The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

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Summary: Very enlightening and informative
Review: Being a lover of numbers and data I thought this book was exceptional. They make a very good point on what it takes to accumulate wealth. It is very reaffirming for those of us who live below our means to know we are not alone in rejecting the media cries to "spend, spend, spend". A great gift idea for those people you know who think the goal in life is "the one with the most expensive toys wins".

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Summary: Lucid exposition of the difference between wealth and income
Review: The difference between this book and many others on similar topics is a strong empirical base of evidence to support the author's opinions. The book is entertaining, to be sure, but it is primarily a research report, and that is its strength.

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Summary: A good re-affirmation.
Review: After the hype on television's 20/20 and all of the trouble I went throught to get the book, I was a little disappointed in the final product. While it did have some good info, it was essentially a re-affrimation of things that I have heard and read before. Besides the basic affirmation there were some common sense pointers like investing in the field of your expertise that sort of stuck out for me. The continuous use of tables was a bit tedious. After all, do we really need to know the price per pound of different domestic and foreign automobiles? The authors preface this book saying that they spent 10 years researching this subject. After 10 years I would like a little more meat. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a definitive step by step road map to becoming a millionaire, but a little less chart junk and more solid information would have been nice.

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Summary: Belabored Statement of the Obvious
Review: The authors where on to something good and then they beat it to death. This could have been edited down to a nice pamphlet to be given out free in unemployment offices or inserted under windshield wipers at snooty hangouts. To it's credit the basic conservative truths are essential for people to understand no matter how self-servingly redundant the presentation. I did learn a valuable lesson from this bookcdon't judge a book by it's rise through the best seller list!

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Summary: Useful reminder of elements of wealth accumulation
Review: This book's premise (wealth accumulation in late 20th century America is based upon an entreprenuerial occupation combined with a frugal lifestyle) is entirely sound and is certainly a message we all need to hear again. Unfortunately, the authors, in the spirit of our age, feel compelled to burden their analysis with a good deal of somewhat superficial "survey material." One gains the impression that they believe the reader cannot be trusted to evaluate the merits of their argument by logic alone. This is a misapprehension because, in fact, their arguments alone would carry the day. On the other hand, the book does not hide its focus -- it shouts its "survey says" orientation. And, after becoming desensitized to the constant repetition of "what we have found," the underlying characteristics of the "prodigious accumlators of wealth" provide a useful checklist for all of us. The primary drawback of the book is its meandering, loss of focus. One suspects that the editor told the authors "we need more pages" and they went back to comply. Yet in this age of hyper-consumerism, the ultimate message of this book is much-needed and in the right hands could be life-changing.

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Summary: PhD's cram 7 aphorisms into 258 pages
Review: This book should've been an essay. I found it overstated and repetitive. Some useful information, but mostly intuitive. Eric Tyson's "Financial Planning for Dummies" was far more valuable and better organized.

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Summary: Excellent Learning Tool
Review: We are both CPAs, and have found that it's true: many small business owners drive older cars and are millionaires while someone in a high-priced new car is more likely to have credit card debt. We are buying our second book to pass along to other family members. Our adult kids took an interest in the material as had our investment club.

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Summary: All young couples should read this book. It's a eye opener!
Review: I found this book very educational, although at
times I got bored with all the statistics. I
skimmed over some them. I think it would be a
good book for young couples to read. It is a
good dose of reality, contrary to all the
materialistic messages we receive today.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, the truth about how the rich get rich. No gimmicks.
Review: Here is one of the very few books available that isn't selling false gimmicks to "get rich quick." With so many snake-oil salesmen out there spouting their sucker pitches to the naive masses, it is a heartfelt relief to finally read a book that spells out the fundamental equation for amassing wealth: thrift, savings, and sensible, steady investment.

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Summary: I was at a party the other night ...
Review: Ever meet someone at a party who has an interesting subject to discuss? You join in the discussion and you are impressed with the depth with which the person knows his topic and the clarity with which he presents it. An hour into the conversation, you realize the person is repeating himself, but adding a few more interesting points along the way. The second hour you realize the person is just plain repeating himself. Now the party is breaking up and you a) realize you already knew a lot of what the person told you, and b) are really annoyed that you didn't talk to others at the party.

This book was a lot like that.