I’ve always been a firm believer that if you want to learn how to do something, find someone that already knows how to do it and copy them!This is why I’m a huge advocate in regards to reading books. People that have already gone through the trial and errors of something share with you, through words on a page, the methods they found that actually work.This is why I particularly enjoyed reading The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.In their book, they take a look at all the data that aides in creating millionaires. They study what it is that millionaires do differently than the average person.They did this through a 20 year study involving focus groups and personal interviews with millionaires who have a net worth of one to ten millionaire dollars.With that said, the book is not an easy read. Unlike traditional finance books that try to teach you what to do to become wealthy, this book simply lays out the facts they’ve discovered from interview after interview with millionaires.As such, the book is presented with lots of numbers, facts, charts and discoveries instead of being story driven. This can make the book dry in terms of reading at times, but if you enjoy hard data as I do, this book is well worth your time reading!They cover everything from the cars they drive, where they shop and what type of work they do.Some of the interesting points are:
- They acquire their wealth by living well below their means.
- They spend their time, money and energy focusing on efficient ways to build wealth.
- They tend to have very high confidence in their own abilities.
- Most millionaires acquire their wealth within one generation.
Another correlate to wealth building is self-employment. This is talked about several times in the book and that if you want to build wealth you need to be working for yourself. This reminds me of quote by Dhirubhai Ambani.
If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.
Again, if you are interested in wealth building more than you are interested in social status this book is a must read in my opinion and I believe it will teach you a lot about accumulating wealth!