book changes the point of view of how to look at business, it gives strategies that help anyone. Besides it is not a boring book, it is a book that will put you in your challenge zone and you can take from book.
October 3, 2011
The author tries to identify what the superrich did right and tries to formalize it in some structure. I use the word `try' because becoming rich is no hard science. We don't know what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately, the number of ways to do something wrong always exceeds the number of ways to do it right. The author tries to pinpoint the right ways. As with any case study, the attributes that `explain' success can also be used to `explain' failure. For example, taking monumental risk can make you rich or poor. But, where the author succeeds is trying to create a structured approach to becoming superrich.
While it's not science, I believe the author gets credit for trying to approach the subject in a structured format.
In my view, the most important part of the book is thinking about overcoming the levelers. In particular the `Menace of Competition'. The mighty economic forces that conspire against your success.
While it's not science, I believe the author gets credit for trying to approach the subject in a structured format.
In my view, the most important part of the book is thinking about overcoming the levelers. In particular the `Menace of Competition'. The mighty economic forces that conspire against your success.
December 17, 2013
Upon first glance of the title you might see this book as no different than the countless 'Get Rich' BS out there, but if you actually give it a chance you'll soon discover that it's something far greater.
Whether you're a tycoon enthusiast who loves such shows as The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, or someone who's just curious about the world around us, How To Be A Billionaire is a very insightful book that not only informs, but inspires as well!
Negative connotations are often associated with the super-rich,(with the term One Percenter becoming quite popular in recent years) and although there are some bad apples out there who have gained their fortunes undeservingly, this book is not about them. It's about those who went out into the world and turned their dreams into reality.
Who doesn't want to be rich?! But like anything else in life, it takes effort. And if you want to be among the best, it takes A LOT of work.
Some might respond to the success of these titans of wealth with old adages like 'Work to live, don't live to work', but to those closed minds I'd say who are you to tell a man or woman what their passion should be? Different strokes for different folks!
This book was written over a decade ago, yet it will be relevant for generations to come, because anyone who believes in striving for excellence, anyone who seeks to learn how others have achieved greatness in hopes of bettering themselves, will find a wealth of inspiration in this book!
Whether you're a tycoon enthusiast who loves such shows as The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, or someone who's just curious about the world around us, How To Be A Billionaire is a very insightful book that not only informs, but inspires as well!
Negative connotations are often associated with the super-rich,(with the term One Percenter becoming quite popular in recent years) and although there are some bad apples out there who have gained their fortunes undeservingly, this book is not about them. It's about those who went out into the world and turned their dreams into reality.
Who doesn't want to be rich?! But like anything else in life, it takes effort. And if you want to be among the best, it takes A LOT of work.
Some might respond to the success of these titans of wealth with old adages like 'Work to live, don't live to work', but to those closed minds I'd say who are you to tell a man or woman what their passion should be? Different strokes for different folks!
This book was written over a decade ago, yet it will be relevant for generations to come, because anyone who believes in striving for excellence, anyone who seeks to learn how others have achieved greatness in hopes of bettering themselves, will find a wealth of inspiration in this book!
July 9, 2014
[Audiobook version]
Here is my first complaint. Why is this book read by a woman? I know, I know, I’m being sexist, but the book is written in such obvious male tone, that it doesn’t really fit.
I’m still stuck with trying to become a millionaire, so for me this is not really a guide, since I’m not even THAT interested in being superwealthy. And good, because I don’t think it would have worked that well as a guide, but as a stories on billionaires, it was interesting. Plus, unlike other books, it at least tried to be a bit more honest, by telling us how certain activities are important, such as trying to get political influence to help you out.
But the stories and strategies of the superrich were so different that I do not think there is really that much underlying things to gain from them.
Here is my first complaint. Why is this book read by a woman? I know, I know, I’m being sexist, but the book is written in such obvious male tone, that it doesn’t really fit.
I’m still stuck with trying to become a millionaire, so for me this is not really a guide, since I’m not even THAT interested in being superwealthy. And good, because I don’t think it would have worked that well as a guide, but as a stories on billionaires, it was interesting. Plus, unlike other books, it at least tried to be a bit more honest, by telling us how certain activities are important, such as trying to get political influence to help you out.
But the stories and strategies of the superrich were so different that I do not think there is really that much underlying things to gain from them.
October 2, 2007
Broken down into chapters on the five qualities of billionaires and presented, I think, as a tongue-in-cheek guide to making billions, the author offers great, short biographies of some of history's as well as contemporary billionaires. It's a peek into what they did and what makes them tick. If you are intrigued by the great fortune makers and their rise to the top, this book will satisfy.
Read
May 29, 2008This books talks about the sacrifices that you need to make if you want to make billions. More of a study on billionaires than a study on how to get there. The author does a good job of laying out why you would not even want to try.
June 21, 2014
Very informative.
Very informative.
This book is a good read for those seeking knowledge and great wealth. It started a little dry but quickly pick up speed. The billionaire profiles give you a strategic look into their business practices.
Very informative.
This book is a good read for those seeking knowledge and great wealth. It started a little dry but quickly pick up speed. The billionaire profiles give you a strategic look into their business practices.
September 9, 2014
Excellent writing, very educational
January 21, 2015
Learn from some of the greatest to ever build truly MASSIVE wealth!
March 1, 2015
Great strategies of Titians who started with nothing and overcame immense obstacles to make a dent in the universe. Really well researched and put together not a lot of fluff.
March 23, 2016
This book as two outlines it uses to lay out the content in the book. These outlines provide good themes and are then supported by interesting stories from famous titans of industry.
August 5, 2015
Billionaire are ruthless... Learnt he truth..
July 28, 2016
Aspiration, Inspiration, Perspiration
September 1, 2016
A few useful takeaways but more importantly, lists quite a few interesting businessmen (e.g. Huizenga, Tisch) whose biographies are great reads.
July 15, 2019
Some interesting anecdotes about some familiar faces, seems a bit dated today as the latest/greatest tech example for billionaires is Bill Gates. Plus two of the 9 strategies are "Gain political influence" and "break the unions", both of which seem like antiquated notions.
The ideas laid out weren't terribly actionable (nor should they be, otherwise everyone would do it), but the general mindset of attaining wealth is conveyed well, and as an audio book it was a nice space to marinate in en route to work
The ideas laid out weren't terribly actionable (nor should they be, otherwise everyone would do it), but the general mindset of attaining wealth is conveyed well, and as an audio book it was a nice space to marinate in en route to work
June 25, 2020
I really enjoyed this book with great mini biographies on some great billionaires, about their personality traits. How they started and how people perceived them.Very inspiring book , very well written.
August 27, 2020
Interesting all around, especially the shenanigans towards the end (fight unions and buy politicians) yet the author needs an update to account for Oprah and Rowling, highly creative women who buck this book's mold.
January 3, 2021
It’s a fun read. I enjoy business, biographies, and history; so, this fit right in the middle. I do not think it’s a particularly useful guide book, but that’s not why I read it to begin with. I was in it for the historical business stories with wild characters and it did not let me down.
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February 6, 2020Hey Anyone a Billionaire yet?
May 16, 2021
Entertaining and informative
June 20, 2021
Provides many core principles and key aspects of how big name billionaires have risen to have such wealth.
It's confirmed. I have no desire to be a billionaire.
It's confirmed. I have no desire to be a billionaire.
June 25, 2022
The most honest book about achieving success and wealth ever written. Fridson shows you step-by-step how to become a billionaire without any hype or spin. It's great read!
October 8, 2022
Surprisingly engaging
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April 24, 2016
This is a truly incredible book. The type of book your read periodically to see if you really are moving on the path to massive wealth straight from the people who have already created it.
January 28, 2025
It’s a good framework of patterns observed in people and businesses that got there.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews