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

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Summary: Add this title to your carts as a "MUST READ" selection NOW!
Review: Want to know how millionaires act, what they wear, how they got there? READ THIS BOOK! This is an enlightening, entertaining, and yes - educational book. Using it patiently as a guidebook, you, too could become a millionaire, and enjoy the journey getting there

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Summary: FRUGAL SPENDING HABITS WILL RESULT IN WEALTH ACCUMULATION
Review: THIS BOOK GIVES GOOD INSIGHT INTO THE LIFESTYLES OF AMERICA'S RICH. IT LETS THE WORLD KNOW THAT THE TYPICAL MILLIONAIRE IS NOT WHAT WE THINK: A SELF-INDULGENT INDIVIDUAL WHO FLAUNTS HIS WEALTH. RATHER, THE AVERAGE MILLIONAIRE IS SOMEONE WHO IS THRIFTY, HARD-WORKING, AND FRUGAL. THERE IS ONE PROBLEM THAT I HAD WITH THIS BOOK: THE AUTHORS SPEND TOO MUCH TIME DRIVING HOME THE POINT THAT FRUGAL SPENDING HABITS ARE WHAT LEAD TO WEALTH ACCUMULATION. THIS IS A GOOD POINT, BUT IT IS STATED TOO MANY TIMES

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Summary: MUCH ADO ABOUT MONEY
Review: Messrs. Stanley and Danko have written a very readable essay on the habits of those determined individuals who attain to material wealth. Their findings are surprising at first blush but you begin to understand once you change your perspective from how much a person makes from their profession or business to how much they keep and save for the future. Above a certain level of income, the authors seem to indicate that anyone can, through proper saving and investing, and living below your means, become financially independent. What matters is your net worth in relationship to your annual pretax income. The truly wealthy are not necessarily the ones driving the most expensive cars or wearing the best suits but those that have the discipline to accumulate wealth through saving and investing. After reading the book, I have to admit that I have not yet figured out whether I want to become one of the few with a high net worth compared to my income. The book has definitely given me some ideas on conservation and prioritizing my material wants versus needs but I do believe that if you become too focused on how much you are saving, you never end up with some part of living for the joy of today

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Summary: Cars by the pound?
Review: This is a best seller? This books reads like a college thesis, and although it has a few good points, I think they could have been made in a short article. My favorite part is the appendix, where the author's included their chart of automobiles by the cost per pound. Do millionaire really buy cars by the pound? Would not a used cement truck prove to be a good investment? A silly little book with a good point or two that the public eats up- I was one of them since I bought the book.

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Summary: The rest of you may wish to follow this book's teachings too
Review: This book's findings are intuituively obvious, but many will fail to see the light. Sure, there are some silly statistics, such as the cost per pound of car. However, it does tell you what the majority of affluent do (independent business owners, including MD's and lawyers), what they do with their money (save more than they spend - well, gosh, just do the math all of you who doubt this), and what they need to do to teach their children about money and frugality (something which will come in handy with my six year old daughter). The issue of spouses being equally frugal is very important. My wife was not frugal, in part, because she was taught not to be frugal by her parents. Her parents' habit of spending more than they earned has left them working at age 68 in fulltime jobs, with income of nearly $80,000 per year, with no retirement in sight (and not because they do not want to retire). It was not until I pointed out to my wife that her parent's situation has a cause, and they are living the 'effect', that see realized that she did not want to be in that situation. Most people do not realize that this lack of savings behavior is taught to them by their parents (mine included). My days of eating peanut butter sandwiches in college, because I generally never had more than $10 a week to spend on food (this was in the late 70's, early '80's), made me realize the requirements of frugality (no frugality = no food). Do these well-do-do people, who live beneath their means, live boring lives? Well, my family is among those folks, and I do not think our lives are boring. We have traveled to Europe and Asia numerous times (perhaps 9 or 10 times in the past 13 years) - usually I am on a business trip and my family comes with me. Do I have a life outside of work - yep. I love white water rafting, fly fishing, and sailing. Do we give to charity? Absolutely. Like most others in my boat, we rarely discuss these aspects of our lives, as they are generally done with our families, and what we do with our families is not discussed in public. This is likely why a lot of this qualitative fluff is not found in this book. Understand that it has taken 17 years to do this... hence the epicureans among you will find that this path to be very difficult to follow. For those of you who have the patience to make a change in your financial behavior, the rewards are significant. Where do you want to be, financially, in 15-20 years? This book will suggest the behaviorial changes needed to make a positive effect on that picture for the overwhelming majority of people who wish to be financially successful in the US. As with anything else in America, it is your choice to change your behavior. Read the book, and best of luck

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Summary: This should be required reading for all high-school seniors.
Review: Sure, this book may not tell us anything we couldn't have thought of ourselves, but the depth of research and excellent delivery by the authors make this one of the top three best books ever on the subject. Right up there with Charles J.Givens and Andrew Tobias. An eye-opening must read (for anyone who doesn't want to be poor all their life)

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Summary: One of a few nice tools to live a better life.
Review: Goes into great detail on how to live a simpler and frugal lifestyle. Basically, trying to keep up with the Jones' next door really does not matter. However, I believe they also should have addressed how to build your current wealth to enjoy lifes ultimate pleasures (like flying). I will use this for budget purposes, but still want a higher quality of life that money can only bring

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Summary: A must read
Review: As a family wealth counselor we strive to get our clients focused on three topics. First, how much they need to maintain their standard of living, second, how much do they want to leave their children and third, how much would they like to leave as a legacy to their favorite charities. The millionaire next door does a great job in ch 5 "Economic Outpatient Care" of dealing with how much you leave your children. It shows that "good intentions" generally take you off mission and result in doing just the opposite -and making the children unproductive. A client of mine built a statue of his father outside his headquarters with the caption -"work is love". Those that are "given" versus create seldom understand this. I believe this book is a must read for every financial advisor and their clients

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Summary: Excellent information presented in a readable format.
Review: The information in this book is invaluable to younger people. It is too late for us, who are in our 60's, but I am sending it to my 26-year-old son in the hopes that he will profit by its information and find himself in the new generation of "millionaires" by the time he is our age. Valuable information conveyed in a readable format

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Summary: Redundant AND Repetitive
Review: Although the theme is interesting and instructive, the book is rather repetitive. Live below your means. Be frugal to accumulate wealth. The book could have been condensed into a 20 page essay. If you want to live the lesson, do what I did...borrow the book from the library