The Affluent Handbook
Matt Oechsli
(Wealth Management Press; $34.95)

Here comes another book that tells us about the wealthy: How they think, what they want and how to deal with them to advance your business interests.

Though the author treads a well-worn path, he takes some detours that financial planners might find instructive. Perhaps the most interesting is his thesis that the top quintile of America's wage-earners are in love with the idea of wealth, but nevertheless consider themselves to be middle-class—by dint of their middle-class upbringings. "They don't like being referred to as affluent or high-net-worth," writes Oechsli, because "they've been worker bees all their lives, and most continue to put in very long and stressful hours."

Thus, Oechsli advises, the best course may be to avoid labels and muster a high level of client service that focuses on the four key motivators of the wealthy: personal, family, financial and spiritual health. And whatever you do, Oechsli writes, don't render these clients anything less than the highest level of personal service. The wealthy may not think of themselves as beng rich, but they tend to make demands as though they were.