Dr. Thomas Stanley's new book

[Khan]

Here's a quote from Dr. Stanley's blog today, more preaching to the choir, but at least this will give you something to quote the next time someone asks you why you don't own x or y or z.

The reason why so many homeowners today are having a difficult time making ends meet goes way beyond merely mortgage payments. When you trade up to a more expensive home, there is pressure for you to spend more on every conceivable product and service. Nothing has a greater impact on your wealth and your consumption than your choice of house and neighborhood. If you live in a pricey home in an exclusive community, you will spend more than you should and your ability to save and build wealth will be compromised.

My research has found that most people who live in million dollar homes are not millionaires. They may be high income producers, but, by trying to emulate the real millionaires, they are living a treadmill existence. In the U.S., there are three times more millionaires living in homes that have a market value of under $300,000 than there are living in homes valued at $1 million or more.

I live in a small house in a blue-collar neighborhood; no pressure to upgrade/show off.

 

[Khan]

I see this in my auto purchase. I look at the models with leather interior, but always buy the one with cloth.

When I was growing up, my dad, told a story of a very wealthy friend that drove a Cadillac with black wall tires. When dad ask him why, he got this reply, '.... it don't drive any better with whitewalls!'. This man could easily afford anything he wanted.

I drove the same car for 18 years: '89 Ford Festiva.

 

[mews]

I realized I could take early retirement when my spreadsheets showed I was spending less than $20K/year.

You are my role-model!

I am still above that, (~24k, not counting taxes, and the company pays health insurance) but I plead that I live in a nice area of NYC.

I am trying to figure out how to retire early, and not have to leave town, :::sigh:::

ta,
mew

 

[haha]

You are my role-model!

I am still above that, (~24k, not counting taxes, and the company pays health insurance) but I plead that I live in a nice area of NYC.

I am trying to figure out how to retire early, and not have to leave town, :::sigh:::

ta,
mew

Do you have a rent controlled apartment?

Ha

 

[RonBoyd]

I drove the same car for 18 years: '89 Ford Festiva.

Was it on this Forum that there was mention of the results of an identical crash involving a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Malibu showing instant death in the driver of the Bel Air while the driver of the Malibu suffered "only" a broken arm?

18-20 years is too great a period to go without upgrading safety and security options.

(Having said that, I have to admit that my "run-around-town" vehicle is a 1992 Dodge Caravan with 165,000 miles on it but safety does cross my mind occasionally.)

 

[haha]

Was it on this Forum that there was mention of the results of an identical crash involving a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Malibu showing instant death in the driver of the Bel Air while the driver of the Malibu suffered "only" a broken arm?

18-20 years is too great a period to go without upgrading safety and security options.

I survived (walked away, sort of) a fast head on crash in a new car. I monitor auto safety changes; if they were big enough I would buy new after only one year had elapsed.

My "will-get-before-long" list now includes side-curtain air bags, (the ones that protect your head) since someone I know got t-boned and had her brains scrambled. She still isn't really thinking with normal facility several months later.

Reasonable frugality is my goal.

Ha

 

[Sarah in SC]

Was it on this Forum that there was mention of the results of an identical crash involving a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Malibu showing instant death in the driver of the Bel Air while the driver of the Malibu suffered "only" a broken arm?

18-20 years is too great a period to go without upgrading safety and security options.

(Having said that, I have to admit that my "run-around-town" vehicle is a 1992 Dodge Caravan with 165,000 miles on it but safety does cross my mind occasionally.)

Damn, then I guess my 1976 Airstream motorhome is a deathtrap!
Our two daily drivers are 13 and 14 years old, the spare car is 25 years old (big Merc diesel). I might risk death for the chance to have a 1959 Bel Air, though, no kidding! Our dailies do have airbags, but not the side ones, just front.

 

[mews]

Do you have a rent controlled apartment?

Ha

No, I'm one of those 'bought & paid off the mortgage' people. All I pay now is the coop maintenence, and we keep that as reasonable as we can.

(My friend in Manhatten is in a stabilized apartment, and hopes to live long and prosper )

ta,
mew

 

[Sarah in SC]

Congrats, mews--that is awesome! As a fellow "free and clear" I love it! But I do agree you are going to have a tough time retiring there. Come south!

 

[gindie]

Review of Dr. Stanley's "Stop Acting Rich...and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire":

If you've read "The Millionaire Next Door" or even his blog, you've just about read it all. I couldn't get past page 40. I mean, how many times can you state that the typical millionaire doesn't buy Rolex watches? And yet, according to the Table of Contents, there was a whole chapter on it later in the book! Same for cars, wine, and houses.

I was on the library waiting list for this book for about a month. I guess the next guy in line will get it a little sooner than he expected!

 

[CuppaJoe]

Review of Dr. Stanley's "Stop Acting Rich...and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire":

If you've read "The Millionaire Next Door" or even his blog, you've just about read it all. I couldn't get past page 40. I mean, how many times can you state that the typical millionaire doesn't buy Rolex watches? And yet, according to the Table of Contents, there was a whole chapter on it later in the book! Same for cars, wine, and houses.

....

The Amazon sample is generous and seemed like enough to me.

 

[W2R]

Review of Dr. Stanley's "Stop Acting Rich...and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire":

If you've read "The Millionaire Next Door" or even his blog, you've just about read it all. I couldn't get past page 40. I mean, how many times can you state that the typical millionaire doesn't buy Rolex watches? And yet, according to the Table of Contents, there was a whole chapter on it later in the book! Same for cars, wine, and houses.

I was on the library waiting list for this book for about a month. I guess the next guy in line will get it a little sooner than he expected!

Sounds pretty boring! And it also sounds outdated, as far as what being a millionaire implies these days. Many of us here are millionaires but cannot really afford what people think of as a millionaire lifestyle.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I have not read any of them, but may read the new one. I do have a car problem, but tend to value shop and buy used higher end cars.

I like nice stuff, but never buy top of the line. I like middle of the road stuff, at steeply discounted prices.

I will buy top of the line tools and guns. Stuff I will have for the rest of my life.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I loved it but didn't waste much time on the tables!
I am in the middle of Superfreakonomics which is also fabulous.

As someone who deals with "blue collar" millionaires in my daily life, this is more affirmation of a lifestyle I recognize regularly.

 

[calmloki]

My gal's little joke is "dressing like a millionaire". For her, it's just whatever she's wearing and often from New-to-You. Our home is worth under $300k - we bought it in 1994 for $30k and spent the next 6 years doing stuff to it - like everything. Here in the Willamette valley we are free from sweltering heat or serious winter and within an easy 1 1/2 hours of the ocean, skiing, plenty of lakes and mountains, desert landscape, a bit of civilization in Portland and an international airport. Hear the beer and coffee are pretty good as well. If I insisted on walking everywhere like Haha my choices and viewpoint might be different, but my anecdotal experience is that there are plenty of balance sheet millionaires leading unassuming lives. Seems like they are balance sheet millionaires because they have their money working - if it wasn't working they wouldn't be millionaires.

 

[haha]

If I insisted on walking everywhere like Haha my choices and viewpoint might be different, but my anecdotal experience is that there are plenty of balance sheet millionaires leading unassuming lives.

LOL! I don't exactly insist on walking, I just strongly prefer it. It may even be genetic; my Dad and Granpa were the same.

Ha

 

[ksr]

I drove the same car for 18 years: '89 Ford Festiva.

I drove my sweet old Toyota for 19 years. I loved that car. When I was still working, my co-workers used to tease me about it, but I didn't care. I'd probably still be driving it except it started needing some major repairs in its last year. It was getting too expensive to maintain, and I was feeling it just wasn't as reliable anymore.

Friends couldn't believe that I sold it and still saw it being driven around town for a while. I don't see it any more, and I kind of miss it

 

[Walt34]

Our two daily drivers are 13 and 14 years old, the spare car is 25 years old (big Merc diesel). I might risk death for the chance to have a 1959 Bel Air, though, no kidding! Our dailies do have airbags, but not the side ones, just front.

When we bought the 2003 car for DW the only way to get the side airbags was to buy the package that included the leather seats. Grrrrr! But I figured "they only have to work once to make it worthwhile". And it has most of what I consider the important safety features - airbags, ABS, traction control. The skid control was not available then and it'll be on the next car we buy in about another ten years.

Given the slow rate at which mileage is building on the pickup we'll have that for 20 years easy. Weather and load permitting the motorcycle is the "daily driver" for me. It gets between 40 and 50 mpg.

 

[harley]

After I read the book I went out and bought some Crawford's Scotch at a Total Beverage. I'm saving the rest of it for a furniture refinishing project I've got coming up. I understand making a point about not overspending, but implying that there's no difference between a quality product and a mediocre (or worse in Crawford's case) is just being specious. Obviously, if you can't afford something, don't buy it, especially for show. But as has been stressed in other threads (I remember one about purses), quality can be well worth the cost sometimes. I think Dr. Stanley lost a fair amount in the recent financial unpleasantness, so he just cranked out another book to refill the retirement coffers.