Thomas J. Stanley : Millionaire Next Door Author; Researcher; Expert

A newspaper article reported on a "low level employee" who has been accused of stealing from his employer.  His theft went unnoticed for more than two years.  And his crime was discovered only when an investigation outside the firm led to his arrest.  No, the fellow did not steal cash, coins, checks, motor vehicles, etc.  In just two years, he stole $376,000 worth of copy toner (ink cartridges) and resold it on the black market.  Nearby, another thief who worked for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was convicted of stealing "more than $1.5 million worth of printing toner cartridges from the hospital."  As part of this man's...

The holiday shopping frenzy begins this week!  Therefore I thought it might be a good time to run a blog from last year entitled Black Friday Blues.  The theme of the blog is that in most cases the retail prices on popular consumer products are not at their lowest the Friday following Thanksgiving.  Certainly there are some items that are offered at steep discounts.  These are the headliners and traffic generators.  They are offered with the hope among retail marketers that customers will continue buying once they enter the store.  Ah, the recreational shoppers. In a recent article on the topic of holiday bargains in The...

In a recent New York Times article, the topic of  fake artwork was discussed.  Most millionaires [about 92%], however, do not have to worry about owning fake artwork because they don't own art that has any market value.   Art comes under the broad heading of tangible/collectibles.  I once wrote an article about the tangible/collectible myth for American Demographics.  Surprisingly under 6% of the typical millionaire's assets are held in such tangible or collectible forms such as antiques, coin and stamp collections, precious gems or WORKS OF ART. But I wrote this article more than 25 years ago.  Have things changed since then? ...

Imagine that you worked hard, took much risk and became financially successful, very, very successful.  You employ thousands upon thousands of people.  You even give considerable portions of your wealth to noble causes.  Earlier this year, Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, designated a gift of $300 million to The Institute of Brain Science.  The money was given in support of the organization's objective of finding a cure for Alzheimer's.  Interestingly, this good deed was hardly mentioned in the press.  One of the few outlets that covered the story was The New York Times.  But the article was far from the front...

The dislike, even hatred, of the socioeconomic successful by vocal segments of our population is not new in America.  In Salem, Massachusetts (1692-1693) 19 people were executed because they were found guilty of "witchcraft."  But  Dr. P. S. Boyer, in his highly acclaimed book, Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, revealed the real truth.  According to Paul Vitello's New York Times profile of Professor's Boyer's exhaustive research on this topic: . . . (Boyer) suggested that social envy motivated many of the accusers in the 17th-century witch trials.  . . .  made innovative use of historic land records and...