Non-fiction 17 Jul 2006 11:45 am
The Millionaire Next Door
The Millionaire Next Door
Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko
The stated intent of this book is to describe the “hidden millionaires” that live around us, so that we can become like them. It’s a very well-researched book, but after a few chapters it starts to get boring: there’s just not that much information in it. It can be abridged in a few sentences: millionaires don’t always look like they’re rich, and the way to become affluent is to spend money wisely (be frugal). And that’s it.
Sure, there’s loads more data in the book, but not much more useful information. You learn that most millionaires are entrepreneurs; that most of them do not receive, and have never received, financial aid from their parents; and so on. Plus, to be honest, some of the data is of very questionable value: a table with the cost per pound of a few hundred models of American cars, while interesting, doesn’t really add much value to the book.
And, honestly, I felt that some of the conclusions the authors reach are a bit odd. Some of the numbers presented don’t really lean that much in the direction the authors point, and some others really look like “data mining”, in the bad sense of the expression (that is, mining the data until one finds some correlation that points in the direction one wants). Plus, the appendix on how the authors selected the millionaires for their survey seems to contradict some of the conclusions reached in earlier chapters (they targetted affluent neighbourhoods, but they also claim that most millionaires do not live in affluent neighbourhoods).
So, for emphasis, the only real message of the book is: in order to become a millionaire, be frugal.
