The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!)

OPM-Not

Opium: Where Most of the Richest Are 133

It'

s fashionable to skewer these

OPMers

for their super-sized

incomes. (If the media's

hot

over some group's pay, you know

you've found a righteous road to riches.) Mr. Kravis unexpectedly

found himself starring in a

mockumentary-

The

war

on Greed,

Starring the Homes

of

Hem)

Kra

vis-supposedly

a "light-hearted"

look at the "excesses" of private equity. It juxtaposes Mr. Kravis's

homes against the modest abodes of "Average Joes" while detailing

Kravis's earnings.

Mr. Kravis is

mega-wealthy-no

crime there.

(If

you see wealth

as a crime, you need a different book. Try

Free to

Choose

by Milton

Friedman.) Robert Greenwald, the film's director, said "I saw the

numbers of what the guys make, I truly did

not

believe it. I

thought

they were a mistake.

I'm

a

New

Yorker and this sort of egalitarian-

ism is built into many of

us.,,1

8 Folks like Greenwald who object

see big earnings as "unfair." If

Mr

. Greenwald wants "fair," he should

check

out

Cuba or Venezuela to see how "fairness" really works.

Just

working at these firms isn't a bad career.

There

are lots of Alex

Brockman

equivalents-and

lots of rich ride-alongs (Chapter

3)-

and those just making fat salaries who take the Road

More

Traveled

(Chapter

10).

DON'T

BREAK

THE

LAW

With

OPM

it's crucial to get that you never break the law.

OPMers

sometimes forget. Cheaters may get rich,

but

they don't stay rich.

Some

OPMers

may get wealthy legitimately, then cheat.