The Millionaire Next Door : The Surprising Secrets Of Americas Wealthy

Rating:
Summary: Secrets of the Wealthy Unveiled
Review: This book does an excellent job of describing what needs to be done in order to be successful. There are many misconceptions about the rich and it's great that there's finally a book that gets rid of all these misconceptions.

Rating:
Summary: Grab Your Notepad & Surrender!
Review: This is very good information if practiced. I have not been able to stop listening. I am now buying the book for easier note taking.

If you do not like change DO NOT READ!

This is all about mindset, and discipline. If you are willing, you to can join the select few who have achieved millonaire status.

You will learn though that status is exactly the oppitsite to becoming a millionaire.

Rating:
Summary: Unsurprising Insight
Review: Thomas Stanley and William Danko teach the average American about the elusive habits of the wealthy upper-class in The Millionaire Next Door. Although they didn't tell me anything I felt like I didn't already know, I appreciated that they conducted research and presented hard data that backup up the intuition about the wealthy.

You should guess that small business owners compose the largest group of millionaires in America. Also, it has always been obvious to me that the people who save and invest their money are far wealthier than those who consume. Stanley and Danko over-simplify that assumption. The perception that big spenders are also rich isn't wrong, as Stanley and Danko somewhat mildly point out. When anyone understands the difference between income and wealth-not too difficult of a concept-then a clear springboard is that people who spend their money on consumable goods are not consistently wealthy. That is, of course, unless they make ridiculous amounts of income and can still save a significant amount while spending more in one year than I will make in a lifetime. This point shouldn't be undervalued. There are significant amounts of millionaires that do spend their money - they have high income, high wealth, and high consumption. Stanley and Danko do explain the majority of millionaire's habits, as an average. But remember that there still are 46% of millionaires who drive a car newer than two years old.

I have been interested in personal finance for years, which is why I appreciated reading a book full of reputable data extracted from university research projects. While working as an intern financial advisor for UBS (the large Swiss bank) I was able to look into a few of the habits of the wealthy (one million or more of net worth excluding real estate). And I found that they were heavy savers and not necessarily big income earners.

The book is insightful, and it has reiterated and confirmed some important concepts that I have thought about in the past. One concept that was new to me was how damaging "economic outpatient care" is to families and the financial independence of rich kids. It seems a good idea for parents to help their kids out, but it usually is damaging. Rich kids need to learn to live within their means before getting economic outpatient care. In addition, I didn't know what careers wealthy parents push their kids into. It makes sense after Stanley and Danko explain it, but it was still surprising that they tell them to be Accountants, Dentists, Lawyers, Doctors, etc. It seems like wealthy parents would want to encourage their kids to be entrepreneurs instead, which is where the "real money" is. But because the risk of earning real money is high, they want their kids to have consistent streams of income. Especially considering the ability the parents have to pay for expensive graduate education.

I grew up in a wealthy area of Orange County, California. Many of my friends' parents were big spenders. But I learned important lessons when I found that some of the seemingly more wealthy families turned out to be in financial distress. Big spending doesn't mean big bank accounts-they are inversely proportional.


Rating:
Summary: Not for me
Review: When I set out to work hard so many years ago, it was because I wanted to live in a beautiful home and be able to buy stuff. I did not want the severe restrictions of poverty that I had endured as a kid. Now that I have made a decent income, why should I choose to live otherwise?

The point of education is lost. Although I cannot, yet, live very long in my current lifestyle if I lost my income (yes, in small part because of student loans), the fact I have a good education means I could find another job tomorrow that would enable me to do so. Since I hit the work force, I've been offered every job for which I interviewed (but have chosen to stay where I am). I have ample disability insurance if something awful should happen.

So, now that I can buy what I could not buy before, I'll go right on my merry way and do so (when the desire strikes, anyway). For me, it has nothing to do with keeping up with the Jones - I drive a Honda- but because I always wanted to live in a beautiful home - and now I do. Everytime I pull in my driveway I smile and think "this made the day worth it." Giving my husband a Harley for Christmas (and to charity) gave me more joy than any net worth could.

Also, no one has ever explained to me, why, if I did lose my level of income, I couldn't just at that point live in squalor - as per the book's directive? It would feel like defeat, but so would having an income but not having anything I really wanted.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book--A classic that still rocks!
Review: With great authors like Dave Bach who has written an excellent book "The Automatic Millionaire", sometimes classics like The Millionaire Next Door get shoved aside and forgotten. The Millionaire Next Door should be read in addition to The Automatic Millionaire. I also recommend More Wealth Without Risk by the late, great Charles Givens.

The Millionaire Next Door shows how the wealthy became wealthy. It wasn't due to luck, politics, inheriting a fortune or help from the government. It was by developing and applying a few simple disciplines. This book will show you how too.