The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. StanleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great study of the classic recipe of wealth. The message of frugality, humility, hard work and consistency is something that is lacking from the millennial mindset. I noticed that while the message of frugality seemed to be a common theme, it was generally a relative comment. It isn't that these millionaires didn't live comfortably, and have what they wanted in life. It is more that their desires were modest, down to earth desires revolving around their families and security. If you dig beneath the surprise that the millionaire group members were not caviar eating snobs, you find that the stories he cites were ones of gifts for kids, paid college tuitions, paid off cars of their choice, fishing boats, vacations, etc. The key is that none of these features were gaudy, or even came close to testing the limits of the financial means.
The other thing I noticed is that the recipe for success in this book was not just financial. There was a strong social correlation to those who succeed financially. They lived among the middle class, and married spouses and then stayed married to them. How much impact would it have if society just returned to these basic principles?
This book is a little dry, as it slows down at the end, and tends to interrupt dialogue with numbers. However, if you give it a chance I think the data presented here, while dated, could be hugely valuable to future generations.
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