What separates the haves from the have nots? Why do some of us become millionaires, even billionaires, while the majority of the rest of us barely get beyond just making ends meet? According to a new book by success scholar and author Dr. Dennis Kimbro, it’s not luck, superior intelligence or connections. The answer is simple, if not easy: those who acquire great wealth had to choose to be wealthy.
That’s the primary point of Kimbro’s new book, The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires, a result of his extensive study of one thousand of the 35,000 African American millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires in America. Using personal interviews, statistics and existing studies on wealth accumulation, Kimbro, the author of bestsellers including the classic Think And Grow Rich: A Black Choice, makes a compelling case that attaining millionaire status is a matter of not chance, but choice. It’s filled with intimate insights and powerful advice from well-known wealthy African Americans such as Radio One Founder Cathy Hughes and entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, as well as lesser known (unless you are a loyal, long-time reader of Black Enterprise) Black millionaires including Darden Restaurants CEO Clarence Otis and Centennial One Inc. Founder Lillian Lincoln Lambert. In so doing, he identifies the millionaire mindset, lifestyle choices and priorities that result from that choice long before actual wealth is achieved.
After reading an advance copy of The Wealth Choice, I am urging you to add it to your financial self-education reading list, with a reminder of my challenge to you to read at least one book about money and finance each month. (By the way, life-long learning is a common characteristic of those who choose to be wealthy, as is a commitment to financial literacy.) The Wealth Choice is due for release in February 2013; be sure to pick it up when it comes out.
As you often hear me say, your financial education is your responsibility, and if you won’t change your mind, you can’t change your money.