Posted June 14, 2007 Book: The Secret of Wealth: The priceless joy of true abundance can be yours today Author: Owen Phelps, Ph.D. The Durand Corporation, Durand, IL. 2007. Pp. 106 An Excerpt from the Introduction: On the cover of this book, you read that I am America’s wealthiest man. It’s true. Of course, I’m not America’s richest man. You may be wondering, “What’s the difference?” Answering that question is the purpose of this book. But let me say this much at the start. As words are used in this book, rich refers to an absolute measure of capital assets. So there can only be one “richest man” or “richest person” in any group. The one with the most assets wins the title. Wealth is very different. It refers to the abundance that one experiences in life. Rich measures something which exists outside of you. Wealth measures something that grows up deep inside of you an makes your life qualitatively different — in fact, much better. Many people seek to become rich so that they can have the experience of being wealthy. They want the sense of well-being that abundance provides. Unfortunately, the world is full of people who have large incomes, even great riches in the form of assets, and yet they have not found wealth — genuine abundance — which is the real point of their quest. Here is what one of them said after he had started with nothing, became a millionaire by age 28 and built a fortune so large that he could afford to give th Smithsonian its largest gift ever — $100 million: “I believe that money would bring happiness. And I believed that I had acquired everything my quest for more could provide. Still, I had not found joy.” Eventually this man did find joy — true wealth and a sense of deep abundance — pursuing the goal of giving away a wheelchair to every one of the 150 million people in the world today who need them. He has not achieved his goal — yet. But his goal has given his life new purpose. Once he was rich and enjoyed all the things money could buy. Today he enjoys the sense of purpose and peace of mind that no amount of money by itself can obtain. Today he knows the joy of being truly wealthy. In the same way, America’s two richest men — Bill Gates and Warren Buffet — have made headlines in recent years not because they have accumulated more riches but because they have decided to give away most of their vast fortunes. Apparently being the richest people in America is not enough. Now they want to be wealthy too. The good news is that one does not have to first become a billionaire or even a millionaire in order to be wealthy. Just as the world is full of people who are rich but know nothing of the joy that comes from being wealthy, the world also is bursting with people who are not materially rich and yet know the joy of living truly wealthy lives. They have discovered the Secret of Wealth. The purpose of this book is to share that secret with you so that you can unlock the power of wealth in your life and know the priceless joy of abundance which is given only to the world’s wealthiest people. There can be only one “richest man” or “richest person” at any one time and place. But the title of “wealthiest” can be shared. In fact, it is meant to be held in common. Why? Because as your sense of wealth grows, the world we share is enriched. Now I urge you — break open the secret. Embrace the secret. Embody the secret. And feast on the wealth that is waiting for you. An Excerpt from the Book: “What we see and know about our line of people tells us something profound about the Secret of Wealth,” Mr Peabody began. “Let’s start with some small things and build from there. First, we know that poorer people spend a higher percentage of their income on charity than do wealthier people — even though we know they have to spend a higher percentage of their income just to cover the basics of living. One of the things that should tell us is that no matter how poor we are, almost all people in our country can find a little surplus — a little money left over — to help others in need. Very few people are so poor they have nothing to share. And, in fact, even the poorest can and do help each other in other ways. They give what time and talents they have to helping each other. . . . “But we also see that as people get more income, two things happen. First, they need to spend a smaller percentage on the basics, so they have a larger percentage of discretionary income that theoretically they could give away. But second, instead of giving away a larger percentage of their income, they give away a smaller percentage. So as people get more, they actually give less of it away.” . . .”Yet we know that most people like to do good things and like to help one another. In fact, I looked it up this morning and learned that people in 89% of all households in our country contribute money to some good cause. It must be satisfying or so many people wouldn’t do it. So how do you explain why as our incomes goes up the portion that we give to help others goes down? Table of Contents 1. The twins 2. A learning opportunity 3. Growing curiosity 4. Getting rich 5. The question 6. Tale of two sisters 7. Rich sister 8. Poor sister 9. Rich or wealthy? 10. What is enough 11. When do we have enough 12. Enough to share 13. Connecting to purpose 14. Worth the wait 15. An agent for change 16. The lesson of the line 17. Getting more, having less 18. Where do we live? 19. Lasting change 20. The simple secret