Strangers in Paradise

Book excerpt: An astonishing fact is that the vast majority of the wealthy come from middle-class or working-class backgrounds. Born and raised in modest economic circumstances, they find themselves as adults in the wonderful but unfamiliar world of wealth, like immigrants to a new land. Their adjustment is often harder than they anticipate. Yet awaiting wealth's newcomers is an even more daunting task: how to raise children and grandchildren successfully in the family's new world of affluence. Written by a prominent wealth psychologist, Strangers in Paradise takes an innovative approach to the challenges facing wealth's "immigrants and natives." Combining clear reasoning with real-world stories, Strangers in Paradise outlines for the first time how the key process for families of wealth - like all immigrant families - is adaptation.