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

The original title of The Millionaire Next Door was That's Why They're Wealthy. One of the main reasons that they are wealthy is that they live in an easily affordable home.   I have found that when millionaires made their first home purchase, the ratio of the purchase price over their annual household income was just 1.49 [median].  And today they have seven times more wealth [median] than their non millionaire neighbors.  In Stop Acting Rich I mentioned that: There are nearly three times more millionaire households [1,138,070, or approximately 28.3% of the total, versus 403,211, or about 10% of the total] living in homes valued at $300,000 or less than...

I recently received an inquiry from "Bill": One topic I'd like to see Dr. Stanley blog about sometime is in marriage situations where one spouse comes as a balance-sheet affluent and the other is income affluent. I'll be married in a few months and we'll be in that situation. I'm an engineer, she's a lawyer, I have a beatup Camry, she has a BMW, I rave about Dr. Stanley, she tells me to stop quoting him :) . . . . We love each other and are upfront about finances, but I'm wondering if there's data indicating whether the combined couple ends up...

In a recent blog I profiled Ken, a second generation millionaire.  His observations generated numerous responses.  Many of these came from New York and California-based respondents who said essentially that there are no homes in the mid-$300,000 range in their chosen geographic environment.  In fact, the wife of a recently minted medical doctor complained that the couple was "forced" to buy a 7-figure home in Palo Alto, CA since anything less than that was a "fixer upper." Of course, living in Palo Alto is nearly synonymous with being a member of the Income Statement Affluent class.   I spoke with Ken again shortly after reading these observations.  I asked him if there...

The income statement affluent (high income/low net worth) often subsidize the balance sheet affluent, aka the millionaire next door. Many of the income statement affluent paid top dollar for their homes at the peak of the residential real estate market. Often they did so with little or nothing down. Now these same houses are selling at steep discounts.  Interestingly, during the 10 year period prior to the meltdown in the residential real estate market, fully 53% of the millionaire next door types did not move even one time; 24% moved only once during that period.  Now, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, "Nationally 28%...

Have you ever wondered about why so many millionaire next door types understate their considerable socioeconomic success?  They don't have a strong need to display their economic productivity by buying  luxury products and expensive homes.  In a major way, their real achievements are the badges of their success. For example, financial success, especially economic independence, is its own reward. Conversely, those people who have an insatiable desire to publicize their considerable ability to spend predictably end up as pro forma members of the Income Statement Affluent crowd.  Yes, it costs a lot of money to convince the faceless crowd that you are a...