This is the best book I have read in months.

I think the authors could have made just as strong a case with half the number of pages, but I would still give this book `6-stars' if I could.

Why?

1 - It's an easy and inspiring read.
2 - It's free of unnecessarily poetic language.
3 - It's free of unfounded claims. The authors `opinion' is not the essence of the book.
2 - The evidences are strong and speak for themselves.
4 - It tells you something you couldn't just guess.
5 - It has a lasting impact on your thinking.

I must add one thing. When people say they want to be rich, what I believe they mean is: how can I make lots of money. That's not the question this book focuses on.

This book shows you who are the people who make up the large majority of millionaires in this country (less than 5% of households), how much they make, what they do for living, what kind of live they live, what kind of parents they have, how they manage their money, etc.

Fascinating book! I strongly recommend it.

If you are a cardiologist pulling in more than $300,000 a year, waste all your money on country clubs and Range Rovers and can't figure out why you haven't banked a million bucks yet, this is the book for you. Well, it would be if you had the humility to follow advice. However, if you are trying to raise three kids on a government mid-manager's $40,000 a year and would like to improve your plight, this author has little use for you. I would be $10 closer to being a millionaire if I hadn't bought this book. Hey - at least I did buy it used.

The authors of this book give a more realistic approach on how to join the ranks of America's wealthy. Always live well below your means is one of the rules. There are others. The authors discover that most of the wealthy households were not located in upscale neighborhoods. These people also drove ordinary cars, work the right jobs and dont dine out as much. These people are in complete opposites to the households in posh neighborhoods that have little real wealth and are consumers with minimal savings and investments. This is a must read for the consumptive types.

This is an interesting book with some insights to offer. Though these ideas are not earth-shattering or new, the presentation is novel, increasing the chance that some of the simple and clearly true advice offered may actually sink in. On the other hand, the authors have some underlying moral assumptions which they themselves may not realize are dubious, and which color their work,

This is what I mean: First, as to their insights, the authors demonstrate how wealth is acquired and maintained by the people who actually accumulate it, millionaires and/or those people who retain and build on a sufficient portion of what they earn to become financially independent. They define this as an ability to continue indefinitely in their current or similar lifestyle, without any additional earnings.

Theses people have certain traits and choices in common- a lot of which would be admirable without reference to money- such as doing what they think is appropriate and sensible, rather than what their neighbors do and admire. They drive used cars, instead of wasteful new vehicles, spend on education for their children, rather than fancy clothes, etc.

Perhaps most importantly, from a financial perspective, they live at or below their means, and save and invest a substantial portion of their income. In a time when our personal and national debt has come home to roost, this can seem like utter genius. Sure, we all know it, but as a group, we seem to have been entirely unable to execute this feat. If you want to know how to plant a garden, ask the guy who has long maintained a beautiful garden himself, otherwise, ask his gardener- not the person with a scabby yard full of weeds- even if he has a degree in horticulture. Probably.

We live in a fantasy world, fueled by the unrealistic media image of the lifestyles of ordinary people- who are waitresses and aspiring actors (eg "Friends"), yet share spacious New York apartments that a merchant banker could barely afford. Advertisements of credit card companies tell us that these and other acquired luxury goodies are what we deserve, and offer them to us in exchange for signing over our futures to indentured debt servitude.

I buy much of this advice, especially the part about not spending more than I earn, and hope to win the struggle to avoid debt and save and invest enough to retire without living on dogfood. It is an interesting presentation, done via tons of data about what wealthy people actually do. Despite being dated statisically, this evidence makes the author's points convincingly; I'd bet that further data collection would be consistent with their first 2 efforts.

I do, however, see a fundamental flaw in the authors' value system. They so admire their exemplary subjects for their courage and common sense that they are utterly uncritical of their priorities. The accumulation of wealth to the extent of leaving an estate behind at death is the virtue, while all spending of earnings beyond that necessary for a modestly comfortable life (with the possible exception of certain charitable contributions) is presumed to be in aid of a pretentious and contemptible seeking of status and/or empty, transient amusements.

Phooey. The authors themselves admit that subsidized children of the wealthy are crippled by an inability to imagine a less luxurious lifestyle than that provided for them- so what's the point of having more than you need to retire fearlessly, if you want to, or if it becomes necessary? Money in a big pile for when you die- or as an abstract measure of your accomplishnent or worth-is useless and, dare I say it- greedy.

Money spent on education for its own sake, making or supporting art and the environment, travel, research, and other life enriching activities should not be viewed as status seeking, useless behaviour; it is money well spent. A life boiled down to economic survival is a desperate existence, and if we are lucky enough, and disciplined enough to be able to provide for own financial survival, in my world view, it is a waste and a sin to ignore all of opportunities for a life that is so much more.

This book is great! Every person should read this book. I think that it brings out so many thoughts that are factual in nature. I loved it!!!

Don't get me wrong, this book is founded on smart advice. Its main morals are the following:
- Don't believe what you see in the media; most millionaires don't live extravagant, consumption-driven lifestyles. The pursuit of status is stratospherically expensive, and chances are that guy you see pulling out of the Super-Size McMansion in his Benz is a hardcore spender with above-average income but little accumulated wealth.
- The rich get rich by spending prudently (no $5,000 watches or $50,000 cars) and investing wisely. No matter your income, live below your means.
- If you want your kids to learn the lessons of financial independence, avoid giving them cash handouts, which they'll come to expect all their lives and will weaken them mentally. Just invest a crapload in their education and leave the rest alone.

All useful stuff, but the way the authors tell it makes the book a chore to read. The depth of the narrative never goes past personalizing those points with long-winded anecdotes filled with numbers, few of which succeed in really animating the messages. As the chapters go on, you find yourself just plowing through one indistinguishable story after another, most of which repeat the same points. This book could have easily been 100 (maybe 200) pages shorter.

Is learning how millionaires think and act! This book does just that! Please read this book for true understanding of what it takes to get there, no sugar coating in this book and straight to the point. MUST HAVE!

This book is one of the most highly read and rated personal finance books and aptly so. The data-driven research reveals who the real millionaires in America are and its not the flashy, sports car driving individuals you might think. Its a very insightful look ino the lives, habits and finances of America's wealthy, covering a wide range of topics from purchasing watches and cars to economic outpatient care and self-employed business owners.
Although the amount of data presented can become dry and redundant at times as other reviewers have stated (my main reason for 4 instead of 5 stars), the information is there for those who want to take a deeper dive into the numbers behind the summarized observations.
Overall, this book presents some great personal finance lessons and is highly recommended, along with the simple lessons to be learned in "The Richest Man in Babylon"

While the book has some interesting insights into the wealthy, what is the point of amassing a fortune if you're living well below your means? If you're looking to make some money I recommend you read some books on investing. Phil Town's book "Rule #!" is a great book based on the same investment strategies that Warren Buffet uses.

Descriptions from interviews of millionaires were the most interesting aspects of this book. The authors occasionally cited actual paraphrases from some of these folks and those statements were often impactful.

At the end, it's all common sense as in almost all business books. My biggest gripe was the overbearing use of statistics - they can make the numbers say whatever they want and there were times that they did this. For example, their questionaire must have had a question about being self-made or did they recieve an inheritance. Everyone always says they are self-made even if they came from a fairly well off family. They oversimplify how difficult it is to become more wealthy than your parents. Relying on the answers to a questionaire for this insight is unreliable.

But in summary, the book makes some great points about the inner workings of a traditional successful business owner. My favorite of which is that any business owner in any industry can become immensely successful, whether it be hauling garbage, running pawn shops, designing software or selling pharmaceuticals. It's all about hard and smart work.

I am a financial advisor and I frequently loan this book to clients and they usually love it. Its also a great book to give to young people. It really gets across the message that you don't have to make a lot of money to be wealthy, you just have to live below your means and invest well. Highly recommended.

This book just gives stats behind what should be common sense. If you save your money and stay away from the flashy things in life of course you will be better off in the long run....financially. I think we should all remember the fine line though, tomorrow isn't promised so don't kill yourself to save a couple dollars unless you think you are taking your $ with you when you die. I got through half of this book and just felt they could have gotten to the point in maybe 40 pages, why waste valuable time.

On the contrary, I think this book could be beneficial for those lacking in discipline in their finances. If you fall into this category, I would recommend this book.

I'm a single woman in my early 30s, my parents are middle-class and doing okay. The only thing i was taught as a kid was "save your money" or "dont spend it". that went in one ear and out the other. i never had it in my mind to rely on a man or get married for wealth, but my Mom always seemed to put that idea towards me...even though i never took it on.
Im an educated woman and working on my Business Degree. Ive made my mistakes in Credit card debt but luckily i am almost debt free and my mistakes never got out of control... i stopped and panicked when my debt hit $8k and for me that was it!

This book is teaching me much more in terms of having a mindset of growing wealth and investing than anything or person in my life ever has.
I wish i had this book 10 years ago when i was 20 but i still have plenty of time to get this thing on track.

When we buy groceries we usually have our brands and favorites we buy on certain things... me i pay good money for ice cream.
This week I saved $3 by switching to a cheap brand. i was proud of myself. That $3 goes into my savings.
I have no doubt in my mind that I will never become a PAW, I plan on putting more time into investing and learning about money each week.

Too bad my Dad never taught me this stuff :(

I wish everyone would read this book. You assume someone to be rich because of their car, or clothes. That just proves that they waste more money and probably go into debt for it.

I spent time as a financial analyst for a commercial lending department. Part of my job was to go through people's personal financial statements. My boss, a CPA, recommended this book to me. On of our wealthiest, millionare clients wore sweat pants, had a mullet, and drove an old beat up vehicle. We had another client who was always sporting the latest fashions and drove a Porsche, but was broker than broke and always pleading with us to not return her checks.

The key is to have the self confidence to not spend the money to fix the way people judge you. Would you rather have 10 million dollars and look like crap or be on the edge of bankruptcy and look like a million bucks? I refuse to spend that kind of money to impress someone I probably don't even like or people I don't even know.

Read this book, it will shed some clarity!

A Great book with expert advice- too many charts, but the case histories were great and wonderful advice for parents tempted to spoil their children by financing their lives after they are finished with their education. Married children get to living way beyond their means and then resent it when parents stop paying 10 to 20 thousand a month for them. It is clear that those who succeed do it better when they are responsible for their OWN finances and learn to live within their budget.

Financial books providing insight into the attitudes and mannerisms required to accumulate wealth generally focus on a lot of theory. The Millionaire Next Door presents a straight forward account based on research and feedback from qualified millionaires.

The information presented in this book focuses on the habits that create millionaires from ordinary people who often have ordinary incomes. The authors show that to be wealthy, you do not necessarily require extraordinary skills or require ardent pep talks; you just need financial discipline and a willingness to live within your means and avoid certain amounts of debt.

The information in the book is substantiated with a number of graphs, charts, and summations of data that will limit one's ability to push through the information quickly. The content of the book is very reliable and will be eye opening for many readers. There is no doubt this book presents a very formidable foundation for wealth that anyone with grand financial aspirations should be aware of, making this book rather worthwhile

This book was written based from research that was conducted through the usage of surveys that were taken in 1995. They basically accumulated information from 1000 american millionaires regarding their methods of house-hold finance, behavior, spending habits etc. Simply an analysis of the American millionaire demograhpic in the year 1995. No practical wisdom. Useless info in becoming wealthy.

The whole book could've been summed up to: "be modest, cheap, and save as much as possible".

IN CONCLUSION: If you're looking to learn to make more income, save your money and time, this one sucked. If you want a lesson in history, go right ahead.

I had always heard about this book and was eager to finally read it. Unfortunately it was somewhat disappointing. The data is getting dated. The message, while sound, is so oft repeated that it gets a little boring. However, I enjoyed very much the passages dealing with how to (or more accurately - how not to) handle wealth issues and transfers with children. Overall it is a book everyone should read, but I wish they would release a newer edition with more recent data, etc.

but sometimes it belabours the point a bit too much. Note - some of the examples/tables are very USA-specific, but it has a fair few nuggets of interesting information.

This is the second time I am reading this book and it has enlightened me once again on what it takes to be a wealthy. I think some people who read the book give it an overly simplistic view, while there is a deeper insight that is often missed about millionaires.

In the beginning of the book in the introduction, the authors discuss what the definition of wealthy is. Millionaires seem to accumulate wealthy by investing their money rather then spending money. The Authors break down what the media has us perceive millionaires are by showing their big houses, their luxury cars and expensive suites. This is a good starting ground because you can see who the wealthy are. They draw on the fact that true millionaires are Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth (PAW), who does things to build wealth. They draw on Under Accumulator of Wealth (UAW, are great consumers, buying for status rather then for wealth.

In the first chapter the authors also talk about the top ethnic groups who are wealthy and their likelihood of becoming wealthy. This is a good motivator because it suggests that most American can or should be wealthy. One misinformed reviewer thought that Black was an ethnic group, when it is actually a race. The authors did a splendid job in not making wealth a race issue, but wanted to separate which ethnic group is more likely to be wealthy. While any one can become a millionaire, how long you reside in the United States is a big factor in that.

Chapter two is about being frugal and how the wealthy preserve their capital while others are consumers. They do not go over what types of wealth the PAW gathers, but they tell what they do not focus on. They also break down the mental picture of who the wealthy are. Do the wear Armani suites, drive Porches, and live in million dollars homes, no. The answer may be surprising because the media has given us a different picture of what wealthy should be. It is encouraging to note that most millionaires live in small towns, drive inexpensive cars, and wear moderate clothing. The authors break down the idea that wealthy people may not look like they have money because their focus is accumulating wealth, not in acquiring possessions. They recommend that this is counter productive.

Chapter 3 gives you an insight on time, energy and money. It goes over what the wealthy worry about and don't. It also shows what the wealthy know about shopping, their finances and their life. They most spend their time knowing the small stuff about their finances and how to save money. This chapter is a reflection of chapter two. It also goes over the consumption habits of the PAW and the UAW to show you how different they are.
Chapter 4 you aren't what you drive speaks about the kinds of cars the wealthy drive. This chapter should have been shortened because they seem to repeat the central themes of the chapter over and over to drive their point home. It was interesting to note that many of the PAW's drive used vehicles over 5 years old and rarely by new cars.

Chapter 5 Economic Outpatient and Chapter 6 Affirmative Action, Family Style both lost me. Economic outpatient is when a wealthy parent provides a yearly gift or money to a PAW child which the authors suggest is why they are PAW in the first place. Chapter six describes who typically gets the Economic Outpatient and gives the peril of these discussions. This lost me because I could not figure out who they authors were talking to. Were they talking to the reader as a parent, the reader as a child or the reader as both? When thinking about, their vagueness on this issue I think it was written for both; one not to except it and one not to offer it. I believe both of these chapters should have been combined and shortened to make it less confusing.

Chapter 7 Finding your Niche and Chapter 8 Jobs: Millionaire Versus Heirs could have also been combines because both discuses the types of jobs and service that one can perform to become wealthy. While it may be common knowledge that the wealthy own business but what types of jobs do they have if they are not entrepreneurs? Generally these types of jobs gives them a stream of income like lawyers, doctors, real estate professional, auctioneers and accountants.

If you are looking for a book that teaches you a step by step approach on how to be a millionaire, this is not the book for you. If you want a book that explains who these individuals are and how to be like them, then you want to read it. What the authors did was give a well researched book on who the wealthy people and how to be like them.

I gave this 4 stars because Amazon does not allow for me to give it 3 ½ stars because there is a wealth of information in the book.

Enjoy

The message of this book is very good - it's about being conservative with our wealth. However, I wish the authors were a bit more conservative with the use of their lengthy descriptions of esoteric points. It's as if somewhere along the way they said, "why should we say in 10 words what we could say in 100,000?" If they just got to the point you could read the whole book in about an hour.

I really enjoyed this book. I mean, really. It was an easy read and the message really hit home with me. This book will change your life and your outlook on it, especially if you're just starting to realize that being an adult isn't as easy as you thought it was gonna be (I've been in denial for a while). It sometimes takes a while for the authors to make their point, but stick with it...it's totally worth it.

so the message is fine. people who spend all their money won't accumulate wealth no matter how high their income. the authors pretty much repeated this over and over until they decided they had enough to call a book.

just read the introduction and save yourself $9. there is no other info in the book.

I read this in high school, at the urging of a friend and my parents. It changed the way I thought (or didn't think) about money. I believe it is excellent, solid advice for anyone who wants to retire comfortably without the hassle of becoming a true investor. I love how he teaches the difference between life insurance policies, and uses reason and math to prove his points. I'm a college student, but I've already saved for retirement, because this book convinced me of the value of time and dollar cost averaging.

I found this book to be highly informative, but overall a little redundant. The information was provide in an academic format, and the chapters are set up more like an outline, than a story. Overall, I'd say this is well worth your time to read.

This book gives great examples of people making the first and most important step to wealth - saving. It shows why those who appear rich may be poor and that those who appear poor may be millionaires ! This should be mandatory reading for high school students. I give a copy of this to each of my neices and nephews for graduation dedicating it to my Mom, a bus driver after raising 7 children and my Dad, a welder who became millionaires.

This book isn't just in my library, it's also a book that I regularly purchase and hand out to friends and familiy members.

The authors lay out common sense information and details on how self-made millionaires achieved their financial success.

Basically, if everybody read this book and followed its guidance, people would at least be more aware of how to save money for their future and potentiall obtain financial freedom.

The information and advice offered by this book is 100% sound. I actually paid each of my daughters $50 to read The Millionaire Next Door when it first came out, and I now share it with others. Adjusting to the "millionaire" lifestyle described in the book will lead to a much more enjoyable and fulfilling life, pretty much guaranteed. This knowledge is especially important for young folks, who need to develop their financial skills and lifestyle attitudes early in life.

This book is a detailed study about average American millionaires, how they live their lives and how they became prodigious accumulates of wealth. The authors provide enough detailed statistical data to show that anyone can because the "The Millionaire Next Door." A good read for anyone with an interest in personal finance and building wealth. I also recommend the author's second book, "The Millionaire Mind."

Drs. Stanley and Danko have taken a somewhat empirical approach to answer the question "how do people become millionaires?" I have to say "somewhat" in that many of their observations, while empirical in nature, are not strictly valid statistically, since much of their material is obtained from focus groups and case studies, which are small sample groups.

However, Drs. Stanley and Danko provide an invaluable primer on the nature of millionaires. The most important of their observations is the need to live well below one's means. John Lithgow, in the near-classic "Cliffhanger" said it best: "Do you know what real love is...? Sacrifice." To become a millionaire, you have to give up a lot of other things. Over and over, the authors harp on the need for upper-middle class people to avoid the upper-middle class trappings of big houses, expensive cars and tastes.

I also appreciated the book for what it lacked. Unlike practically every other get-rich book currently out there, the authors did not fetishize the building of net worth through purchase of highly leveraged real estate. Yes, they do mention it, but mainly in the context of promoting stability and choice of middle class real estate as opposed to high-end real estate. Their argument is that a larger home leads not only to larger mortgage payments, but higher taxes, higher fixed costs, and a greater likelihood to try to acquire symbols of status that your neighbors have. As someone who is over-leveraged with his primary residence in terms of my overall net worth, and who has only partially resisted the tendency to try to keep up with the Joneses, I understand their reasoning and agree. Besides, people who think that their homes are going to appreciate like they have in the past five years are deceiving themselves.

The book also has the courage to say the truth that dares not speak its name: too much education is harmful to wealth accumulation. Essentially, the authors make their point by noting that: (1) time spent in school is time lost to earning a living; (2) professionals often feel like they have to have the trappings of success to go along with their "M.D.," "D.D.S." and "Esq." titles, which sucks them into a high-consumption lifestyle; and (3) a plurality of millionaires are entrepreneurs, who do not have the need for a lot of education. To many people, this is akin to just saying yes to drugs, but looked at objectively, the authors make sense.

However, the book does have some drawbacks. First, I'd like to see an update of this book. The economic analysis uses 1996 numbers. (I read the 1998 edition and now I see that there's a 2003 edition so maybe they've updated the numbers.) Moreover, some of the tax law forming the basis for their comments has changed, so the book is misleading. For example, the authors state that an intergenerational transfer of $10,000 can be made tax-free (p 214). The amount as of 2007 is actually $12,000. See 26 U.S.C. §2503(b).

Also, the book is highly repetitive in some of its examples and conclusions. Perhaps the authors felt like they needed to bulk their book up to make it more saleable, but it was annoying to read example after example of under-accumulators of wealth.

The book also only briefly discusses *why* people want to become millionaires. Not everyone has high priorities for the future, and let's face it, driving the current year's Lexus SUV is a lot more fun than driving a 1984 Buick LeSaber. The authors do mention (p 170), but do not emphasize, the thing that most commends thriftiness, hard work and sacrifice: the freedom that comes with self-sufficiency, or what Bob Brinker calls "critical mass." A direct discussion on this point would have been helpful.

Not a good reading since there are a lot of good books to read. It is a pure waste of time and money.

The Millionaire Next Door provides good insight of how wealth is perceived today. It shows the seven ways of how a millionaire lives and one becomes wealthy. I think this is a wise book to read at a young age and makes me reconsider how i should manage my money. This book is full of insightful points and ideas and i hope to read the others.

Books about personal finance are 90% the same message: stay out of consumer debt, budget, live well under your means, don't spend frivolously, buy used cars instead of leasing new ones, invest 10-20% of your pay, and max out your retirement savings to lower your current tax bracket as well as plan for the future. They all say this. Each book might introduce 10% new material, and they each have their own spin on how you should do these things, and in which order. For instance, there's a huge divide between these authors as to whether it's more important to pay off your consumer debt, or start your savings.

This book, however, got really repetitive really fast. I was reminded of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" for page after page. This book could have done the same thing by printing the same message:

It's easy to become a millionaire when you never spend any money.
It's easy to become a millionaire when you never spend any money.
It's easy to become a millionaire when you never spend any money.

Right. I got that.

The authors display their extreme bias against paying any form of taxes with lots of tongue-in-cheek cutsie stories. While they provide some good food for thought about how you can legally lower your tax rate, they take it farther than I preferred. Apparently things like public schools, paved roads, police, and fire departments aren't good uses of any of their money! I could have done with less preaching on the taxes.

Later, they get silly with this frugality thing. One chapter praises a particular millionaire whose family has lived in the same 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house for 40 years -- and I can just imagine the clutter and problems with that house and its one bathroom! The same millionaire drives old American cars because he goes fishing on the weekends and he likes to throw the raw, unwrapped, dead fish straight into the backseat.

Dude, are you kidding me?

Nope. This guy is the hero of the book - they saved the best for last!

So this is the Millionaire Next Door I'm supposed to emulate? The guy whose family has lived with 1 bathroom for 40 years, and whose car stinks to high heaven of dead fish?!

The book was interesting to get the mental wheels turning, but it definitely goes from the ridiculous to the sublime very soon. My advice is to check this book out from your local library. It does have something interesting to offer, but it's unlikely to be one you'll want to reference year after year.

Wow! What great insights, as backed by years of analytical detail. Who would have thought that MOST millionaires are just look like you and I on the outside. They live normal lives, perhaps even more frugal than us at times. But yet, they have mastered the art of saving. I learned that it does not matter how much money you make, it is how much money you have that matters. I recommend this book to anyone with the dream of retiring with millions.....but be ready, you likely need to start making changes right now.

The authors, university professors that specialize in market research and the rich, explore the characteristics of America's affluent. They divide people into prodigious accumulators of wealth (PAWs) and under accumulators of wealth (UAWs).

In sum, they find that the preponderance of America's millionaires are self-made, spending far less than they earn. The authors argue convincingly that in order to become rich it is crucial to reject our culture's focus on status symbols and high consumption.

Probably the biggest insights are reserved for how money affects children. For example, the authors say you shouldn't tell your children that you're rich (assuming you are) or give them large sums of money until they have already learned to live and work independently (payments for college or graduate school excepted).

Before you go pay for that European vacation or go to the bank to borrow for that new BMW, read this book. You'll decide to stay at home and buy a 10 year old Buick, and you'll be infinitely happier than if you had done otherwise.