The Millionaire Next Door

The Millionaire Next Door is a collection of studies about the secretive habits of millionaires done throughout the course of Thomas J. Stanley's career. He juxtaposes making a lot of money with being wealthy: you can make an incredible salary, but to be wealthy you have to save that earned money. For example, in the book there are two examples: One is a man who has been living in the same small house for 20 years, drives a 10 year old truck, and uses a Casio Duro (an affordable watch). The other is a doctor who earns $700,000 dollars a year. The doctor has an enormous house, fancy new cars, and embezzles his wife with divine jewelry. Obviously, the doctor is rich, right? Incredibly, the doctor's net worth is less than "the regular joe's". The doctor's obsession with having consumer goods limits his net worth. His need to "fit in" necessitates him spending almost all of his net worth on tangible goods. From the outside, he appears rich, but on the inside he has little retirement savings and no mental bandwith to focus on the far future. Meanwhile, the man who has been living in the same house for 20 years has seen the value of his house triple. His affordable lifestyle allows him to not only live below his means, but to invest his time (not spent shopping) and money wisely so that he builds a fortune. The Millionaire Next Door teaches us that the typical millionaire as seen by society (fancy clothing, the "newest iPhone", etc) is not actually a millionaire, but rather an
under-accumulator of wealth with nonexistent sapience in regard to the future. I would recommend this book to those who want to be wealthy in the future because becoming wealthy does not occur overnight: it takes years of discipline, sacrifice, and integrity. And the best time to start on your financial journey to freedom is now.