Sarah Stanley Fallaw, has picked up the research from her father with the new book, The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies For Building Wealth. She connected with our blog via the wonders of the modern social media age and I frankly felt honored. Recently I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dr. We are trying to demystify wealth building, break down the actions and steps required, and apply them as needed. In many ways this is what our blog The Money Vikings is all about. In fact, most of us with solid middle class incomes and knowledge could become the next “Millionaire Next Door”.
I did not have to come from a Rockefeller heritage, have a fancy job title or live in a very expensive zip code. What meant so much to me about this book is that it made living a “wealthy” life and building wealth highly attainable for a regular middle class kid that actually struggled in the early years of school.
This book perfectly explained a close family member of mine and I had that “I understand” moment that completely shifted my paradigm. All these people seemed like regular down to earth people, living, working hard, consistently investing modest sums into assets, raising their families, living with honor. Did not necessarily have what many consider fancy job titles like Lawyer or Doctor. Wore nice clean regular clothes, maybe even some shirts from Thrift Stores. Were married to one person and not running around with a bunch of mistresses at their seaside resorts. Drove Honda Accords, Toyota Camry’s and Fords. They described millionaires that lived in my solid middle class neighborhood. The research and work of the late Thomas Stanley, Ph.D. Two researchers opened my eyes to the truth! So naturally, when I saw someone drive by in a new Mercedes or knew a kid with the latest toys or gadgets, I assumed they must be rich.īoy were we all fooled and wrong. They drove luxury cars, lived in mansions, partied, had gold toilets, etc. You see, I had grown up in the 80’s with shows like “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” I thought that this caricature is what rich people looked like and acted like. This book changed my paradigm and illuminated the truth that was hidden from sight And I figured it would be a good idea to learn something about managing money. I would check out all kinds of different sections depending on what was of interest to me at the time including science, art, literature, comics, and finance! Let me be clear, I am not some braniac or anything, but I do enjoy learning about everything, it became a hobby. On summer breaks from College, I spent many hours reading books at the Barnes & Noble near my childhood home. When I was about 20 years old I came across the book The Millionaire Next Door. After years of struggling with dyslexia, I had developed a love of books and knowledge.