This week’s recommended website/book is a book by Thomas J. Stanley. It’s called “Stop Acting Rich…and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire.” Stanley says the current economic crisis has provided us with an opportunity to cure “pretenders.” Pretenders are folks who are experiencing economic problems because they were pretending to be rich. Stanley lets us know that in order to cure pretender status, you have to take a good look at your life and “determine if you would be wealthier if you stop acting rich.”
The book does a good job of showing that there’s a big difference betwwen income and net worth. Pretenders are good at generating income. But guess what? Many of us in higher income occupations are among the worst at transforming that income into wealth.
Stanley’s research found a few surprising details (at least they were surprising to me):
1. 86% of luxury cars are driven by non-millionaires. 2. Typically, millionaires pay $16 for a haircut. 3. Four in ten millionaires buy wine that costs about $10. 4. In the U.S., nearly 3 times as many millionaires live in homes valued under $300,000 than there are living in million dollar homes.
Will people finally stop acting like their rich and learn to live modestly like most real millionaires? Only time will tell. At least one author has given us a roadmap to how to do it.
