Very interesting and insightful though a bit repetitive at times. Much more focused on the "what" and "how" of wealth accumulation without much at all on the "why."

I can't help but wonder how the book's principles have weathered through the last couple of decades and - in particular - the high-profile cases of tech company values growing immensely and quickly. Are there enough shareholders benefitting from such that they would change the numbers undergirding the book? And - if so - do the lifestyles and habits of those shareholders match those of the folks highlighted in the book?

کتاب مفیدی بود در مجموع، اگر چه یه سری جاها زیاد عدد و رقم و جدول ارائه می کرد که برای من زیاد جالب نیست. یه بدی که این کتاب ها دارن اینه که چند تا راه حل کلیدی ارائه میدن و تو دویست سیصد صفحه هی تکرارشون می کنن در حالی که به نظرم خلاصه تر هم میشه بیانشون کرد.

The Millionaire Next Door is a summary of the research of two men who have come to some surprising conclusions about the wealthy in America. For instance, they found that almost two-thirds of America's wealthy are first-generation rich. They also talk about a number of the characteristics of those who become wealthy. It turns out that attitude toward money has a much greater impact on wealth than income or occupation.

The book is filled with lots of fascinating facts and statistics. The authors describe two general classes of people: under-accumulators of wealth, and prodigious accumulators of wealth. They also provide a pretty safe metric to determine which one you are: "Multiply your age times your realized pretax annual household income from all sources except inheritances. Divide by ten. This, less any inherited wealth, is what your net worth should be."

The book is dry at times, and could probably have been slimmed down to about half its size without losing any meaningful content. The authors tend to repeat themselves a lot. But the conclusions that they come to are fascinating, and provide an interesting look at how the wealthy become wealthy -- and why their children usually aren't.

don’t judge me…. girl needs a budget

I didn’t even finish 10% of this book. I’m just leaving this review to tank their rating and to warn others not to read this lump of misogynistic hot garbage “written” by two Chad-types. If you can even call this rambling mess “writing”.

I was frugal and spent only 10 cents buying this from a thrift store. Did that turn me into a millionaire like they claim it will? No. Do I wish I spent more money to get something of higher quality? Hell yes. Will I be much happier and live a more fulfilled life than the penny pinchers they interviewed? You can bet a million dollars on it.

This is the best personal finance book ever for one simple reason: It's boring. Don't get me wrong, the revelations of what the average American millionaire actually looks like is quite interesting, but the ways in which they accumulate wealth is boring. Good. Every story that tries to make getting money sound exciting is a lie. There is a 99.99% chance (with a 0.01% margin of error) you will never get wealthy through a crazy stock investment, game show win, dead family member, etc. Instead, you must get some lame job (bonus points if you're working for ultra-wealthy morons) while living well below your means. It's not about inventing a revolutionary product or gaming the system, it's about throwing your money at a savings account and avoiding spendthrifts like the plague.

Of course, this book presupposes that you have an acceptable income in the first place, which hasn't aged well as we enjoy the ramifications of late-stage capitalism. There's also the statistic showing that many of their millionaires did so by starting a business. It doesn't emphasize enough how starting a business is a high-risk, high-reward prospect that will actually work out for very few people. Despite these flaws, the book's general philosophy of saving rather than spending should be practiced by all. With enough time, maybe you could be The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy (Paperback) by Thomas J. Stanley Change edition.

A must read for every first generation immigrant (like myself). A must read for every millennial trying to navigate finance in a world post 2008. A must read for everyone that took out loans for grad school. A must read for everyone who’s ambitious. A must read for every new parent.

הגעתי אל הספר הזה עם המון ציפיות ויחסית התאכזבתי. השם של הספר נראה כל כך מבטיח ומגלם צהבהבות רכילותית עם ניחוח של מיסתורין, אבל הוא לא זה ולא זה. הוא די משעמם אם לאמר את האמת.

הספר הוא אוסף של תיאורי 2 סוגי מקרים: אנשים שמרוויחים יחסית מעט והצליחו ליצבור הון גדול, מעל לשווי המחושב שאמור להיות להם. והסוג השני אנשים שמרוויחים יחסית המון ולא הצליחו ליצבור את ההון הזה.

המחבר נותן נוסחא לחישוב הערך השווי הנוכחי שאמור להיות לאדם (הכנסה ברוטו לפני מיסים ללא ירושות × גיל לחלק ל 10). כך אפשר לדעת אם האדם עשיר או לא.

בסידרת דוגמאות המחבר מסביר את סוד ההצלחה לצבור הון מעבר לשווי המחושב והנה הכללים לפניכם:
1. הוצאה פחות מהכנסה
2. חיסכון של 15 % מההכנסה הפנויה
3. השקעות סולידיות ומניבות לאורך זמן
4. תשלום מס נמוך יחסית כתוצאה מניהול השקעות שמנכות את אחוז המס ( זה הסעיף הכי מעצבן בכל הסיפור הזה תכנוני מס יכול לעשות רק מי שיש לו כסף ואז הוא למעשה לא צריך את תכנון המס כי הוא יכול לשלם אותו)
5. חסכנות וניווט רכישות באופן החסכני ביותר עד כדי נזירות
6. שימוש במשאבים הציבוריים שעומדים לרשותך בצורה מיטבית.
7. חינוך הילדים כך שלא ידעו שיש לכם כסף וילמדו את ערכו.
8. שונא מתנות יחיה. במילים אחרות אלתתנו כסף לילדים שלכם כי זה מוריד להם את המוטיבציה להתאמץ ולהרוויח כסף משלהם והופך אותם לתלותיים.
9. אל תצטרפו למרוץ הצרכני רכשו בשום שכל.

ועכשיו נשאלת השאלה לשם מה כל המאמץ הזה? כי להשיג עצמאות כלכלית ושרידות כלכלית בעיקר בגיל הפנסיה.

ולשם כך, שימו לב גם אם אתם שווים כמה עשרות מליונים טובים אל תבזבזו על מכונית חדשה , אל תצאו לנופשים מנקרי עיניים, תשתדלו לרכוש רק מוזל ועל פי תקציב, אל תשלחו את הילדים לבית ספר פרטי תשתמשו בחינוך הציבורי הוא מספיק טוב ואל תעברו לבתים מנקרי עיניים.

זה הסוד.

ובסוף תמותו. כן ככה זה נראה לי. כדי להיות מליונר צריך לחיות חיים נזיריים ובסוף למות ולהוריש את הכסף שלכם כל המליונים שצברתם למוסדות צדקה בעלי מטרות חברתיות כי ככה לא ינכו לכם מס ירושה.

משעמם כבר אמרתי?

So, I'm on this kick lately where I'm trying to read books that will help me get my money right. This book, however, was an utter waste of time. Here's the whole book: "Statistically, most millionaires do not lead extravagant lives. Many are actually quite frugal. That is likely why they are millionaires." How they managed to stretch that into 300+ pages I will never know.

It's rare that you can find a book that is as boring as it is sanctimonious. But they pulled it off!

In a nutshell, millionaires aren't made by extraordinarily high incomes (those people's spending tends to increase as well), in fact they're typically people with merely very good incomes who are zealous about frugality and long term investments. Not a huge surprise actually, but its nice to have numbers to back up the story and they do. Many are small business owners, many don't spend much on cars or suits and 80% are first-generation millionaires (not those who happened into big inheritances).

And that's it.

The rest of the book is filled with awkward, pedantic number-twisting to prove that people who spend less on houses and cars will have more left for retirement. What's maddening is the constant tone that people who choose to spend now instead of when they're 65 are "hyperconsumers". Can you believe this doctor, he makes $700,000 per year and spent a whopping $7000 of it on a vacation! What a dope! Wouldn't the $65,000 he spent on a Porsche have felt just as good in an IRA account?

They constantly fawn over blue-collar superstars who drive around in F-150s while their wives clip coupons. They start with the assumption from the very beginning that money is pre-ordained to end up in a retirement account and anything you do to interfere with that is stupid and indicative of poor discipline.

I can't wait for the next book about how Rock and Roll is too loud and women's skirts are too short.

A recent review convinced me that this has stood the test of time.

Most Americans believe "wealthy" and "high-income" are synonymous. Surprisingly, most high-income earners are not wealthy; although they earn a lot of money, they don't keep much of it. To be wealthy is not to amass material possessions, but to increase net worth by collecting appreciating assets.

The book categorizes people as PAWs or UAWs; Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth (PAWs) achieve, create wealth, become financially independent, and build from scratch. Under Accumulators of Wealth (UAWs) simply display a high-status lifestyle. Most wealthy people (PAWs) don't drive new cars, buy expensive clothes, or live in upscale neighborhoods.

I read this book because it was recommended by one of my favorite financial authors, Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. This book explains 7 factors that contribute to wealth-building. These factors aren't set forth in a step-by-step "how to become wealthy" checklist, but are more indirectly investigated through statistics and interviews explaining the behavior of the wealthy.

The briefest formula for wealth given: be frugal, invest, and own a profitable business.

I found it interesting that (as of 1996) self-employed people (entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals) are less than 20% of the American workforce, but 33% of millionaires. Also, 80% of American millionaires are 1st-generation rich, people who earned their wealth rather than inheriting it.

I liked the comparison between budgeting and dieting or exercising. When you see a fit person eating healthy or working out, you're tempted to think "Why do they need to diet and exercise? They're in great shape!" Of course, the reason they're in shape is because of their diet and exercise regimen. The same goes for the wealthy. You might think that they don't need to budget because they're wealthy, but it's often due to their budgeting that they became wealthy.

To determine your expected net worth, multiply your age by your gross (pretax) annual income, then divide by 10.

The 7 factors of wealth

They live well below their means.
Control spending by creating an artificial economic environment of scarcity. Pay yourself first by investing at least 15% of income before spending on anything else.
Minimize realized (taxable) income, maximize unrealized (non-taxable) income.
Sacrifice high consumption today for financial independence tomorrow.
Get a mortgage less than twice your annual income.

They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
Save and invest early. An early start with low income can outweigh a late start with high income.
Invest at least 15% of gross/pretax income.
Follow a budgeting and plan your finances.
Invest passively with a buy-and-hold method to reduce capital gains and turnover.

They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
Dollars are like seeds; you can consume them or plant them to grow.

Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
The more dollars adult children receive, the fewer dollars they accumulate. Those forced to provide for themselves tend to be wealthier than those who are given financial aid.

Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
Helping the financially weak generally makes them weaker.

They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
Offer goods and services to the affluent. Although they're often frugal concerning consumer goods and services, they're not as price-sensitive about investment services, accounting services, tax advice, legal services, medical care, educational products, homes, and products and services for their businesses.

They chose the right occupation.
Sell your intellect; it's portable across industries and geographic locations.