Rating: 
Summary: PAW don't wanna be
Review: Most of us live within our means and save for our future. How much we should save is open to conjecture. We aren't scared off by those so called "expert" critics who tell us how much we'll need for retirement. We take expensive vacations because we can afford it and socialize accordingly. We have many wonderful friends of similar means and values and live moderately, on our terms. Even the professional UAW's described in this book are people, granted, who are perhaps spending too much, but will unlikely end up as street people. Don't forget they probably have 401K's and also paid a hell of a lot of social security taxes and despite the fears you hear from our robber-baron politicians, IT WILL BE AROUND FOR THOSE WHO PAID INTO IT, in one form or another. Meanwhile, those fools who are catagorized as living below (PAW) their means are really the leeches of our society. In the long run, they do very little in contributing to our GNP. When we do retire, our financial wants and needs go down as we age and being a so called "millionaire next door" is really unnecessary. If you contact a debilitating disease or sickness when you're old and it eventually drains you financially would you really want to live under those circumstances, anyway? I know a couple who are the type of under-educated PAW's described in this book who hoard their wealth for that purpose. I truly think it's more of being direct decendents of parents who experienced the Depression, which is probably the root cause of many following generations.
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Summary: The bible for misers.
Review: Balance this book by reading the biography of Hetty Green
Rating: 
Summary: Extreme ideas -- but sometimes we need to be challenged
Review: Some people need a kick in the pants when it comes to saving for their future. The "ME" generation would be much better prepared for retirement if we simply absorbed a fraction of the ideas put forth in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This book can be summed up in 2 sentences.
Review: This book is a simple read of how a few millionaires acquire wealth. They have an above average income and are incredibly frugal/tight. Now, they can retire better instead of being in poverty. But basically between ages 20-50 they were in poverty (no spending). And then from 50-80 you can spend your money. On a philosophical note, which is better, to spend your money when you can truly have fun with it when you're 20-50 or when your life is nearing it's end anyways 50-80. I think that millionaires hoard money too much, they live "well below their means" and others (UAW..Under accumulators of Wealth) spend "far above their means". Live your life the best possible, it's far too short to let your life pass by without having the luxuries life has to offer. This book has good advice however, which ranks it at 2 stars instead of 1. Unfortunately, it's only about 2 sectences worth of info, spanned into about 300 pages or so of CONSTANT repeatings. I found this book annoying as hell.
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Summary: Insider Info
Review: A good view inside the wealthy people and how they did it. Also highly recommend the "Mind of a Trader" on how more specifically some people became wealthy on the stock markets.
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Summary: Authors missed the point
Review: There are some interesting insights in this book, as I would never have imagined that my next-door neighbor who drives a beat-up Chrysler and wears worn-out boots is a millionaire. The authors do a good job telling us how to increase our net worth. However, they missed one point: people aren't very interested in having a high net worth. They would much rather consume. Having lots of money in the bank is no fun. Spending it is. True, having money saved up leads to financial security. But having lots of money in storage is not an end in itself.
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Summary: A good read for beginers but gets boring toward the end.
Review: I found this book to be a good introduction to the world of personal finance being a 2nd year college student. It starts off giving good examples of situations but sometimes goes to extremes in making its points. For example, in some situations people are portrayed as almost imcompetent if they dont save the same amount of money as others or if they get cash gifts from their parents. Overall though I enjoyed the book.
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Summary: This book is a factful profile of what is a millionaire.
Review: When you read a book you are looking for some creative ability from the writer that catches your attention and makes you never want to close the book. This book does a horrible job and giving any sort of creative ability. The only reason that I would buy this book is to use to prop a door open. The reason being is that I found this book so mundane and redundant that to finish was a tedious task that was somewhat remedial. Do not waste any amount of money on this book.
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Summary: You too can become Ebenezer Scrooge: Here's how!
Review: Although I found some of the facts presented in the book interesting, this is yet another advice book that should have appeared as a magazine article. It's all just standard advice: don't spend a lot of money, drive a cheap car, penny-pinch, get a job that pays. Then after a number of years, you'll have some money. What I personally found amusing was the overall mentality of the book that says having money and not spending it is better than having money and spending it too. This strikes me as reasonable advice in a world where the future is very uncertain, but in a growth economy this only serves to put the breaks on said growth, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. And that with the added problem of spending your life living meagerly. I don't plan to follow the advice of the book, i.e., sell wallboard (boring), go on cheap vacations (boring), drive a cheap car (single women really like that in a man), and eat thin gruel for dinner (ok, they didn't go that far). If having money is important to you, I'd advise focusing on your career so you can make a lot of money, spend a fair amount of money and still save a million. On a more serious note, I know many first generation immigrants who tend to follow this book's advice. However, their children tend to be as self-centered and frivolous with money as any of the people whose parents were more free-spending and free-spirited.
Rating: 
Summary: Scottish, careful with money, wealthy, and I still think
Review: this book stinks. The lesson from the last ten years is that you need to be adaptable to the job marketplace, build your own career path, and take risks (investing also helps). Penny-pinching is all very laudable, but is only one small part of the equation. I was brought up in Scotland, and don't tend to spend money foolishly (I buy a car I can afford, not lease one to impress the neighbours, etc.), but that is not what makes me wealthy. What makes me wealthy is that I enjoy my life, I have a challenging job and a great family. If you are naturally tight, buy this book, revel in how much better you are than your neighbours given the authors formula for personal happiness (God knows, everybody around you probably isn't - have you noticed that?). Otherwise focus your self enhancement energy on what makes you happy, not somebody else. As one of my friends once told me - be successful - the money will follow. (BTW, there seems to be some personal attacks on the one-pointers, the thrust being that we are poor and therefore bitter - that is not the case with me, I'll accept smug, but that's all :).
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