Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 332
EAN num: 9780671775308
ISBN number: 0671775308
Label: Pocket
Manufacturer: Pocket
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: November 01, 1999
Publishing house: Pocket
Sale Popularity Level: 86041
Studio: Pocket
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The incredible national bestseller that is changing people's lives -- and increasing their net worth!
CAN YOU SPOT THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR?
Who are the rich in this country?
What do they do?
Where do they shop?
What do they drive?
How do they invest?
Where did their ancestors come from?
How did they get rich?
Can I ever become one of them?
Get the answers in The Millionaire Next Door, the never-before-told story about wealth in America. You'll be surprised at what you find out....
Amazon.com Review:
How can you join the ranks of America's wealthy (defined as people whose net worth is over $1 million)? It's easy, say doctors Stanley and Danko, who have spent the last 20 years interviewing members of this elite club: you just have to follow seven simple rules. The very first rule is, always live well below your means. The last rule is, choose your occupation wisely. You'll have to buy the book to find out the other five. It's only fair. The authors' conclusions are commonsensical. But, as they point out, their prescription often flies in the face of what we think wealthy people should do. There are no pop stars or athletes in this book, but plenty of wallboard manufacturers--particularly ones who take cheap, infrequent vacations. Stanley and Danko mercilessly show how wealth takes sacrifice, discipline, and hard work, qualities that are positively discouraged by our high-consumption society. 'You aren't what you drive,' admonish the authors. Somewhere, Benjamin Franklin is smiling. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
This is a precursor of Robert Kyosaki's "Rich Dad", John Cummuta's "Transforming debt into Weath" and other financial intelligence books. John Cummuta have extended this work by explaining the concept of compound interest, while Robert Kyosaki have resolved the issue of "live beyond your means", advocated by Thomas J. Stanley. The drawback of mr. Stanley is that he doesn't seem to suggest what do with accumulated wealth, and only advocates being prudent and frugal as a lifestyle, e.g. do not buy luxury cars or boats or wear expensive clothing's. Robert Kyosaki have criticized this modest lifestyle and have solved this drawback by clearly defined the distinctions of assets and the liabilities and suggested that luxury cars can be boats should be purchased from yields produced by the assets rather than from cash flows diverted from obtaining assets.
So, the "Millionaire Next Door" became a classics, while the other authors take the ideas from it without even referencing it.
Thomas J. Stanley have devised the terms "Under Accumulator of Wealth (UAW)", "Average Accumulator of Wealth (AAW)" and "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth (PAW)", and concluded that any American PAW household even with very modest income will become millionaire.
The main points of the book are: Spend Less Than You Earn, Avoid Buying Status Objects or Leading a Status Lifestyle, PAWs Are Willing to Take Financial Risk if it is Worth the Reward and Economic Outpatient Care. The authors also make the interesting observation that UAWs tend to have children who require an influx of their parents' money in order to afford the lifestyle that they expect for themselves, and that they are less likely to have been taught about money, budgeting and investing by their parents.
I would suggest the works by Robert Kyosaki and John Cummuta in addition to this book.
Rated by buyers 
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Over the years i have read this book about a dozen times. I find this book incredibly inpsirational, and a very interesting and educational read. For myself, it has changed the way my family has earned, saved and spend. However, I don't aspire to be like the millionaires in this book. Many of them don't actually enjoy the pleasures their money can earn. This begs the question, whats the point of all this money. Is money there just to be hoarded? Or is money there just to be spend (which is what the authors argue against.) Or could it be possible that the key to true financial happiness and wealth lies somwhere in the middle. Not spending needlessly and being disciplined while at the same time enjoying the rich rewards your money can give you? For ourselves, we (i believe) have been able to find the golden middle. At the end of life its not about how much stuff you acumulate, or how much money you acumulate. Its about how you spend your life, and how much you enjoy it. So read this book, and find the balance for youself.
Rated by buyers -
I think people are missing the point if they think that this book intends that you should have a "miserable life and save and have no fun". I think the point is that our economy has conditioned a consumer hungry, non saving society and it is a lot a question of values and balance. If you are on either extreme of the scale, then you should rethink your ideas. You cant take it with you but you also should leave a little for rainy day and waste not-want not, lol.
Rated by buyers 
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This is another interesting book that could have been a 5 to 10-page brilliant article. Repetitive to the extreme, the authors go on and on and on and on...
But I am glad I read this book.
There is only one issue I wish was addressed. Being frugal and living below your means is good. After all, there is no need to spend hundreds of dollars in a watch or in shoes. However, there MUST be a balance in life. What is the point of having money if it is not to spend? Who needs lead a miserable life only to die with 5 million in net worth?
I wish the authors would address this issue, or at least mention that there is a balance and this choice is beyond the scope of their book. Instead, it looks like the "pursuit of wealth" is a constitutional obligation of every citizen.
Rated by buyers -
A book like THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR has a value that goes well beyond its subject matter: It shows how often we have misconceptions about what is really going on around us. Such misconceptions can stall our progress by having us act in the wrong ways.
Unless you had done similar research, you will probably be surprised by at least some of the findings of this book. The millionaires described here remind me of the ones I knew as a child, so the overall picture is familiar. What impresses me is that that model has continued to be true for the 50 years since I was a child.
I hope that this kind of research will be continued so it can be tracked to see how the lessons are changing.
I read the reviews of this book below, and think I understand why some people were disappointed. I think that many people would like to live an expensive lifestyle and be independently wealthy. That model is not examined here. Perhaps in a future book, that subject should be explored. Also, some people want to know what to do today, and would benefit from looking at those who got to be millionaires the fastest and most recently. That information, too, is missing.
The orientation of this study is heavily on how to sell things to rich people, and that is valuable. For example, the richest people I work with will normally ask me what kind of car I drive. They want to hear that I drive an inexpensive car before they feel comfortable with me. I do drive an inexpensive car, a 7 year old Saturn, and that has helped me get consulting clients on many occasions.
I think the possibilities of this research are endless if it is turned into best practice research, something that readers are clearly hungry for. But it is a good beginning to simply do the measurements, and learn the value of measurements.
To make enormous progress, our reserach has shown that people need to go through the following process: (1) Learn the value of measurements (which this book helps with). (2) Measure every aspect of important activities (something this book starts to do). (3) Measure the existing best practice, and estimate where that will be in five years (this work remains to be done). (4) Implement pieces of other peoples' best practices in new ways for a more effective combination than any one else has done before. (5) Identify the ideal best practice (in this case, get rich quick with little risk -- an example yesterday would be to found an Internet-based business and sell it quickly) (6) Begin to approach the ideal best practice (that might be to establish Web sites and experiment with creating Internet businesses inexpensively). (7) Create the right rewards to motivate yourself and others to get the job done (daily feedback is a good way for many people). (8) Repeat the process. Here's where the main benefit comes in.
I hope this model will help you expand on the lessons of this book to become much wealthier yourself, if that is what you desire, or to create something else that you care about.
I personally like to help others get rich more than doing the same for myself. I believe that if everyone is more successful, I will have plenty for myself. My personal goal is for everyone to get 10,000 times or more benefit from what clients spend in time, money, and effort on our services and books.
Please do read, think aobut, and build on the lessons of this book to meet your life's goals.
If you do not yet have written goals, including financial ones, that's an important very first step.
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