The Millionaire Next Door (Kindle Edition) pg. How do we define courage? Courage is behaving in a way that conjures up fear. Instead of describing them, here are some direct quotes: Some of my favorite quotes from the book have to do with courage. The middle class residents of these neighborhoods live their in anticipation of becoming rich. The ones who live in high-status neighborhoods moved their after becoming rich. Many millionaires became millionaires by living far below their means, which includes living in a more modest neighborhood. I thought the authors made a great point about why so many millionaires live in middle class neighborhoods while many middle class people live in high-status neighborhoods. They typically don’t buy super expensive clothes or live in extravagant houses.
Most millionaires know how much their household spent last year on various categories such as clothing or housing. Yet, as I have said many times, the large majority of the rich live well below their means. The advertising industry and Hollywood have done a wonderful job conditioning us to believe that wealth and hyperconsumption go hand in hand.
Yet a full 3.5% of the population has a net worth of $1 million or more. In fact, they list the odds at becoming rich through one of those glamorous paths at less than one in four thousand. The Millionaire Next Door (Kindle Edition), Pg. Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning, and, most of all, self- discipline. You don’t have to get lucky to build wealth, you just need discipline. It also seems like among the self-made millionaires, only a minority are rock-stars, athletes, lottery winners, etc. But most didn’t.Īccording to the authors, they’ve consistently found that 80-85% of those that they interview have built their wealth on their own. Yes, some millionaires inherited some or all of their wealth. Big Ideas I Loved From the Book Most Millionaires Are First Generation Rich living below your means, investing), and building wealth. When it comes to money, I tend to think this applies less than normal, because it’s easy to point out the mechanistic connection between many habits of the wealthy (e.g. There’s a potential flaw in the premise though: What if not everyone who followed the same strategies ended up wealthy? Many books and articles are based on this premise. It seems reasonable: If you want to be rich, find out what the rich did and copy them. The information from the book comes from studies done by the authors that consist of interviews of millionaires. Survivorship Biasīefore we break down the big ideas that I love from the book, a word of caution.
The book also gives some counter-intuitive advice for how to conduct yourself in order to have the best chances to accumulate wealth.
The subtitle- The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy-is what we would call “click bait” in the internet age (“Surprising” and “Secret” are classic click bait words). In fact, many regular people living in your neighborhood are unassuming millionares. The book has a great “hook”: the idea that millionaire status is attainable by regular people. Published in 1996, The Millionaire Next Door has become a personal finance classic.