September 18, 2009

A few of the Millionaires Next Door are known to me

My wife and I are currently reading the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. Both are Ph.D holders and the book seem to be written like a Ph.D presentation paper. It is full of charts and graphs and numbers and it can actually makes your head spin from all these facts they are trying to present. It is actually an old book and maybe irrelevant to some as the whole title of the book is The Millionaire Next Door : The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy. Nowadays, the word Wealthy and America rarely come together in a sentence. I actually bought the book in a bargain bin at a local bookstore, just a fraction of a new book, making it  a worthy buy indeed.

However, there are some lessons which makes me realised I know a few of these millionaires the book is trying to be worth more than all those high-flyers like singers, actors, artistes, internet billionaires, sheikhs, sultans and all those rare people, unlucky people like me will trying to emulate their lifestyle. I have seen the traits of frugality and investment savvy in their blood. They are not someone I get to know later in life or even through various channels you get to know new people. They are people who I have been getting advices all my life and they are still giving me advices. I actually made money from their advices.

The two people I know who have are the stereotype of millionaires as said in the book is none other than my mother and my eldest brother. They save. They invest wisely. They do not drive expensive cars. They do buy unnecessary expensive items just for the sake of having it on their hands or in their house. They do not look like millionaires. Their worth are more than a few of those who drive expensive cars and live in affluent neighbourhood. They have been millionaires (or just short of a few hundreds) long before they reach the age where they need to retire. They can live without doing any work at least for a whole year.


An investment can even be a house like this


When I read in the book how millionaires in America (net worth millionaires) live and save, I realised I actually do not need to read the book at all. I have real life examples of how you can build your wealth through prudent spending and smart investment. I have actually invested a few of the money I made when I was still in my twenties through knowledge of the real estate and the stock market. As a lawyer, I have a lot of inside information that people can only dream of having. By owning a legal firm, there are a lot of people who line up just for us to take advantage of their position. I made my money when I sold a property I bought for RM75,000-00 at RM100,000-00 but the problem is what I did with my RM25,000-00 profit. If I had read this book much earlier (which was already in existence then), I might have not used the money to elevate my lifestyle but I might have reinvested it back.

Ah, well. Better late than never....

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