If there's one subject which never goes away it's the matter of wealth and how to get it -- preferably with great speed and as little effort or risk as possible.

For several years now the hucksters and promoters who imply that instant realty riches are both possible and plausible have been relatively quiet. Skyrocketing stock market values and a plethora of dot.com millionaires have riveted attention on Wall Street -- at least until last Spring when the market said "whoops" and swallowed equity worth $5 trillion.

So now we come to the hard part. Yes, it's still possible to make big money on Wall Street, in real estate, and perhaps even with dot.coms. But realistically we live in a world with both potential and risk; an environment where most people are not rich, instant wealth is unlikely, hard work is the norm, and luck is surely helpful.

Several years ago the matter of wealth and how to get it was discussed in this space, a reference which seems to come up constantly as a result of reader e-mails and general inquiries. Has anything changed since the Secrets of Real Estate Wealth Revealed by Masters was first published?

To some degree, the ups and downs of the last few years have been healthy. Some large fortunes have been created -- but then large fortunes are always being built. Some great fortunes have been lost -- but, you guessed it, some great fortunes are always being lost.

Perhaps what's been different is the Internet, the availability of financial news on cable TV, and increased business coverage. There's more information, it's available quicker, and there are more opportunities to express a variety of views with e-mail and message boards. Also, changes in the insider trading rules -- Regulation FD from the Securities and Exchange Commission -- have been in effect since August and the benefits are already obvious: company officials can't play favorites and reward analysts and insiders with advance information.

The coming federal tax reductions, if finally passed, represent an important opportunity for most households -- additional dollars to save, invest, or use simply to pay down outstanding credit card bills. You can just bet that in a few years there will be stories explaining how someone took their $1,200 tax savings, invested in a small business, and today employ 1,400 people.

But what about those principles and concepts outlined several years ago. Do they still apply? Here they are again, so judge for yourself.

• Start early. Real estate fortunes are generally made over a period of years, decades and generations. The earlier you start, the more time you have to accumulate property and benefit from appreciation.

• Live long. A little appreciation each year multiplied by many years can produce enormous wealth. Some real estate entrepreneurs have succeeded because they bought in their 20s and 30s and are still alive in their 80s.

• Save. One mogul, who built a realty empire that included dozens of shopping centers and more than 100,000 acres of land, once explained that "the hardest thing in life is to accumulate the first $10,000. After that, it's easy." His point, corrected somewhat for inflation, is that you can't invest if you can't save. Forget about fancy cars and big houses -- at least at first.

• Listen to others, decide for yourself.

• Risk is real. Not every investment pays off, and some are absolute flops. But tomorrow is another day.

• Honor commitments -- even if the result is a loss or something less than the best deal. Contracts and lawyers are nice, but your word is what counts and the only way to establish long-term business relationships.

• Never take the last penny from the table. When the another person prospers, you prosper.

• Book learning is great, but street smarts can't be ignored. One gentleman, whose bank -- the story goes -- had to be sold to pay the estate taxes when he died, bought a piece of Florida land that was largely underwater. You can bet that a few people laughed. He and partner filled it in, built a causeway, and that piece of dry land today includes a major shopping center and thousands of apartments.

• Live simply. Someone who owned dozens of New York buildings lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment. Curiously, the Florida developer also lived in an apartment that many mid-level managers could likely afford. In both cases, each owned only one car.
  

  "You can only eat so much," Perry Bass told The New York Times ("The Break-Up of the Bass Brothers," Nov. 24, 1991). "You can only wear so many clothes. I've got some nice paintings. Now I'm not buying any more. I don't have a place to hang them."

• Keep quiet. For reasons of modesty, privacy, and personal safety you would have a hard time finding many of our richer citizens. But if you look carefully, you might see that some folks seem to travel more, own their own businesses, and generally live well but not extravagantly.

• Help others. Donations -- sometimes prodigious sums -- should be quietly provided to help various causes. Perhaps the most famous case involves Julius Rosenwald, an early builder of Sears Roebuck. Rosenwald helped establish more than 5,000 minority public schools and some 4,000 libraries for minority students in 15 states before his death in 1932, a contribution needed because public funds were hardly available for such efforts. (See: "Shaping an American Institution, Robert E. Wood and Sears, Roebuck," by James C. Worthy)

• Have values. Money is great, but money is not a substitute for friends, family, good health, leisure, personal decency, and the other markers which define a truly successful life.

For more articles by Peter G. Miller, please press here.

Published: May 15, 2001

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