About the Author

Akhil Patel has professional experience in audit, central government and international banking and has worked on a range of issues from reviewing large infrastructure PPP deals to helping establish the UK's £3 billion International Climate Fund. He has two Masters Degrees (in Finance and Public Policy) and a first degree in the Classics from Oxford. In 2013, he established Ascendant Strategy to produce research that helps investors make better investment decisions based on an understanding of the key economic and financial cycles driving markets. He is also himself a stock and property investor and so puts into practice what he researches.

Reviews

It’s the secret hiding in plain sight. Enterprises founder – and families lose their homes – because owners are deprived of the knowledge that would have saved them from the cyclical pitfalls in the capitalist economy. The experts did not (and still do not) see these crises coming, but no-one need fall victim to the next crash. Akhil Patel documents the inside story with a blow-by-blow account of the trends that make the difference between wealth and the fatal wounds endured by those who remain wilfully blind.
*Fred Harrison, economist and author, Boom Bust*

With an impressive grasp of financial and economic history, the author paints a colorful picture of the interplay of economic forces and investor emotion that drives market cycles and the principal periods of boom and bust that many of us have experienced. But more than that, he sets out practical ideas on how to navigate them. All investors should read this book.
*Dr Daniel Crosby, author, The Behavioral Investor*

After allocating over $80 million of equity during stages of sheer panic as well as unbridled mania, I can tell you, the investment world is chaotic. Every day, week, month, year we are bombarded with new explanations as to why market cycles behave the way they do, and none seem to stand the test of time...until now. With this book, you'll not only intellectually understand markets and why they move, you'll be able to take full advantage of it. Every investor needs this book.
*Hunter Thompson, founder, RaisingCapital.com and Asym Capital*

The Secret Wealth Advantage fills a big missing piece of a financial puzzle that has been bugging me for over 30 years: I only wish I had read this at the start of my financial career. It has now usurped Reminiscences of a Stock Operator as my number one investment book recommendation. I never thought that would be possible. Akhil's work is worth 1000 times the cover price, although I could be undervaluing it enormously.
*Paul Rodriguez, director, ThinkTrading.com and host of the State of the Markets podcast*

I’ve been following Akhil’s work for many years, and it’s completely transformed the way I think about investing. It’s astonishing that these ideas aren’t more widely known, but this is to your advantage: now Akhil has brought them together into such a lucid and compelling book, it’s never been easier to become a more successful and confident investor.
*Rob Dix, author, The Price of Money*

Akhil Patel’s The Secret Wealth Advantage actually contains secrets! I was blown away by some of the correlations Patel found between the signal and the noise. The Secret Wealth Advantage is like having a translator to today’s volatile economic environment and helps you turn uncertainty into clarity, especially when it comes to long-term planning. If you don’t read this book, don’t blame me.
*Lewis Schiff, author, Business Brilliant*

The Secret Wealth Advantage is a beautifully written book, using stories to illustrate each stage of the wealth cycle, providing markers to track it in real-time and real-life actions to take advantage of the cycle. It provides clear explanations of how and why the cycle takes place and why no one sees it. If you want to save yourself a lot of money in the market from trial and error, and years of study, then this book is a must-read for all investors, young and old. Great work, Akhil!
*Jason Pizzino, private investor and cryptocurrency educator*

Extremely well written; clearly thought through; and very convincing. I will certainly use the 18-year cycle in future.
*Tony Plummer, author, Forecasting Financial Markets and The Law of Vibration*

Entrepreneurs are the rockstars of the business world, disrupting industries and creating wealth. But sometimes, even the most successful entrepreneurs can’t seem to catch a break. Economic cycles wreak havoc on even the most promising businesses. The problem is that many entrepreneurs are too focused on the bottom line to notice the warning signs. They don’t have time to become experts in investing. That’s why I endorse Akhil Patel’s book The Secret Wealth Advantage. It’s the first macroeconomic model that made sense to me and it helps entrepreneurs stay ahead of the curve. Ignore this at your peril.
*Perry Marshall, author, 80/20 Sales & Marketing*

You don’t know what you don’t know circulated through my mind as I read Akhil’s book, The Secret Wealth Advantage. Page after page, concept after concept, much of what I thought I knew about economics and finance was challenged and enhanced. There is so much we don’t know about the financial system, boom and bust cycles, credit and – money! What propels the complexity and causes crises? What makes it tick and click along? Akhil explains it all with depth and simplicity. The Secret Wealth Advantage is a timely and important book that will help anyone – novice or pro – gain fundamental insights that change the way we should think about, and create wealth.
*AdaPia d’Errico, principal and VP of strategy, Alpha Investing and co-founder of Womxn of Wealth*

This is a brilliant book – absorbing, enlightening, unputdownable. By bringing the role of land in the economy back into view, it makes dazzlingly clear what drives the cycle and when it will turn. This is a must-read for anyone who invests in property or stocks.
*Caroline Ward, property finance broker*