Summary of Sam Wilkin's Wealth Secrets of the One Percent

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The final liquidation sale of Circuit City, led by a consortium of investors including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, was a complete failure. Only about 50 people showed up to shop, and most of them were technology bloggers.

#2 When most people think about wealth secrets, they probably think about some sort of business venture. The fall of Circuit City and another famous failure, the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, illustrate the importance of business, when practiced without any wealth secrets.

#3 The company that became Circuit City was founded as Wards by Sam Wurtzel. Wurtzel was ambitious, clever, and had married well. He was also something of a budding Napoleon of retail. He longed to conquer territory, and he wanted to keep his empire all in the family.

#4 Wurtzel wanted to expand his empire, and in 1969 he bought a chain that sold hardware and housewares. The chain was profitable, but Wurtzel overextended himself and lost money on his other acquisitions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669348344

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Sam Wilkin's Wealth Secrets of the One Percent

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The final liquidation sale of Circuit City, led by a consortium of investors including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, was a complete failure. Only about 50 people showed up to shop, and most of them were technology bloggers.

#2

When most people think about wealth secrets, they probably think about some sort of business venture. The fall of Circuit City and another famous failure, the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, illustrate the importance of business, when practiced without any wealth secrets.

#3

The company that became Circuit City was founded as Wards by Sam Wurtzel. Wurtzel was ambitious, clever, and had married well. He was also something of a budding Napoleon of retail. He longed to conquer territory, and he wanted to keep his empire all in the family.

#4

Wurtzel wanted to expand his empire, and in 1969 he bought a chain that sold hardware and housewares. The chain was profitable, but Wurtzel overextended himself and lost money on his other acquisitions.

#5

However, there was a problem in the form of competitors. Electronics retailing was not just for pimply-faced young men with thick glasses, but for slick, take-no-prisoners, hit-the-ground-running executive types.

#6

Schoonover’s firing of the company’s highest-paid employees, as a cost-saving measure, was seen as a public relations disaster. The writing was on the wall for Circuit City long before Schoonover took over as CEO.

#7

Competition was the main reason for Circuit City’s fall. The company had been praised for its good to great performance only a few years prior, but was soon invaded by competitors.

#8

In the world of business, it is not possible to get rich. If a company can freely enter a market and imitate the methods of successful companies without restriction, the result is that businesses end up competing on price. This implies that they will keep undercutting each other until market prices have fallen to the point where companies are selling what they produce for the same amount it costs to produce it.

#9

Perfect competition is a market structure in which companies are not allowed to operate above a certain profit margin, or else they will be forced to close down. This is because if companies are allowed to operate above a certain profit margin, no one will provide the funding needed to start the company in the first place.

#10

Circuit City had scale economies on its side, as well as a brand that was protected by law. Thus, it was able to set prices lower than its rivals, and still make a profit.

#11

The fall of Circuit City was not a surprise, as great businesses are inevitably dragged down to mediocrity. However, it was surprising that they