Couple of pre-requisites you need to know before picking this book:
1. This is authored keeping America and its citizens in mind. So if you are outside the USA, might not have a similar impact it has on American citizens
2. Reading this book in 2020 can be considered a little late to the party as it is published for readers of 1995/96. And there is a considerate amount of book that addresses the next 10 years (95-05)

Keeping aside the above points. This book revolves around all combinations of parents-children, self-employees vs regular job holders vs entrepreneurs relationships when it comes to affluence. Has a few good insights on what it means to be frugal and how it benefits wealth accumulation in long run. In short, tries to answer this question "Do you wish to become affluent and stay affluent?". The better part of the book according to me is that it doesn't discriminate or rule out lower-income groups off the chart. I have indeed learned a few things out of this book which I hope to implement in my life and change my defense

The book points out that many millionaires do not look rich, they are frugal people who live below their means and save money. I feel like I was convinced after the first few chapters, and was annoyed to find the rest of the book just rehashing its main thesis over and over again.

Eye-opening and thought-provoking!


Very eye-opening and insightful. Reading this book really gets you thinking; among other things, it's motivated me to modify my savings & investment approach.

RANDOM STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS (and noteworthy passages):

--FROM THE PREFACE (written by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley in 2010): "Since 1980 I have consistently found that most millionaires do not have most of their wealth tied up in their stock portfolios or in their homes....Not at any time during the past thirty years have I found that the typical millionaire had more than 30 percent of his wealth invested in publicly traded stocks." I don't blame them; at least a savings account, shitty though the interest rate may be, is FDIC-insured.

Seiko #1 brand of watch among millionaires! Hmmm, somebody tell that to some of my former Quixtar biz partners (the same ones who hate dogs).

"Even most multimillionaires in America don't live in expensive homes." Yeah, I wouldn't need a big-ass mansion myself...just a decent-sized garage to store my excess packrat stuff.

I'm reminded of that 2015 study that showed that people who spend money on "experiences" are happier than those who spend money on "things."

"America is still the land of opportunity. Over the past 30 years I have consistently found that 80 to 85 percent of millionaires are self-made."

The essence of this book is probably: (1) millionaires live a more normal, down-to-earth lifestyle than you would expect, and (2) frugality is more important than (high) income. On a more detailed level, I found the aspect of minimizing one's realized profit quite enlightening.

Overall a good and enjoyable read. Sometimes a bit too many statistics and numbers for me - but I guess that's really the core of this book.

MIllionaires can be tremendously dull; this book isn't. It is thought provoking and unexpected, if a touch dry. With so many people fascinated by glitz and bling, it is worth considering the relationship between appearing rich and being wealthy. This book has lots of great nuggets, but the upshot is that rich people often work doggedly at some fairly mundane businesses while living frugal and unpretentious lives (they generally don't divorce, move, or consume conspicuously). Certainly, this isn't a complete economics primer, nor is it a fluffy catalog of rich and famous lifestyles. But if you're truly interested in what makes the rich different, this isn't a bad place to look.

Some people live as they will never die, and die as they had never lived.

It looks much more absurdly when you read about all those "millionairs" who are spending all of their lifetime for meticulous accumulation of wealth accompanied by greed and avarice.

I don't know if there were "researches" conducted by authors indeed, and if all the written is truth. If so, I feel sorry for these poor guys, "millionaires". Having an opportunity to do what they want at least sometimes, they heroically sweep it aside for sake of pure wealth accumulation.

Ok, they've decided to get away from the affairs at the age of 60. I can imagine how it's funny for them, old wrecks, to travel, enjoy summer nights, stare at the ocean, dance in bars, love, enjoy speed of bike/car/surf. At last they can spend their hard-gained money after lifetime spent for calculation of profit and saving...saving...saving!

The book itself generally teaches you only one major thing:
Be greedy. Don't buy nothing you like. Why to buy watches for 500 dollars if there is much cheaper one for 20. Don't travel, it's too expensive. Don't have too much friends, they eat and drink too much. Don't have hobby (except of avarice, of course), it always take your money away. Buy cheapest shoes, clothes, cars. You have only one true hobby - MONEY. And when it's time to die, you can donate all your wealth to some charity or religious organization, to avoid exessive taxation. Sounds as a good plan for you? Go ahead, buy and read this book.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of Americas Wealthy may have been eye-opening and influential when first published, but it is badly outdated. While the authors do note in an off-hand manner their advice will be most helpful for high-income earners who are looking not to waste all their money, the book overall appears -- and has a reputation for -- being a more general guide on how to get rich. But I found the book's advice not applicable to our current problems at all. For example, the advice is mostly limited to things like, "Don't buy expensive foreign cars" and "Don't live in high-status neighborhoods." But today, when the costs of medical care, housing, and education have sky-rocketed, I don't think buying Lamborghinis and McMansions is why most people have financial difficulties. I mean, this isn't quite "Millennials are poor because of avocado toast!" levels, but it's in that ballpark.

To save time, here's a partial list of my many objections to this book:

1. No index. Seriously???!!! Even though this book is meant for popular appeal, an index is necessary for the type of allegedly research-based conclusions dispensed.

2. The phrase "medical bankruptcy" never appears. The costs of higher education are never addressed.

3. The authors say one's background doesn't help one become rich, and then proceed to "prove" their point by listing the common ethnicities of millionaires. These are things like Russian, German, Scotch ... seeing a pattern? Yeah, they're all WHITE. Except for Native American, which confused me and is one of the reasons I wanted an index. (Reservation land valuations? Casinos?) Anyway, to claim background doesn't matter for wealth and then to list a bunch of different European ancestries as your evidence is just flabbergastingly blind to America's racial issues.

4. I find the advice about not buying homes in high-status neighborhoods particularly out-of-date, as most high-paying jobs have migrated to dense urban areas where housing is expensive. And the authors don't bother to define "high-status." If they mean McMansions, I don't think those are as appealling nowadays as they used to be (they certainly aren't close to where the good jobs are). But if they mean neighborhoods with walkability, transit access, proximity to resources such as libraries and parks, and maybe a little bit of yard to plant a garden and have your children play ... well, to hell with them, those things are worth paying for!!! That's not paying for status, that's paying for quality-of-life and the health of yourself and your children.

5. The authors suggest leveraging your professional knowledge to benefit your finances (e.g., investing in companies you're familiar with from your job). Guess what? If you're a public servant, that's called corruption. Sure, not everyone is a public servant, but it meant this bit of advice was not useful to me at all, and lowered the overall value of the book.

6. The authors gush over how one can use connections to promote one's business/finances, never acknowledging that these connections are often only available to a limited segment of the population. (See Gripe #3 above.)

I guess that's enough for now.

Overall, if you're looking just for inspiration to be more frugal and invest, the many blogs on financial independence out there will serve you better.

Next millionaire

I can't believe I didn't write a review for this book when I first read it. TMND is one of the best books I've ever read and will go into the elite pantheon of books I won't stop recommending. The authors showcase the real millionaires in this country -- not the celebrities or heiresses or CEOs with golden parachutes that we think of. Using comprehensive data, they reveal that true millionaires and those with true wealth, are average, unassuming people like you and me. They work hard (usually for themselves), save, invest, spend wisely, and don't try to keep up with the Joneses. The people we think of as rich are little more than living paycheck to paycheck. It's an eye-opening book that will change the way you think.

Most of the finance books I've read have been interesting and engaging, even if they didn't share any new insights.

This one, however, is dry as dust. And it certainly didn't age well.

If you want to read a book about cheap, wealthy white dudes who don't give to charity (because their favourite charity is themselves--ugh) and whose wives are cheerfully nagging them to frugality (sigh--because imagine the shock and horror if the authors had interviewed any wealthy women), this is the book for you.

But their investment advice is WAY out of date, and anyone who's part of the FIRE movement will swear at this book so much it's really not worth the rise in blood pressure. (Sure, lease a car and hire that fancy accountant. Why not? You're not going to be giving to charity...or your children.)

'The millionaire next door' by Thomas Stanley is a book that will open your eyes regarding how American millionaires really are. They are not your typical rich-looking person with a 5k-watch around his wrist, an expensive mansion and luxurious needs. This, for me was nothing new because I'm European and many Europeans do not enjoy displaying their high status in public. What was new was the type of planning the millionaires do. Their wives are strict with every penny they spend and write down all the expenses often. Their wives are frugal and do not want to spend more money that they need.
The husbands work hard and barely go to holidays to enjoy themselves. All they do is work, work, work.
These millionaires are always shopping for a bargain (even when they have to buy a high quality business suit). They never buy new cars because their value drops in time.
Most millionaires leave a high amount of their fortune to their families after they die and apparently, they work all their lives just to attain this goal.
These types of millionaires are considered to be PAWs, as in prodigious accumulators of wealth, meaning that, their net worth is higher than their annual income. The other category is UAWs, as in under accumulators or wealth who have luxurious needs that require a lot of money to be satisfied (expensive mansions, cars, taxes, club memberships, etc)
Their net worth is lower than their annual income. They probably don't invest and spend more than they earn, because of the their rich status they have to support.
OK, there are probably these types of people also but why does it have to be so black and white?
The author draws a huge gap between being smart and prodigious accumulator or wealth and being dumb and unaware of how your money is spent. I see these two types of people as the cheapskate millionaire who never enjoys his life and is making money for the sake of money (thus, a millionaire) and the irrational spender who enjoys his life too much without being aware of the negative effects of his spending habits.

Thus, I see this book as a biased research of millionaires in America. Sometimes it felt as if the author was desperate to convince us that all millionaires from all continents must be like this. That all millionaires are extremely frugal, cheap and live only to get more money. Their lives are not enjoyable and they're afraid to even buy a suit that's not on sale. They will refuse an expensive car gift because they wouldn't like to go fishing with it and throw the fish on the back seat. It didn't sound right for them.
I think the author didn't hear of enjoying the fruits of your own work or just giving things away for the sake of giving, even when you don't have so much money to give.
I wonder where all these millionaires' money go if they're not spent or given?
Save your time reading this book and instead, read Robert Kiyosaki's books. They're more positive, more encouraging and less repetitive.

Rubbish.
It is not written about the majority of us. It is written FOR the majority of us to make us believe that wealth is everpresent and easily accessible in our society.

The numbers are often listed in a manner that does not acknowledge any actual analysis. Nor is inflation considered with any degree of seriousness. As most cheerleading books for market boosterism it gives its sideways genuflection to supply siders by completely ignoring the operating differences between income and wealth.