How to Get Rich

One of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets

Portfolio, 2008

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

This irreverent, occasionally bawdy guide helps you decide whether to seek wealth – and how.

auto-generated audio

1×

auto-generated audio

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Innovative
Engaging
Inspiring

Recommendation

Speaking as a man who got rich, Felix Dennis offers an irreverent, occasionally bawdy guide to help you decide whether you should seek wealth and how to go about it. Dennis began as an “unemployed, long-haired South London lad who called himself a publisher” and became one of the richest men in Great Britain. He thinks the world needs an “anti–self-help book” about the difficulties of becoming wealthy. He explores misconceptions about the process of seeking riches and the challenges people face at different points in their lives if they decide to jettison prudence and work on amassing a fortune. Dennis cheerfully shares his insights into getting rich in great detail. While never giving financial advice, getAbstract recommends his unique viewpoint to anyone who likes to read success stories, whether or not they help you become successful.

Summary

A South London Lad

Felix Dennis estimates his assets at “between $400 million and $900 million of net worth before tax.” He has five homes, three estates, high-priced cars and rented jets. He decorates his homes with the finest art. His libraries boast numerous first editions. He employs financial advisers and a household staff and stocks his cellars with the best wines. But he began his climb to wealth as an “unemployed, long-haired South London lad who called himself a publisher.”

He wrote How to Get Rich after at a dinner party where someone asked his opinion of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. He thought it was useless, which is his opinion of all self-help books. He felt the world needed more books that told people how hard it is to achieve anything outstanding, including getting rich. He declared that the authors of self-help books achieved personal wealth by writing “drivel for cretins.”

If you live in the United Kingdom, you are categorized as “lesser rich” (one level below “comfortably rich”) if you have assets of about $30 million to $80 million. In a ranking of Britain’s 1,...

About the Author

Felix Dennis was a best-selling poet and publisher. He died in 2014.

Comment on this summary

Sign in to share your opinion
M. S. 7 years ago

50% of the book is about why you should not try to become rich - funny to see a book summary summarizing only the tips on how to get rich :-D
R. J. 7 years ago

Life is too short to worry about getting rich. He did have some good pointers about handling money in your every day life and your expenses... Money can make you lose your freedom of having a worry free life... Not for me...

Felix Dennis