A luminary of the business and wealth industry sets out ideas on how to build, retain and transfer wealth.

The bookshelves are crammed with studies explaining how this or that business founder managed to make it big. What isn’t so common is to read of how an entrepreneur is able to retain his or her wealth once the company has been created.

At the peer-to-peer network of wealth creators that is known as TIGER 21, its founder and chairman, Michael W Sonnenfeldt, has written a study charting what he identifies as 40 strategies for success across the wealth-building and wealth-retention stages. He describes his own story:  At the age of just 25 he led the transformation of the Harborside Financial Center in Jersey City – and more recently got involved in the solar power business. He also takes examples from a range of business leaders involved in the TIGER 21 network to explain various themes, such as “self-assessment”, “growing your business the smart way”; “protecting your wealth”, and “making it meaningful”. In essence, these are a series of mini-case studies that track the successes, failures and lessons in and around particular insights, such as the need to be careful in blending friends and business, or the importance of understanding one’s limits as an investor, or the expanding world of impact investing.

The book isn’t a monster at a mere 216 pages but Sonnenfeldt manages to pack a lot in, and writes in an engagingly direct style that cuts through business jargon (always a positive point for your correspondent). This study is a valuable addition to the literature in and around business achievement and wealth retention.

Think Bigger: And 39 Other Winning Strategies From Successful Entrepreneurs, By Michael W Sonnenfeldt. (Wiley).

To see a recent report on the views of TIGER 21 members about investment and asset allocation, see here.