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Home > Smart Spending > Archives > 2009 > January > 05
Monday, January 5, 2009
How To Become A Millionaire — Our Way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It warmed my heart the other day to be reminded that most millionaires in the U.S. are … cheapskates.
They drive American-made cars. They buy clothes off the rack. They fill up at fast-food restaurants. Yes, they even clip coupons.
Not all rich folks use those tactics to erect a staircase to wealth, but many do. Donald Trump is hardly the role model.
We know this from “The Millionaire Next Door,” a book by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. Check out the first chapter.
Their survey of people with seven-figure bank accounts, conducted in the 1990s, determined that the average income then was $247,000 and the average home value was $320,000. (Both figures probably have not climbed much, if at all.) But a sizable number earned less than $100,000 annually.
Are you surprised?
While a good portion are entrepreneurs, plenty of millionaires hail from the ranks of employees with household-name companies. They invest one-fifth of their income and spend the rest cautiously. They commonly describe themselves as tightwads.
The findings offer us hope that there is a purpose to cheapskatin’. The road to affluence is paved with … coupons, as well as Costco and Sam’s Club membership cards.
Feel better now about your frugal ways?
To find ways to help make you way through a bumpy economy check out Your Money.
