The Psychology of Wealth: Understand Your Relationship with Money and Achieve Prosperity Hardcover January 17, 2012 Unknown Binding

I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this book - was it going to be one of those "Beat me down, and then pep me up" books, or one that told me everything I already knew, thus wasting my time. Amazingly enough, it has been neither. This book has been an intelligent, comprehensive approach to helping the reader understand their behavior while maintaining the dignity of the reader. From the first chapter I have found invaluable information to help me rethink many of the choices I have made. Thank you, Mr. Richards for writing this book. I has made a difference for me.

Life Changing book in a way. It is all about how much you put yourself into it, and really, dive into yourself.The greatest type of knowledge is self knowledge and Dr Richards really does give us some great tools for uncovering our dreams and achieving our true potential. Strong recommendation for anyone

In short, this book looks like something printed in someones basement. On top of this, puncutation is awful and the flow of readability is suffocating. This has got to be the worst book I have ever read. I generally do not leave reviews, but this is one painful book.

I read a review copy of Psychology of Wealth, with he request to review honestly. The book's title holds a promise to talk about the psychology of wealth and the author is a psychotherapist with a PhD. Therefore, I anticipated a framework based on psychology.If you define "psychology" loosely, the book delivers. It's an easy read, more like a Readers Digest collection than a book about psychology. The cover promises, "Understand your relationship with money and achieve prosperity."The book consists of a series of stories about real people who achieved if not wealth, then a trip out of poverty. The stories are loosely tied to principles that are somewhat New-Age-y, such as the importance of service in wealth creation. "Self-esteem" has become a controversial concept, yet the author simply introduces the idea.On the plus side, a series of success stories can be inspirational and certainly fun to read. On the other hand, it's hard to draw lessons or achieve greater understanding. We know we are given a condensed, upbeat version, so it's hard to view them as case studies. Moreover, it's easy to pick the stories apart. Did these people have some qualities that brought them success or were they just lucky? Without a more scientific approach, we won't know.To take just one example; on page 163, Richards tells the story of "Deidra," a teacher who was down to her last five dollars before her next paycheck. (Was her check due the next day? In two weeks? We aren't told.) Deidra gave her last five dollars to a raffle for a charity. She won the raffle, getting something she'd always wanted: a ride in a hot air balloon.I'm reminded of the story (which may be legendary) of Fedex's founder Fred Smith, who earned funds to make payroll by gambling in Las Vegas when the company was new. Like Deidra's story, we can admire, but it's hard to know what to take away.What if Deidra had spent her last five dollars on a special treat for herself? Why is she livig from paycheck to paycheck with no savings? The story's lesson seems to come right from the New Age: "The psychology of wealth requires trusting that no matter what happens we will have enough." (p. 163).To be sure, some advice draws on common sense, and often this advice will be useful. For instance,on page 220, the author writes, "Take advantage of what is available now ... Just keep moving in the right direction." That's what I advise career changers myself. However, I'd like to see more of a rationale and clearer examples.If I wanted to be picky (and sometimes I guess I am), I would say that psychology doesn't require anything; it's a field of study and work that's science-based. It's not unreasonable to ask for a more scientific approach; I've seen academic research articles describing the influence of serendipity on careers! Some of this research could be applied here.That's my ultimate source of dissatisfaction. If this book had been written by a life coach, with a title like, "Think your way to wealth," I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it; if I did, I'd be less critical. However, when a psychotherapist writes a book with the title "Psychology of Wealth," a reader's expectations will be different. Surely the author has learned a great deal from his clinical practice. Surely he's got some thoughtful conclusions about why some people seem to attract wealth and some are always broke.

Loved the knowledge and the perspective of how wealth portraits so different in our minds for each one of us. Knowing that Wealth does not have to mean Money is a great awareness.

Great book and great condition. A+++++++++++. What an uplifting and great read. Highly recommended! Please read this book if you would like to feel compelled to understanding what is important in life.

Very interesting book, advise all to read as this book is one of your MUST reading books.

This book is nothing but a compilation of several "he had done this and that and now is a very happy and successfull man" If you believe that this kind of material would turn things better to you go ahead. But if you are trying to understand yourself, and your relation with money better, I strongly recommend to keep on searching .