Por el título, parece un libro del montón. Si digo que es un análisis sobre quiénes son y cómo se comportan los millonarios de USA, sigue sin parecer interesante, lo sé. Pero resulta que se puede aprender mucho de él: el perfil del millonario medio no se acerca ni por asomo a lo que piensa la sociedad.

El millonario medio es alguien que tiene un negocio propio, que vive en un barrio por debajo de sus posibilidades, y que cuida mucho sus gastos (coches de segunda mano, ropa en rebajas, nada de lujos). En el libro, los autores presentan y explican cómo cada uno de los típicos signos de riqueza en realidad alejan de ser millonario. Vivir en una casa cara, conducir un coche de lujo, gastar mucho dinero en ropa y viajes suponen gastos que no generan ningún tipo de rendimiento, y que en el peor de los casos se deprecian muy rápidamente.

Al final, este libro me ha hecho reflexionar sobre cosas que daba por sentadas, y estoy seguro de que me ayudará en el futuro.

*Update.. I chose to read this book again for a refresher. The lessons taught are a good reminder on the importance of being frugal, living within our means, and investing. What is taught here is applicable to all, even if all those interviewed by the author are high income earners, far removed from my standing in society (at least compared to me).

This is an excellent book full of great financial advice for people living within any financial bracket. Middle-income folks would probably benefit the most from this book.

Through his research the author maintains that the majority of people who accumulate wealth are not perceived as being wealthy. Becoming a millionaire or even becoming financially stable requires good "financial offense", or smart investment and the capacity to accrue wealth. But even more important is the ability to play good "financial defense", or fiscal responsibility, maintain a high net worth, defensive spending.

Stanley coined the two phrases "Under Accumulator of Wealth" (UAW), and "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth" (PAW). UAW is meant to represent those who are generally fiscally irresponsible. These folks may have a high capacity to generate wealth, but have a comparatively lower net worth than their counterparts who are Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth. PAW's live below their means. They generally earn a high income, but are fiscally responsible. The author utilizes these to terms as a reference point throughout the book.

The net worth of an individual can be attributed just as much to the means by which he lives as to the income that he receives.

"Most American millionaires today, about 80%, are first-generation rich."

"Remember, wealth is blind. It cares not if its patrons are well-educated."

"People accumulate significant wealth by minimizing their realized/taxable income and maximizing their unrealized or untaxable income."

"The actions of the government are often a threat to high-income earners who use most of their incomes to support their lifestyles. This is especially true when there is political gain for those in power in targeting the 'wealthy'."


" ....never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that more than twice your household's total annual realized income."
I disagree with the author on this in part because there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. For example, when we purchased our first home the annual mortgage was a significant part of our total income but we purchased the home when it was in foreclosure at a time when the housing market had hit rock bottom. After only about eight years, not only did our income increase, but the home has nearly doubled in value. We are lucky we purchased the home when we did.

The best time to buy a vehicle is from December through January

The lessons taught are a good reminder on the importance of being frugal, living within our means, and investing. But all the subjects of this book or those interviewed by the author are high income earners (at least compared to me).

I really don't think the 'secrets' are that surprising.

This book in a nutshell - be frugal.

A seriously great book. Makes you realize that the people who have a lot of things, are usually the people that don't have very much money and are generally living on credit cards, buying too many things. The people who you would never expect to have money, are usually the millionaires. It has a lot of statistics, which both of us "numbers" people loved!

Among one of the worst books on finance ever written. Pure selection bias, only reviewed people who became millionaires and developed generalized strategies. Read it nearly 20 years ago and I’m still mad about it.

Why not interview lottery winners and ask for their secrets?

3.75 ⭐️

Contains some timeless widsom

Keep in mind this is a book written in the late 90s. While the numbers and data cited are outdated, this title contains enlightening insights. I found some of the teachings to be very illuminating.

In conclusion, The Millionaire Next Door is a fine book that most of us should read at least once.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Nonfiction

The Millionaire Next Door is a personal finance book written by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. The book examines the traits and routines of wealthy people and makes the case that wealth is more likely the outcome of prudent spending and saving habits than high income or inherited wealth.

One of the book's key themes is the fact that many people who on the surface appear wealthy with costly homes and vehicles yet lack financial security because of their high levels of debt and little savings. Contrarily, many people who might not appear wealthy based on their appearances are actually financially successful thanks to their conservative spending patterns and capacity for prudent saving and investing.

The book uses various case studies and examples to support its theories and is based on significant research. It provides helpful guidance on how to amass wealth, including pointers on debt management, investing, and saving.

The authors identify the following seven traits that are typical of millionaires:
-They are dedicated to a vision, have distinct objectives, and are aware of their future.
-They make the appropriate career decisions.
-They value being frugal.
-They consider having the financial security to be more significant than appearing to have good social standing.
-They efficiently spend their time, effort, and money in ways that support accumulating wealth.
-Their parents couldn't afford to pay for their outpatient care.
-Their grown children are financially independent.

The Millionaire Next Door is a good tool for anyone trying to get their finances under control. It is an easy and interesting read due to its lucid writing style, useful suggestions, and the fact that the insights it offers are relevant to readers of all socioeconomic levels.

Really changed my thinking on saving money and accumulating wealth. The data in the book is dated so I'd really like to read an updated version. But the concepts are timeless and meaningful.

A quick read with loads of statistics on the wealthy in this country. I find it funny that after getting older I realize that my dad was always right. Frugality is the key - live below your means and don’t fall into lifestyle traps. Pay yourself first - invest a third. A high income doesn’t mean wealth, my dad was a farmer for 40 years in the Dominican Republic who came to this country with nothing and died with a quarter million and had opportunities to be a millionaire given his investing philosophy and frugality.

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Save and Invest
Most of the ideas in this book are explained rather well with a lot of good Case Studies.
However, I did not like the idea that we should not give to charity, we all need help, other than that its a real good book

Despite the fact that it takes scores of pages to communicate a few basic points and that the author offers excruciating detail on things such as the car-buying habits of millionaires, I believe this is an important book that should be read by anyone who mistakenly believes that the long-term accumulation of wealth is determined almost entirely by income or that the majority of millionaires become wealthy through inheritance or pure luck.

We tend to think of the “rich” as people with flashy cars, newly built houses, and expensive clothes, but this does not describe the average millionaire, who manages to become a millionaire precisely because he does not engage in such conspicuous consumption. The Millionaire Next Door will cause some to rethink their definition of what it means to be rich and others to consider whether or not they really want to practice the self-discipline and relative austerity that is required to accumulate (rather than spend) wealth. While becoming a millionaire may ensure your financial independence and security, it does require living consistently below your means. While almost any American with a college education can theoretically become a millionaire by the time he is sixty, few will consistently choose to do what it takes to become one.

The author defines a millionaire as the head of any household that has a net worth of at least $1 million dollars. Of this group, upwards to 85 percent are self-made, “first generation rich” millionaires. The author’s research on the characteristics of this group did not surprise me because I saw my own parents gradually accumulate wealth by the time they retired. From them, I had already drawn my own conclusions about how one creates a millionaire household: (1) Get married and stay married. (2) Work for about 30 years, full-time, at a middle-class job. There is no need to pursue a profession (such as doctor or lawyer) that requires a graduate degree. A typical middle-class job will do. My father was an editor, and my mother was a school teacher. (3) Don’t buy a house until you have saved enough for a reasonable down payment. (4) Live consistently below your means. For example, don’t go on vacations unless you will be staying with relatives or in a free cabin a friend has let you borrow. Buy cheap clothes. Don’t buy dust-collecting trinkets or art. Limit jewelry. Drive your car into the ground before you buy a new one. (5) Don’t finance anything other than your house. If you can’t pay cash, don’t buy it. (6) Be generous with your children, especially when it comes to supporting their educations, but teach them about the importance of financial discipline by making them work to buy many of their “wants” for themselves. (7) Save and make regular long-term investments in tax deferred retirement accounts, mutual funds, municipal stocks, and bonds.

Stanley has his own seven factors to characterize millionaires, and while they differ somewhat from my anecdotal, personal observations above, in essentials they are the same. Work hard, invest wisely, spend little. The choice is yours –you can be a PAW (prodigious accumulator of wealth) or a UAW (under accumulator of wealth). If you don't have enough income, no matter how much of a PAW you are, you may never be a millionaire, but you'll be much better off than your peers in the same income group. And no matter how great your income, if you're a UAW, you will likely never become a millionaire. By Stanley’s definition, whether you are a PAW or UAW is not determined by your net worth (“wealth”), but rather by your net worth in relation to your income. Basically, you multiply your income by your age, divide by 10, and you get the average net worth for someone in your age and income group. If your own net worth (minus any inheritance, which doesn’t count since you didn’t accumulate it yourself) is a ways above that, you’re a PAW. If it’s much below that, you’re a UAW.

There is a very interesting chapter on the positive and negative (mostly negative) effects of EOC (“economic outpatient care”). EOC is when wealthy parents give gifts to their adult kids and grandkids, which they often do in their later years to decrease the value of their estates and therefore avoid inheritance tax. Stanley says that some EOC (payment of tuition, for instance) has a positive impact on the long-term wealth accumulation of the recipient while arguing that other forms of EOC (cash gifts earmarked for consumption) have a negative impact. He compares the net worth of similar occupational groups to show that those millionaire's kids who receive EOC actually have a lower net worth than those who do not receive EOC. He suggests such gifts encourage many adult children to develop habits of consumption and to incur additional costs they would not have incurred in absence of the gifts. For example, the middle-income couple who is given cash for a down payment on a house in an upscale neighborhood will then try to keep up with the Jones on that middle income, purchasing fancy cars and country club memberships, whereas if they had just stayed in a middle-class town house, they’d presumably feel the need to buy less stuff. I don’t think he takes personality and personal priorities into account enough when drawing such conclusions about the effect of EOC, though he does concede that EOC does not always have this effect, especially on two particular groups: teachers and “Type A” housewives acquire more wealth if they receive EOC than if they don’t, because these groups tend to receive the gifts without increasing consumption habits and to save some portion of the gifts.

Things I wish the author had discussed more:

INFLATION. Given that the average age of millionaires is 57, and most are acquiring this fortune over a thirty to fifty year period, I don’t think Stanley has enough to say about the affect of inflation or how that might alter the future number of millionaires. In fact, I don’t recall him mentioning inflation at all. The woman who buys a house at the age of 21 could be a millionaire by 70 based almost exclusively on the increase in the value of her house. Millionaires are only 3.5% of the total population, but what percentage of the population over 50 are they?

CHARITY. How much do millionaires give to charity, on average, compared to others as a percentage of income? How does giving to charity affect the ability to accumulate wealth? He only briefly mentions charity, admitting that children of PAWs who receive EOC do tend to give more to charity than those who do not receive EOC.

THE EFFECTS OF SHIFTING GENERATIONAL VALUES ON WEALTH ACCUMULATION. For Stanley, under accumulation of wealth largely accounts for the fact that few of the children and grandchildren of millionaires become millionaires themselves. Stanley says, basically, that the hard-working and frugal ethos of self-made millionaire parents is lost as their children and grandchildren become increasingly “Americanized” and thus become status-conscious, materialistic, undisciplined consumers. I’m not ruling out that possibility. I’m sure it’s true for some, perhaps many. But I think there’s another possibility. Maybe some of the children and grandchildren of millionaires simply have competing values that, while different, are quite possibly also good values.

The reality is that life is full of competing goods. Unfortunately, we can’t fully realize all goods simultaneously. Being at home for your kids is a good; but being able to one day pay for their college tuition so they can have a debt-free start in life is also a good. Few mothers can realize both goods. Supporting your child’s love for music by getting him an expensive instrument and private lessons so he can grow as musicians and explore his talent is a good; but having financial independence in old age so your kids don’t have to support you financially is also a good. Having more money than you need in the bank, in case you one day do need it, is a good. But paying a babysitter so you can experience regular, marriage-building date nights with your husband is also a good. We sometimes have to choose between two good things. And which goods we choose may depend more on our personalities and preferences, on our individual fears and hopes, than on our moral fortitude. Stanley’s assumptions about why millionaire kids do not become millionaires are a bit harsh. Some of these “kids” no doubt are irresponsible spendthrifts, but perhaps others are saving *enough* to meet their own personal, long-term life goals and are realizing other positive values instead of wealth accumulation. I may be wrong about this, but it’s not even a possibility Stanley explores.

One final note - this book should be read in conjunction with The Cheapskate Next Door.

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