Subtitled "The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy," this book was a worthwhile read. It was a gift from my friend Makis (a greek) for my birthday. Makis is a super cool, super smart guy and is one of my very best friends. (This guy can read ancient greek as well as modern, is an outstanding conversationalist, and an extremely decent human being.) So when he bought me this book, I woke up early and read it the next morning.
Right away I have a problem with it - and Makis himself in discussion later predicted exactly what that problem would be. The book breaks down millionaire households by national origin, and there's no japanese (in fact, there's no far easterners at all), no south africans (or any other southern african nationality), no australians...it's all just a little too much to believe. It makes me wonder if they're aware that the sample of millionaires they studied wasn't a self-selecting lot: those people whose cultural upbringing didn't prohibit them from divulging very personal information that might, after all, have been a part of come complicated government sting operation to find possible candidates for tax evasion.
Aside from this, the book offers quite a bit of helpful advice for those who find that they not saving as much as they would like to. And some of this advice is echoed in other sources, so I suspect it to be good advice, for the most part. It divides people into two categories: Under-Accumulators of wealth (UAWs) and Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth (PAWs). Some people who make very large salaries (in the hundreds of thousands of dollars) do not save (accumulate) much of it and instead find themselves at the times of their retirement to be nearly broke. These people may make lots of money, but they are not living below their means.
So the first lesson is "live below your means." Just because the sleazeball trying to sell you a house, or the other sleazeball who's trying to loan you money says that you can afford a $150,000 house, doesn't mean you really ought to buy such a house. It turns out that many millionaires are not living in mansions, despite the fact they could afford to do so. Few drive the latest, most expensive BMW, many save coupons, and many have modest wardrobes, since their spouses are also frugal.
It also turns out that most of them have a good handle on their personal finances. Ask one how much the family spends on food every month, and you have a much higher chance of getting a correct answer than from the general population. They tend to think of how much they realistically spend regularly and how much they need to retire -- that sort of thing. In short, they tend to spend time and effort in ways that are 'conducive to building wealth. This is not to say that they obsess of over it, but that they do put some consideration into it. They think financial independence is more important than high social status. (I forget the exact wording, but it was close to that.)
There's lots of good stuff in this book, despite the fact I find the authors' tone to be annoying - condescending to the point of being obnoxious. Maybe I'm reading that into the book. But that's the way it seems to me. Still, it's worth reading, because saving is an important thing in this capitalist society. We can't depend on social security and those of us who don't intend to retire penniless need to consider these issues carefully.
I recommend this book, but not so much as the next one I'm going to write about. Buy it (or borrow it) and read it.
