Brett Wilder Brett is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ with over forty years of professional experience as a personal and business financial advisor. He founded the Financial Management Group, Inc. (FMG) in 1989, a fee-only financial management and investment advisory firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. FMG has been named seven consecutive years as a "Top Wealth Manager" by Wealth Manager magazine and as a "Fastest Growing" Registered Investment Advisor by Financial Advisor magazine. His educational background includes Ursinus College, with a Bachelor of Arts, Economics; Temple University Graduate School of Economics; the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Pension Fund and Portfolio Management; the College for Financial Planning, and the American Institute of Banking. His professional memberships include the Financial Planning Association (past President of the Cincinnati Chapter), Cincinnati Estate Planning Council, and he is a trustee for the Higher Education Advisory Institute, a non-profit organization that educates families about college planning and financing. Q&A Q. What made you decide to write The Quiet Millionaire, and what makes it unique from other personal finance books? A. I decided to write The Quiet Millionaire because there is so much misleading and misinformed financial and investment advice given out by the financial services industry, on the Internet, by the mass media, and by newsletters that appeal to financial greed and which in turn can cause financial grief. The Quiet Millionaire is different from other personal finance books and investment books you find in the bookstores because I wrote it from my perspective as a practicing fee-only® financial advisor who loves what he does, helps people, and gets paid for it…and that's a blessed combination of professional circumstances! I believe that the universe reciprocates how you interact with it. If you take, it will take, if you give, it will give. This book is my way to give to others beyond the people who I help in my professional practice. Q. How did you come up with the concept quiet millionaire™, and what does it mean? A. I came up with the quiet millionaire ™ concept in an attempt to define the typical client that I professionally advise. The quiet millionaire's life has a purposeful direction, and it is pointed in the direction of a planned, charted course. The quiet millionaire does not live just for today, drifting aimlessly, being consumed by life's daily activities, or mistakenly thinking that tomorrow will take care of itself. Rather, the quiet millionaire does give thought about tomorrow, and knowingly commits to funding goals and objectives and to being protected against that stormy day. A financial course is carefully mapped out to assure arrival at specified destinations in life. The quiet millionaire™ is intelligent and mindful about how to have financial independence and security in order to flow with the happy currents of the life he or she chooses to pursue. Q. Given that this is the information age, what can the reader of The Quiet Millionaire get that isn't available elsewhere? A. Since rules of thumb don't apply to all situations the book helps the reader make good judgments and decisions for their particular circumstances. Furthermore, the book is comprehensive in scope and the information serves as a reliable second opinion to that derived from other sources. In fact, the book is loaded with Quiet Millionaire Wisdoms that provide practical advice which is often counter intuitive to the information supplied by other sources. Q. You make special mention in the book that women should read The Quiet Millionaire. Why is this? A. Married women often defer financial decision making to their spouse's and according to statistics will most likely become widowed or divorced. As a result, they are frequently forced to eventually make financial decisions on their own, and it's better to learn how to best manage finances sooner than later, and not be placed in a vulnerable situation. Furthermore, single and divorced women often have challenging, successful careers that keep them too busy to properly manage their personal financial situation, and should make certain that they are doing the very best for themselves to be financially independent and secure. Q. What's the single most important lesson to be leaned from reading The Quiet Millionaire? A. Spend less than you earn, plan intelligently with trustworthy information and assistance, start early to accumulate and manage your wealth, and you can become and stay a quiet millionaire ™. © 2007 FMG Publishing, Inc.