Not Made Of Money

The book “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas Stanley and William Danko is a great read.  The basic theme of the book is that average people who are millionaires are the ones that live right next door to us, and without any of us knowing about it. The author describes that there are people who are millionaires, and then there are those people who act like millionaires. I read an interview with him a few months back where he discussed some common elements of the millionaire next door:

1. The millionaire next door keeps track of their spending. They will make a budget, stick to it, and vigorously track their spending. (We do this although we are not millionaires.)

2. The millionaire next door doesn’t try to impress people by buying expensive items and basically leads a thrifty life. (We don’t buy expensive items but I think we could lead a thriftier life. Maybe that is why we aren’t millionaires yet).

3. The next door millionaire is happy. This happiness is not derived from how much money they have or how many things they have acquired, but rather their happiness is found in their financial independence, their achievements and, most of all, their family. (This does describe us. We are very happy.)

4. The millionaire next door does not spend all their money on cars.  They buy one car and keep it a long time which is usually either a Toyota or Ford not a BMW or Lexus. (We don’t buy new cars and the one we currently have has 110,000 miles on it.  See Drive It Till The Wheels Fall Off.)

5. The millionaire next door does not try to keep up with the Jones, the Smiths, or anyone else.

 

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