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

One of my earlier blogs, The Downside to Understating Your Wealth, apparently hit a chord with many of you. Mrs. Davis, a teacher, told me that her memory was jogged after reading about the Honda driving doctor who couldn't get into the hospital's parking lot. Here is her contrasting story on the upside of understating your wealth.  After moving to Atlanta, Mr. and Mrs. Davis were living in a rented home while searching for a permanent residence. They made several appointments to speak with builders who had "lots of homes" in inventory. The first day out, Mrs. Davis put on her business suit...

Is being frugal fashionable today? Perhaps, considering the severity of the economic times. The more important question is: how long will it be fashionable? The following is an excerpt from my new book, Stop Acting Rich, highlighting the focus on hyper-consuming, highly compensated members of our society and their spending habits. America is a nation of excesses. And these excesses, especially when it comes to consumption, have a profound influence upon our young. They are constantly told that spending is the American way. Often their role models are highly compensated professional athletes and entertainers. Day after day, the public relations machinery keeps cranking out stories...

I would like to share a short tidbit from my new book, Stop Acting Rich.  You can read more in Chapter 7, The Road to Happiness. I admire people who drive Buicks. They show wisdom in buying a car that ranks high in both quality and value. Plus, according to Automotive News, people who trade in Buicks are the least likely to be “upside down” (owe more on the trade in than the vehicle is worth).  About one in three (33.6 percent) of all new car buyers in the United States is upside down.  Only 13.1 percent of those trading in...

Apparently, my interview with Dave Ramsey on September 30th hit a cord when I mentioned that only a minority of people who own/occupy homes valued at $1M or more are millionaires. In my latest book, Stop Acting Rich, I use the term millionaire to refer to those households with net investments of $1M or more. This is not the traditional way of expressing a household's level of wealth.  For many years, I defined wealth in terms of the current value of all of one's household assets minus all of its liabilities. But things have changed. I now refer to this measure (assets less liabilities)...

In my interview on The Dave Ramsey Show yesterday, I discussed the relationship between where one lives and the ability to accumulate wealth. Here is a continuation of the discussion from my new book, Stop Acting Rich. Most of the self-made millionaires I have studied have one thing in common: They were able to build wealth precisely because they never lived in a home or neighborhood environment where their domestic overhead made it difficult for them to build wealth. And building wealth begins and ends at your home address. There are just over 4 million millionaire households in the United States....