It’s finally here. Hot off the presses – yet a long time coming – is James Grubman’s Strangers in Paradise: How Families Adapt to Wealth Across Generations.
While many books on the topic feel preachy, with the author coming across as the omniscient authority who tells families what they should be doing to succeed, Grubman simply gives us his observations about what he has seen work and what he has seen fail. This refreshing and straightforward approach helps the reader plainly understand the experience of these newcomers as they adjust to the “new world” of wealth.
The book’s premise, that most of the wealthy come from middle-class or working-class backgrounds, allows Grubman to draw the analogy that these wealth creators and their inheritor progeny are like immigrants to a new world – or as the title says, “strangers in paradise.” As Grubman tells these real-world stories, the reader who can identify with these situations will note the common threads throughout these families and most important – how one can learn from their successes and failures.
Personally, I was most interested to read how three separate and unrelated families respond to the same liquidity event when their company is sold. These believable families turn out very differently over the generations, and there is a piece of us in each of them.
If you’re like me and have been anticipating this book for a long time, I am happy to report that it is well worth the wait. To learn more, please visit www.JamesGrubman.com, where you can order the book.