The book provides an excellent commentary on managing assets. The author opines that creating wealth is not the end of the journey, but continues with maintaining and preserving the same. The book is useful not only to the academic circle, but also to the practitioners at large.
"Wealth" by Stuart E Lucas guides the reader through simple strategies of wealth management while retaining family values. As an accomplished wealth management advisor and an heir to a large fortune, Stuart has managed to give a brilliant summary of all the options in wealth management. The foreword by Joe Mansuetto, Chairman and CEO of Morning Star has made it clear that the strategy suggested by Stuart is based on the principle that "Investors Come First." The interesting and uplifting feature of this book is that "values" have been placed in the center of all decisions. As Mansuetto puts it "without values we do not have wealth, we have only money." The purpose of this book is not just to grow wealth, but to protect it and share it with others. Lucas is a fourth generation heir to the Carnation Fortune and his legacy gives him a first-hand experience on wealth management.
The opening chapter of the book gives the reader an introduction to the Lucas family wealth. EA Stuart, co-founded the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company in the 19th century. Although there were initial hurdles in technology, the sheer perseverance and hard work made the company a multibillion dollar venture. Three generations later, Nestle bought Carnation for about three billion dollar in cash—till then the highest price paid for a food processing company. At that time, there was no strategic approach to wealth management taken and the wealth was invested in mixed portfolio of stocks and bonds. However, this could not match the 13% growth rate that Carnation stock enjoyed. |
