Rating: 
Summary: A look into the Affluent
Review: The Millionaire Next Door does an excellent job of getting into the minds of millionaires. Upon finishing the novel, I found myself wondering about the affluence of people I know in different settings: my neighborhood, my place of employment, my temple, even my friends' families. If there was one thing I learned from the novel, it is that millionaires do not spend their money casually. "They live well bellow their means." (10) They don't drive European luxury cars, wear Rolex's or even live in the biggest and most extravagant houses. They are smart with their money, living comfortably rather excessively. Millionaires often choose to focus on putting their money towards investments and careful financial planning.
This book offers many insights into how to become a millionaire. The strategies and understandings the authors provide hold much truth and make sense. I found "The Seven Factors," listed on page 4-5, to be particularly insightful. Number seven states, "They chose the right occupation." This was the factor I was particularly most interested in. What is that "right" occupation? What I have found through my reading, is that most millionaires have started from the bottom up. They are entrepreneurs who have started empires: drycleaners, contractors, owners of mobile-home parks. They are smart businessmen who are disciplined and make smart sacrifices. Overall, this novel is smart and interesting and easy to read and enjoy
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and informative - but be careful!
Review: Let us get one thing out of the way. This is NOT a bad book. In fact, it is a well-done, interesting, and much needed study that gives us all new insights about what millionaires are really like as opposed to people's misconceptions of them. If this was merely a study of what millionaires are like, I would give it five stars. The problem begins when people see this book as a recommendation: "most millionaires are frugal, hard-working, well-educated, and diligent investors - so if I will act like that I will be a millionaire". This is simply not true - and for a very simple reason discussed below. Indeed, most millionaires ARE like that. Indeed, it is good advice to be frugal, hard-working, and well-educated as opposed to the opposite. It is also gratifying to see that sometimes "doing the right thing", the protestant work ethic, and the "nose to the grindstone" attitude sometimes pay off not only in "being a better person", but in concrete monetary success. Apparently good guys DON'T finish last after all. But the book suffers from a double survivorship bias. "Survivoship bias" is what happens when one only pays attention to those who survive a certain activity, peril, or risk, and makes ungounded conclusions about cause and effect from that. One famous example is Neitzsche's famous saying, "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger". It is based on the survivorship bias that those who survive terrible calamities tend to be stronger than other people. But it doesn't mean the calamity MADE them stronger - it might mean simply that only those who were strong to begin with survived the calamity. What survivorship bias do we see here? First, it interviews ONLY millionaires. It doesn't interview ALL of those who are frugal, hard-working, and concerned about education - it only interviews those of them WHO BECAME MILLIONAIRES. It could very will be (it probably is) that 99% of those who are hard-working, frugal, and concerned about education still fail to become millionaires. This, of course, doesn't mean that being hard-working and educated is "bad"; it just doesn't mean that it is the CAUSE of becoming a millionaire. If anything, only the opposite that is true: that if you are lazy, a big spender, and a cropout, you probably will NOT become a millionaire. But that is NOT that same thing! A second survivorship bias is the time of the survey. The people interviewed were, almost to a man, "dilligent investors" - especially in the stock market - who started investing at least 20 years before. They were interviewed in the late 1990. This means that, by sheer coincidence, they started investing in what turned out to be the largest bull market in US history. On the average, $1 invested in the stock market in 1980 would be worth about $20 when the Dow hit its high in 1999. Naturally, this significantly increased the net worth of many of these people. But was this due to any foresight on their part, or sheer luck? If the stock market had gone the other way, how many of them would still be millionaires? Furthermore, what about all the hard-working, diligent investors who started investing at the same time (early 1980s)... but unluckily invested in the wrong companies or industries, such as the "safe" oil or car industry which tanked, ruining many people? How could you tell - BEFORE it happened - that one investing method was better than the other, that one will make you a millionaire and the other leave you broke? You coudln't. Once again, this doesn't mean that investing is "bad". It is NECESSARY to invest well and succeed in your investments in order to become a millionaire - if you don't invest, you won't become a millionaire. But again, this isn't the same thing: you might very well invest with all due dilligence, safety, and careful planning - and still lose everything. In summary, good book? Yes. Interesting book? Yes. Teaches you things you didn't know? Yes. Shows that the old protestant work ethics is good after all? Yes. But does it show you how to become a millioniare? NO! Buy it, by all means... follow its advice... but do so because it is generally good advice on how to live, NOT because it will make you rich. That is just an illusion based on survivorship bias.
Rating:
Summary: The Millionaire Next Door
Review: The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley and William D Danko is sumed up by the title. it portrays the true life of a millionaire as researched by the authors. they talk about the lies of millionaires, their financial issues and the misperceptions about them. stonley and danko do a great job at analyzing the millionaires of today. unlike the "big spender" misconception many of us have, they portray them as regular people who save their money consistantly. its a very interesting book. it does broaden horizons on the millionaire issue, but its mostly meant for people who are looking to become millionaires or learn about finance. i would definatly recommend it to these people.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons to be learned...
Review: This book opened my eyes. It with other books that I have read on financial matters has helped me to realize that the wealthy are not necessarily those driving the expensive cars and living in the expensive houses. My wife and I can enjoy our humble home and enjoy know that we are financially more secure than 90% of American households. This book help to give perspective on wealth and what it means to be wealthy and live a rich life.
Rating:
Summary: The Millionaire Next Door.
Review: The Millionaire Next Door is very informative on the subject of the spending habits of millionaires. The book explains the differences between the two types of millionaires, UAWs and PAWs. I do believe that I gained some understanding of what frugal and spendthrifty lifestyles are like. I don't believe the authors portrayed the average accumulators of wealth enough, and I found there to be an excessive number of statistics. The Millionaire Next Door is fairly easy to read, but is a bit tiring and repetitive.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting tips
Review: The Millionaire Next Door was very interesting. The book tells the reader mainly seven tips in becoming a millionaire. I think that these tips really could help you in life in making money, but the reason i gave it only 3 stars was I thought the book over generalized who millionaires really are. I didn't alway agree with how millionaires lived because not all live the way the book says. But some millionaires do and this book gives people good tips and ideas. Some of statistics were surprising. It's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: YOUR NET WORTH COULD BE A MILLION DOLLARS...
Review: The implication that authors Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. make in The Millionaire Next Door is that anybody with a stable job can become wealthy. Dr. Stanley and Dr. Danko interviewed millionaires (that is people that have a net worth of a million dollars or more- to find out what their lifestyles are like and to see it they play any particular role in their amassing millions of dollars. When reading more into the book the image of the affluent as flaunting their possessions is distorted. One thing that will come as a shock to anyone that reads this book is when one finds out about the number one factor that most of the millionaires interviewed described, as a major reason for being rich. Real millionaires tend to live well under their means. People (such as celebrities or any other high paying profession) that make a good amount of money are not considered rich unless their net worth is a million dollars or more. The media has blinded many into believing that the more possessions one has the more affluent one looks, not is. This particular book is a good read. Although it is long it is very interesting because it gives facts that one might have not even known. I truly recommend this book to anyone that is self-disciplined and that will read the book with an open-mind. Keep in mind that these people are first-generation rich, this means they were once like us. If they made it so can we!
Rating:
Summary: A New Road To follow
Review: After reading this book, I have decided that I will put a halt on any unnecessary shopping sprees. Instead of saving to buy the car of my dreams, I will invest that money or most likely put it in the bank, seeing how the economy is not doing too well. The strongest message that I got from the book was to live below your means. Buying used instead of new, timing your showers to exactly three minutes to save money on the water bill...ok maybe that's a little too much but according to the two PhD authors, you need to be frugal.
Although the book got really repetitive towards the end and it had a mound of statistics piled up, it was still an overall good read. I would recommend it to anyone that has dreams about becoming a millionaire.
Rating:
Summary: A list of common sense
Review: Although the book got really repetitive towards the end and it had a mound of statistics piled up, it was still an overall good read. This book emphasized its main points effectively by creating hypothetical situations. It gave me a better understanding of how millionaires act. Most of the habits that these millionaires follow are common sense but it all comes down to whether or not a person wants to make sacrifices. The book does a really good job of listing these "millioniare habits".
Rating:
Summary: Good motivator, but often too redundant.
Review: Overall I thought this book was pretty good in convincing Americans that anyone can be millionaires. Danko and Stanley provided a behind-the-scenes look at the lifestyles of millionaires and the techniques of improving the way we look at money. I thought it was a good book for teenagers to read because it gives early advice in the ways of making smart investments and building money-saving habits for a successful future. It was a good motivator for those who often spend uneccessary amounts of money. However, the book was also a bit too redundant. It kept on talking about the same thing over and over again, which was pretty annoying. I guess it was the author's way of getting the ideas in our head, which became quite bothersome at many times.
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