Where are high-net-worth individuals? All around us.

The wealthy are everywhere. You just have to know where to look. And how to estimate wealth. Use these basic tips and tricks to get started:

• Look for owners of mundane businesses. The guy who owns five dry cleaning stores. The woman who owns the local mall. The brothers whose father founded two truck stops. The Donald Trumps and Jerry Jones of the world aside, usually wealth is not glamorous.

• Remember the number one rule of wealth: true riches generally accrue to ownership and not salary. Sure, a lawyer or doctor can pull down a tremendous salary but unless they take that salary and do the difficult thing - save it and invest it in assets - generally speaking, they won't be truly wealthy. (Some athletes might be exceptions to this rule)

• Come up with a value. Once you've found the aforementioned gal that owns the mall, you can put a rough value on it pretty easily. Check its appraised value with the local appraisal district (this figure will usually be way too usually, but it's a start). Call local real estate brokers or appraisers to gauge its true market value or check local media to see what other malls have sold for. Pretty soon you've got a reasonable ballpark value (before debt).

• Use caution. Be conservative. How do you build a small fortune? Start with a large one. Jokes aside, there are many ways to fritter away wealth. Debt and leverage. Divorce. Mismanagement. Fraud. That lady that owns the mall? Maybe she mortgaged it and put the proceeds in a hedge fund that went belly up. You never know. So always do your homework and calculate conservatively.

Happy Hunting!

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      Profiles in Wealth: Herb Alpert, $510 million 

Legendary trumpeteer and centimillionaire Herb Alpert turned 80 in March. With six decades in the music business, he's learned a few things. "If you're prepared for what you want to do with the rest of your life and are putting in the time, you just have to stay with it," he says. "There's no magic formula."

With 75 million albums sold, Alpert is one of the wealthiest musicians in the country. He founded the jazz group Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass in the 1960s and recorded early hits "A Taste of Honey" and others. But his greatest business success came with the founding, along with Jerry Moss, of A&M Records, which at one time boasted the Carpenters, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton and the Police and was one of the U.S.' most prestigious recording labels. He ended up selling A&M Records in 1989 for some $500 million.

Along the way he also founded Rondor Music, which owned the music publishing rights to the A&M catalog and other related music businesses. "We were always very conscious of finding artists that had something very special to say in their own unique way," says Alpert. "I think that was our strong suit. Money was not the object."

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Profiles in Wealth: Bahram Akbadi, $180 million

"I basically had a problem following orders," says Bahram Akbadi of his pre-entrepreneur life. So he founded Life Time Fitness Inc. in 1992, after having worked at U.S. Swim & Fitness clubs for several years. A native of Tehran, Iran he came to the U.S. at age 17 and held various odd jobs while attending the Univ. of Colorado. He was ahead of the curve in seeing that consumers would want full-service fitness clubs with amenities like flat screen TVs, nutrition counseling, and cafes. His goal was to create "a sense of place that appeals to all the senses." 

Now with the more than 114 Life Time Fitness centers around the country, Akradi in March agreed to sell his company. His take: $180 million. "I tell people, 'Watch your customer. See what they want. If you can react fast enough, you can't go wrong."

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Profiles in Wealth: Debra Waller, $90 million

"I'm not like other CEOs," says Jockey International CEO Debra Waller. Adopted as an infant into the family that owned what was then called Cooper's Underwear Co., Waller became CEO of the underwear manufacturer in 2001. A teacher before she joined Jockey in 1982, she has focused the company's philanthropy on support for adoptive families and initiatives to encourage adoption. "In my mind," she says, "every kid should have a home." And some underwear.

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    Profiles in wealth:  Melvin Zuckerman, $50 million

       
       Mel Zuckerman was, oh, about two decades ahead of his time. As the founder of Arizona's Canyon Ranch spa in 1979, Zuckerman's own declining health was his 'aha' moment. He was 50 pounds overweight and struggling with high blood pressure, ulcers - his doctor told the then 49-year old Zuckerman that he had the body of a "70 year old man." So he built Canyon Ranch in Tucson, a resort that would mix the "fat farm" concept of the 60s and 70s with the pampering of a spa and focus on mind, body, and spirit. It was so successful he built a second Canyon Ranch and sold his company in 1996. 

       But it didn't come easy. When he first tried to raise money for Canyon Ranch a banker walked out on him, saying "You lost a lot more than weight at that California fat farm - you lost your blankety blank mind." Says Zuckerman, "So I got up, politely gave him the bird, and said 'I'll do it on my own'. Which I did."

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