All the Money in the World: How the Forbes 400 Make--and Spend--Their Fortunes

by Peter W. Bernstein, Annalyn Swan (Editor)

Published to coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Forbes 400, All the Money in the World, the work of a team of prominent editors and business writers, goes behind the celebrated list to paint a vivid and revealing portrait of the wealthiest Americans of the past quarter century. Abundantly anecdotal, with insights gleaned from original research, interviews with Forbes 400 members, and never-before-compiled data, it is filled with illuminating “infographics”—tables, sidebars, factoids. The book shows how the superrich succeed, how fortunes are made in various industries, and how, once made, they are saved, enhanced, and sometimes squandered.

From Wall Street to the West Coast, from blue-collar billionaires to blue-blood fortunes, from the Google guys to hedge fund honchos, All the Money in the World gives us the lowdown on, among other the all-time richest Americans, who made and lost the most money in the past twenty-five years, the fields and industries that have produced the greatest wealth, the biggest risk takers, the most competitive players, the most wasteful family feuds, the trophy wives, the most conspicuous consumers, the biggest art collectors, the most and least generous philanthropists.

Produced in collaboration with Forbes magazine, All the Money in the World is a vastly entertaining, behind-the-scenes look at today’s Big Rich, a subject of enduring fascination to all Americans.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Finance, Economics, Audiobook, Money, Biography

432 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2007

Reviews

[Garrett Burnett · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the book had a number interesting histories of businesses and their founders, it read like a series of cobbled-together Forbes articles (which I imagine is all the book is). People named in the book were introduced every time they were mentioned as though the authors had no confidence that we would remember who they were talking about from page to page. Also, every time a name was mentioned, it was followed by a year and a net worth (in this fashion: Bill Gates, 2006 net worth $62 billion, blah blah blah). This got annoying very quickly.

It had enough interesting tidbits to really earn the single star I'm giving it, but having learned from those curmudgeonly ultra-wealthy Forbes 400-ers, I'm going to take the second star I would have given the book and reinvest it in my company or buy another vacation home with it.

[Florin Roșoga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional!

[Dominik · Rating 1 out of 5]

The introductory part of the book is somewhat ok, but then everything falls apart. There is no overarching idea for the book, no conclusions, and no lessons to learn.
All numbers are given in dollars. The dollar now and in a century will be a totally different account of wealth. The book was published only 15 years ago and the stated numbers already look like from another era. This will not age well. There could be a breakdown of the top percentiles richest people in relation to country's GDP or GNP, broken down by country, developed vs developing nations etc. None of this is presented as those numbers would require some real work to put in.
The book consists of short descriptions of people who made the Forbes list. The descriptions are relatively short, mostly not particularly inspiring to do more research on a particular persona. Mr. Bernstein just decided to write something about everyone. Basically "(Put millionaire name) bla, bla, bla ,bla..."
As in every such book the amassed fortunes are justified by some particular treats or habits of the person. But in reality, as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet stated; they were born in a good place and at a good time. No one is writing books about hard-headed bosses who relentlessly pursued an idea which ruin their companies and left them broke for life. For every person who made the Forbes list, there are thousands who didn't get lucky.

[Roni Laukkarinen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. Gave up in 48%, tried as audiobook. Been reading a lot of money related literature but this one is just too pointless and boring. Really frustrating to follow jumping from one story to another.

[Bonnie]

This was a super interesting look at the richest people in the world, how they got that way and how they live!

It was definitely an inspiring look at what’s involved in making and keeping millions and billions of dollars, I just lost interest about halfway through.

[Dagny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was REALLY interesting. By the end it got a little long, but it was a good read.

[Marcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t actually finish this book. The first book was fine but I lost interest.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The surest way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one” this quote summarizes the [mostly] outdated “insights” offered by the book. Saved you a few hours

[Reggie Morrisey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started and stopped All the Money in the World over a month's time.
Reading this 2007 book in 2020 meant the data about wealth was - dated.
The section about how people made their millions to get on the Forbes list was interesting.
It was depressing to learn how many people of questionable character made out like bandits because - they are bandits.
Given current events, I should be used to it by now.

[Jose Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

How much is happiness? Around US$50k a year. Earning 5k or 5M a year can be miserable.

Inheriting a huge amount is the formula to become poorer by a few millions from billions. Stay hungry and you can get back that slot in the fortune 400.

Do not aspire to be a millionaire, aspire to do well in something you are willing to do for free. However, if you are being given the millionaire title because you earned it, do not say no.

Philanthropy is rare even for those who have a lot. Bless the soul of the rare who exercise giving.

Politics, even if your salary is $1, is guaranteed to make you richer. Ask Bloomberg.

Luck and timing has a significant role in amassing riches. No wonder there are so many people who think being religious means working hard to have a good fortune.

What brought you where you are now is not going to bring you to where you want to be. Taking risks, not gambling, is necessary.

If you like to read about business tales, gossip, and the lives of other people, this book fills that need.

[Standards Malaysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the 1970s, Forbes has been calculating what it calls the CLEWI-the Cost of Living Extremely Well Index. While the consumer price index (CPI), which roughly measures the increase in the cost of living for more average Americans, has doubled since 1982, the CLEWI has almost quadrupled. But have the wallets of the rich been hurt? Hardly. As the dotted line indicates, the very rich have gotten much, much richer over the same period-by a factor of ten, in fact. So these days the 400 are spending a much smaller percentage of their wealth living extremely well than a quarter of a century ago.

[Hamoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very informative book, and I was very entertained by it, but it's nothing groundbreaking. It works as just a light read for anyone that's curious about general patterns in wealth creation.

It's also a nice overview of the major economic patterns of the latter half of the 20th century.

There is a very valuable discussion of luck and its role in wealth creation, which I think will be of value to anyone. overall, a light recommend

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informative about the lives of some of the Forbes 400's most well-known members throughout the years. At times the pages of the book were overwhelmed with data from many different angles which made it annoying at times.

Overall a great read with many supporting facts and numbers.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this book was just ok. I won't say it wasn't interesting, but somewhat repetitive and overdone. So sad to see the damage that a whole lot of money has done in some families. On the other hand, it warmed my heart to hear of the many charities that some of the super wealthy have donated to. Also scary was to see the influence on politics many of these people have had.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was more focused on the "how the Forbes 400 'spend' their fortunes" (not how they made it) and I disappointingly found very little depth to this area. Also seeing that this was written in 2007 before the housing bubble hit the fan I think some of the details are probably are a little outdated by this point in time.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had higher hopes for this book, similar to how millionaire next door played out. Unfortunately, this was more of a US Weekly styled book trying to highlight the lives of individuals that graced the Forbes list. Unless you just need something to read, don't bother.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the book would be full of dramatic stories of people going on lavish spending sprees, but this was really not the purpose of the book. The authors approach this book as more of analytical review of the Forbes 400 than anything else.

[Abdul · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a good book. Well written and easy to follow. Gives good insight into the many capitalists who are running the US. I would recommend this to anyone interested in entrepreneurship and the modern day wealthy.

[Tori]

2008- An interesting overview of past and present Forbes 400 members. I thought the first and third parts were the most intriguing. One small gripe- found a few spelling errors, which always makes me wonder how accurate all the other facts and figures in the book were.

[Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

- sub-titled: "How the Forbes 400 make - and spend - their fortunes."
- interesting subject, and well laid out, with charts, graphs, and fascinating 'factoids'
- I would have enjoyed it more it it had ben 1/3 shorter

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting view on the wealthy. Behind the scenes of philanthropy and the family squabbles.

[Lucy capo]

i loved this book.. very good book.. u should read it.. i enjoyed it very much

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lot's of research and important info on the history of the families.

[Racquel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author somehow managed to transform what should have been an interesting subject into a really boring book

[C.interruptus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish this. One damn fact after another, presented in tedious style.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual cup of tea, but full of interesting facts and includes input and interviews from the Forbes 400 list.

[Mike Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This read like a synthesis of Forbes articles that were published in its annual "Forbes 400" issue - nothing particularly new, fresh or insightful.

[Alberto Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting yet trivial.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable from start to finish with great insight into many of the richest on planet Earth. Would highly reccomend to anyone interested in money or biographies.