Richistan

Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich is a 2007 work of non-fiction by American journalist Robert Frank, who writes the Wall Street Journal’s “Wealth Report” column. The book explores the lives of America’s richest people, arguing that essentially the very wealthy live in a separate country, which Frank dubs “Richistan.” Frank speaks to many rich individuals and attends the society events of the super-wealthy. He decodes their slang and learns which expensive items are regarded as status symbols in their world. He also investigates how the new rich are changing the face of philanthropy, culture, and politics.

Frank opens his account of “Richistan” by noting that there are far more wealthy people today than there ever have been in the past. While the rich have always lived in a “parallel country” to some extent, in the past that country was “just a village, but now it’s an entire nation.”

He produces some startling statistics on this theme. The United States’ first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, was worth $14 billion in today’s money: less than any of Sam Walton’s children. In 1985, there were thirteen billionaires in the U.S., but today there are more than a thousand. North Carolina is home to as many millionaires as India is.



Furthermore, many of these new rich acquired their money in their own lifetimes, rather than inheriting it. Frank finds that they have “made more money, more quickly, from more sources than any previous generation of wealth.” He suggests that low interest rates, low taxes, and rising corporate profits are the main reasons for this, alongside the massive private enrichment made possible by several decades of government privatization and deregulation.

In support of his argument that these millions of rich people are “financial foreigners” within the U.S., he points out that they have their own almost entirely separate healthcare system (whose staff are referred to as “concierge doctors”). They have their own transport system—a network of private jets—and their own exclusive destinations. Frank reports on one eleven-year-old child of a rich family who pleaded to be allowed to “ride on a big plane with other people.”

Frank next elaborates on the “geography” of Richistan. He divides his imaginary country into three regions. “Lower Richistan” is inhabited by “affluent” professionals (“affluent,” we learn, is Richistani for “not really rich”). These people are worth between $1 million and $10 million—a combination of salary and investments. They typically fall on the conservative end of the political spectrum. In Middle Richistan are business owners worth between $10 million and $100 million. Nearly 1.5 million people fall into this category. They are slightly more liberal than Lower Richistanis. The few thousand people worth more than $100 million dollars are the Upper Richistanis. Almost all of them started and sold companies.



Frank describes the lifestyles of the Richistanis he has met. He takes the reader through the daily work of the butlers (or “household managers”) hired by many Richistanis to run their homes, finding that butlers can command salaries of up to $100,000. Some Richistanis, he reports, have “family offices,” effectively small businesses that exist solely to manage a Richistani’s personal finances.

Along the way, Frank reports on the often surprising ways in which the super-rich made their money: from public-storage companies to Beanie Babies to potatoes. Frank meets Ed Bazinet, who made in the region of $100 million dollars from collectible figurines as the founder of Department 56. Frank also reports on some of the ways Richistanis lose their money, from the dot-com bust to expensive divorces.

Frank finds that Richistanis are in constant competition to find bigger and bigger things to spend some of their money on, with planes and yachts being favorite choices. He also parses some of the smaller status symbols. He discovers that Mercedes is considered a brand for the “affluent” (i.e. not truly rich), while the rich prefer Maybach and Rolls Royce. Rolex is likewise considered déclassé: the rich wear Franck Muller watches (which retail at up to $600,000).



The rise of the new rich has changed the culture of wealth in America, Frank reports. The “old money” traditions of unostentatious modesty, quiet philanthropy, and sophisticated leisure pursuits have waned. In their place, modern Richistanis enjoy displaying their wealth. Rather than spend their time in leisure, they work. They consider themselves global citizens, less and less attached to the U.S. They make their philanthropy public and enjoy reaping praise for it. When Frank meets inflatable-toy-millionaire Simon Fireman at the Mar-a-Lago Club, Fireman takes “from his jacket pocket a two-page spreadsheet of all his charitable donations for over a decade, which he said I was free to publish.” The philanthropy of the new rich is not only more ostentatious but more results-driven. Modern Richistanis apply business metrics to determine the value of their donations. More troublingly, many Richistanis invest their money in affecting political outcomes.

At the same time, Frank learns that many Richistanis feel insecure. He asks several of the wealthy people he encounters how much money they would need to feel secure in their wealth, and without exception, they name a figure close to double whatever they are currently worth. Many Richistanis do not feel rich and don’t like to be thought of as rich. Tim Blixseth—who owns several gated hideaways for wealth people—tells Frank, “I don’t like most rich people. They can be arrogant.” Frank visits classes for rich children whose parents are worried about the effects of money on their character, and a support group for wealthy people.

Richistani received largely positive reviews for its insights into the new state of wealth in America, but most reviewers expressed some frustration that Frank’s “grand tour approach never loses its light touch” to investigate the serious consequences of growing inequality.