The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America

Reviews

1. 

   Zachary Slayback – July 23, 2024

   Sears, Not Brooks Brothers
   This is an excellent, data-backed look at what the wealthy look like in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, most wealthy people do not drive Teslas and eat caviar. They are not tech CEOs or Wall Street financiers. They are small business owners and self-employed professionals who probably drive a 3-year old BMW or a Ford pickup truck or SUV. They probably wear a Seiko watch, not a Rolex. They probably wear a suit bought from Men’s Wearhouse, not Brooks Brothers. They probably have a run-of-the-mill Visa credit card, not something from Sak’s Fifth Ave.Some of the many useful insights and takeaways from this book:A Useful Definition of Wealth — Wealth is much more than how much money you pull in every year and how much your house costs. It’s more a reflection of your investments and how much money you save. Not how much you spend. There are a lot of people who pull in a ton of money every year but live paycheck-to-paycheck.Wealth and income are not the same thing — Not all wealthy people pull in a hefty income. In fact, many purposely pull in relatively low incomes in order to reduce their tax obligations. Ross Perot is a great example of this (when the book is written). Perot pays millions in taxes, but is worth billions. Even your neighbor next door might be a millionaire, but maybe the household only brings in $79,000 a year.Most Millionaires Are Self-Made — While children of millionaires are more likely to become millionaires, very few millionaires (less than 20%) are not self-made millionaires. In fact, regular handouts from parents make it less likely that an individual will become a millionaire someday. Most millionaires worked for their money and were not constantly given Economic Outpatient Care (EOC) from their parents.Frugality Reigns Supreme — The authors give a great analogy about building wealth. You can play a great offensive (i.e. pulling in money) and you can make a great defensive (i.e. saving your money and preserving your wealth). Playing a great offensive is wonderful, but it is really only useful for building wealth if you don’t play a great defensive too (some people are capable of playing such a great offensive that the defensive really isn’t important, but this is very few people). They buy discount suits, discounted new cars or used cars, they rely on very, very little credit, and status symbols aren’t all that important to them.Mindset Matters — Most millionaires are not worry-warts. The only things they really worry about are government policies that will destroy their livelihoods, but even then, they know that they can’t really control the outcome of these issues directly, so they only give so much effort and so much weight to these decisions.My only quasi-criticism of this book is that the data are from 1992-1996 and the book was written in 1996. This obviously isn’t the fault of the authors, and some of the conclusions are reinforced in a 2010 preface, but just take some of the data with a grain of salt. Take inflation and general industrial changes into account.Well worth the read, especially if you are looking to join the ranks of the Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth or work with them.

2. 

   Rafael Ladeira – July 23, 2024

   Atualmente comprar um livro com material de qualidade é difícil, esse possui capa dura verdadeira, folhas e impressão de qualidade. Certamente o que mais importa é o conteúdo e ele foi muito bem elaborado, traz muitas sugestões e experiências reais de pessoas bem sucedidas, detalhado o que fazer e não fazer de acordo com o histórico de diversas pessoas. Não é preciso ser ou querer ser um milionário para que esse livro seja de grande valor para você, ele pode te ajudar a ser ter uma vida mais tranquila financeiramente ou apenas te ajudar a ser uma pessoa melhor, o que já valeria a leitura.

3. 

   Armando Guzmán – July 23, 2024

   Me encantó la manera de demostrar como millonarios no son lo que nos venden en la televisión, de gente despilfarradora y lúcida, sino de gente frugal y con un negocio propio

4. 

   LFJ – July 23, 2024

   Yes, read 141 out of 250 pages so far but I am so impressed with the financial advise. Great book. Recommended to everyone with any sort of income.

5. 

   Ben Pardo Garcia – July 23, 2024

   Frugality, planning and humbleness can make you a millionaire. Exactly the opposite of what we are told.