The Millionaire Next Door Summary author says here has never been more personal wealth in America than there is today (over $22 trillion in 1996). Yet most Americans are not wealthy. Nearly one-half of our wealth is owned by 3.5 percent of our households. Most of the other households don’t even come close. By “other households,” we are not referring to economic dropouts. Most of these millions of households are composed of people who earn moderate, even high, incomes.
The Millionaire Next Door By Thomas Stanley
Book : The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
The Millionaire Next Door Summary
These people cannot be millionaires! They don’t look like millionaires, they don’t dress like millionaires, they don’t eat like millionaires, they don’t act like millionaires—they don’t even have millionaire names. Where are the millionaires who look like millionaires?
The Author says most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy. Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent.
Most people will never become wealthy in one generation if they are married to people who are wasteful. A couple cannot accumulate wealth if one of its members is a hyper consumer. This is especially true when one or both are trying to build a successful business. Few people can sustain profligate spending habits and simultaneously build wealth.
Most people want to be physically fit. And the majority know what is required to achieve this. But despite that knowledge, most people never become well conditioned physically. Why not? Because they don’t have the discipline to just do it. They don’t budget their time to just do it. It is like becoming wealthy in America. Oh, you want to all right, but you play lousy financial defense. You don’t have the discipline to control your spending.
The Millionaire Next Door Summary : Part 2
If you’re not yet wealthy but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household’s total annual realized income.
Living in less costly areas can enable you to spend less and to invest more of your income. You will pay less for your home and correspondingly less for your property taxes. Your neighbors will be less likely to drive expensive motor vehicles. You will find it easier to keep up, even ahead, of the Joneses and still accumulate wealth.
The Author says efficiency is one of the most important components of wealth accumulation. Simply: People who become wealthy allocate their time, energy, and money in ways consistent with enhancing their net worth.
If your goal is to become financially secure, you’ll likely attain it…. But if your motive is to make money to spend money on the good life, … you’re never gonna make it.
Financially independent people are happier than those in their same income/age cohort who are not financially secure.
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