Ever wonder who lives behind the doors of mansions? Ryan D’Agostino did—so he started knocking. Traveling to twenty of the wealthiest towns in the United States—from Connecticut's gold coast to 90210, from the Atlanta suburbs to the heart of Silicon Valley—he showed up, unannounced, and knocked on nearly 500 doors to the biggest houses he could find.

Many people welcomed him into their enormous homes (and some even gave him coffee). They shared with him some of their most difficult financial decisions, toughest setbacks, greatest strategies, most triumphant moments, and deepest insights into what it means to have money—and how to get it.

Armed with only a steno pads a couple of pens, D’Agostino, an editor at Esquire magazine, traveled thousands of miles, suffered countless blisters, talked his way out of a scuffle with a Secret Service agent in upstate New York, met a man in suburban Chicago who made his fortune peeling shrimp, and convinced a patron of a Las Vegas bar to sneak him into a gated community—all in the name of research. Rich Like Them is a lively investigation of how to get rich, and how you can too. Take notes, and may you find money and happiness.