The Millionaire Next Door

Overview

The book is a compilation of research done by the two authors in the profiles of American millionaires.

The authors compare the behaviour of those they call “UAWs” (Under Accumulators of Wealth) and those who are “PAWs” (Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth). Their findings, that millionaires are disproportionately clustered in middle-class and blue-collar neighborhoods and not in more affluent or white-collar communities, came as a surprise to the authors who anticipated the contrary. Stanley and Danko’s book explains why, noting that high-income white-collar professionals are more likely to devote their income to luxury goods or status items, thus neglecting savings and investments.

UAWs versus PAWs

Under Accumulator of Wealth (UAW) is a name coined by the authors used to represent individuals who have a low net wealth compared to their income. A doctor earning $250,000 per year could be considered an “Under Accumulator of Wealth” if their net worth is low relative to lifetime earnings. Take for example a 50-year-old doctor earning $250,000. According to the authors’ formula he should be saving 10% yearly and should have about $1.25 million in net worth (50*250,000*10%). If their net worth is lower, they are an “Under Accumulator”. The UAW style is based more on consumption of income rather than on the method of saving income.

A Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth (PAW) is the reciprocal of the more common UAW, accumulating usually well over one tenth of the product of the individual’s age and their realized pretax income.

The authors define an Average Accumulator of Wealth (AAW) as having a net worth equal to one-tenth their age multiplied by their current annual income from all sources. E.g., a 50-year-old person who over the past twelve months earned employment income of $45,000 and investment income of $5,000 should have an expected net worth of $250,000. An “Under Accumulator of Wealth (UAW)” would have half that amount, and a “Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth (PAW)” would have two times. This metric has been criticized since, for example, a 20-year-old making $50k a year should have a net worth of $100k to be considered an “average accumulator of wealth”. That makes little sense since it would take a new graduate years of strong savings and investments to accumulate that amount. Critics further argue that formula fails to take into account compounding interest; younger people up to age 45 or so will generally have much less as a percentage of income than older wealth accumulators due to compounded growth.

Most of the millionaire households that they profiled did not have the extravagant lifestyles that most people would assume. This finding is backed up by surveys indicating how little these millionaire households have spent on such things as cars, watches, clothing, and other luxury products/services. Most importantly, the book gives a list of reasons for why these people managed to accumulate so much wealth (the top one being that “They live below their means”). The authors make a distinction between the ‘Balance Sheet Affluent’ (those with actual wealth, or high-net-worth) and the ‘Income Affluent’ (those with a high income, but little actual wealth, or low net-worth).

Main points

Spend less than you earn

Anyone who spends more than they earn will fail to increase their net worth.

Avoid buying status objects or leading a status lifestyle

Buying or leasing brand-new, expensive imported vehicles is poor value. Buying status objects such as branded consumer goods is a never-ending cycle of depreciating assets. Even when you get a good deal on premium items, if you choose to replace them frequently, the older items hold no value and have become a sunk cost. Living in a status neighbourhood is not only poor value, but you will feel the need to keep buying status objects to keep up with your neighbours, who are mostly UAWs. The authors make the point that Hyperconsumers must realize more income to afford luxury items and become more vulnerable to inflation and income tax.

PAWs are willing to take financial risk if it is worth the reward

PAWs are not misers who put every penny under their mattress. They invest their money for good returns, and will consider riskier investments if they’re worth the reward. Many put money not only in the stock market, but invest in private businesses and venture capital.

Family and Generational Wealth

The authors also make the observation that UAWs tend to have children who require an influx of their parents’ money in order to afford the lifestyle that they expect for themselves, and that they are less likely to have been taught about money, budgeting and investing by their parents.

The authors talked about the seven most common traits that showed up among those that have accumulated wealth. Those common traits are the following; high income, low expenses, frugal, wealthy, breaking even (Spartan), spender, broke, and breaking even (Lavish).

On generational wealth the authors stressed the following: the first generation to have arrived in America usually works hard, saves prodigiously, owns a small business, lives in or near that business, and passes on his wealth to his kids frugally. The next group usually works in their parent’s business, but may move on. They tend to spend more lavishly and save less. The next or 3rd generation, may have sold the business already and may have already spent all the accumulated wealth. Finally the 4th generation is not hard Working at all, spends crazily and has little. Many are literally broke and nothing like their great grand parents. This is known as Generational Wealth Destruction, and is a main tenet in the authors work.

Spending tomorrow’s cash today

The most prominent idea shared by UAWs and American society in general is “spending tomorrow’s cash today”. This is the leading cause of debt and a lack of net worth in the UAW category. This contradicts the common belief of a PAW: “save today’s cash for tomorrow”. Many UAWs do plan, under certain conditions (such as a rise in income), to use investment strategies to accumulate wealth; however, most don’t actually use investment strategies to accumulate wealth once the initial conditions are met. For example, Under Accumulators of Wealth will promise to start investing once they have earned ten percent more in annual income. Unfortunately when most receive that extra ten percent of income, there isn’t an investment made. These claims and ideas usually branch off an initial belief that a lack of wealth can simply be solved by an increase in income. Even among those that do invest money, most invest only because they have an excess of income. Between 2001 and 2004, the median family income dropped 2.3% and in response, the percentage of families who owned investment stocks fell by 3.3% showing that investments are only made in times of excess.

“Better Than” theory

The “Better Than” theory is one of the main reasons many UAWs don’t hold true to their promise to invest after a rise in income. The theory is that the UAW’s “necessity” for that income will also rise in response to the risen income level. Most UAWs are possessed by possessions. According to a study conducted by Yale and stated in The Millionaire Next Door, individuals measure the level of their success through comparison to nearest neighbors and/or closest relatives. Therefore, as the level of income rises, so will their desire to outperform those that they compare themselves to.

“Better Off” theory

In addition to the “Better Than” theory, there is a “Better Off” theory. This theory suggests that those UAWs who grow up in a poor family and land a high-income career have a tendency to feel the need to be “better off” than their parents. To a UAW, “better off” implies a larger house, a respectable degree, a foreign luxury car, a boat, and a club membership. A hypothetical example is provided in The Millionaire Next Door to explain this concept. Teddy Friend is a typical UAW that grew up in a poor family but was still exposed to a rich lifestyle at school. He saw “rich kids” and decided that one day he would be “better off” than his poor parents. Sure enough, when Mr. Friend reached a high income level, he indulged himself in possessions. He bought a large home along with a foreign luxury car. According to most UAWs, he lives a very comfortable lifestyle. He lives a very comfortable lifestyle in terms of possessions, but in terms of financial security, Mr. Friend’s lifestyle is uncomfortable.

Money: a renewable resource

Another belief that UAWs have is that “money is the most easily renewable resource”. This belief usually is another leading cause for UAW’s consumption and investment habits. Money is more easily spent now than it is saved. In America it is easier to generate a high income than it is to accumulate wealth.

Spending habits

When it comes to spending habits, UAWs are everything but frugal. A typical UAW tends to live in luxury, style, and above all, comfort. Not all UAWs fit these characteristics. A $50,000-a-year janitor can be more of a PAW than a $700,000-a-year doctor. The spending habits that UAWs have are a direct effect of the “Better Than” theory.

Million dollar choices

Some of the financial choices that UAWs make are considered to be “million dollar choices” because if the choice hadn’t been made, the UAW would have in excess of a million dollars. One example of a million dollar choice is to smoke. Smokers and drinkers tend to be UAWs because instead of building net worth, they spend their income to purchase alcohol or cigarettes. Another hypothetical example given in The Millionaire Next Door explains how a small purchase of cigarettes over a long period of time can accumulate a large sum of money. Mr. Friend’s poor parents were smokers and drinkers. They smoked at least three packs of cigarettes a day during the week. Three packs a day over 46 years translated into a sum of money that exceeded the value of their home by $33,000. Even more extraordinary, if the Friends had invested and reinvested that money over a 46-year period, the portfolio would have exceeded $2 million. The value of a small amount of money over a long period of time is amazing. A UAW makes choices that, although financially insignificant at the present value, have a very significant future value. Choices such as drinking two cases of beer a week, smoking several packs of cigarettes a day, and buying large amounts of unnecessary food and objects are some examples of typical UAW choices. These choices are not necessarily large financial purchases right now, but over a long period of time, the opportunity cost of that money is very expensive.

Car shopping habits

According to the authors, a common UAW drives a current model car, purchased new, and may have financed it on credit. PAWs rarely purchase new model cars and are less likely to own foreign or luxury vehicles. An example from the book details a UAW that spent roughly 60 hours researching, negotiating and purchasing a new car. In the end, while the car was purchased “near dealer cost,” in the long run the UAW’s time and money could have been more efficiently spent creating wealth rather than collecting possessions notorious for depreciating in value. The authors contrast the story with a PAW who decided that the pride of owning a brand new car wasn’t worth the $20,000 price difference.

Investing strategies

The difference between UAWs and PAWs is wealth. Wealth is usually obtained through investment strategies that maximize unrealized (nontaxable) income and minimizes realized (taxable) income. UAWs tend to spend more time on purchasing a car than on looking at appreciating investments. Appreciating investments such as a 401k or an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) constitute tax-deferred growth and produce an unrealized income for the individual holder. Some UAWs do hold a 401k or an IRA but with a low portfolio value. UAWs usually have the belief that in order to comply with the “Better Than” or “Better Off” theories, they need to maximize realized income. Maximized realized income minimizes unrealized income, increases taxes paid, and produces low portfolio values. Certainly there are some UAWs that invest in the stock market and are very active traders, but most don’t. Active traders move from stock to stock to try to maximize capital gains on investments based on daily fluctuations of the stock market. This investment strategy is very risky, but has potential for some enormous capital gains. UAWs also are more prone to being swindled out of money from cold callers. Cold callers, usually brokers who in fact know very little about the stock market, target high income earning families and persuade them into purchasing investments with them. Doctors and lawyers are especially susceptible. A vulnerability to cold callers can subject individuals to lose trust in the stock market and eventually become a UAW. Then there are UAWs that have relatively low risk tolerance for investments. Twenty percent of UAWs keep most of their cash in cash/near cash accounts (investment accounts such as a bank accounts that have low interest rates, high liquidity, and are federally insured) so that they can have quick access to cash when consumption habits rise. Then there are some UAWs who have considerable knowledge of the specific market of a company or type of investment, but do not utilize that knowledge to their advantage. The Millionaire Next Door uses Mr. Willis as an example. He is a six-figure, very successful executive for Walmart. He has been employed there for 10 years, during which the company has been explosively growing. Stock prices have shot up in this 10-year period of time. During this enormous growth period, Mr. Willis bought zero shares of the company he worked for, although he had firsthand knowledge of its success. A characteristic that determines if the individual is a UAW is their belief about investing. A UAW will usually state the following about investing: “it’s hopeless,” or “I never have the time needed to make it pay off,” or “we have never made so much… but the more we earn, the less we seem to accumulate.” Other remarks might include, “Our careers take up all of our time,” or “I don’t have 20 hours a week to fool around with my money”. A UAW does not spend a considerable amount of time evaluating their investment strategies. On average, they’ll invest only 4.6 hours a month evaluating their investment portfolios. This is about 83% less than the amount of time a PAW allocates to financial planning. Minimal time dedicated to financial planning is a leading indicator of a UAW.

Educational and career choices

Although UAWs exist in all career fields and have obtained different levels of education, some professions are more likely to lead to a UAW lifestyle. Doctors, physicians, lawyers, and dentists are among the top professions with a high UAW concentration of individuals. The individuals in these professions are twice as likely to be a UAW than a PAW. There are two reasons for these findings. First, because these professions require advanced degrees, individuals get a delayed start in the accumulation race. Most of the income during these educational pursuits is used to fund tuition, housing, and student loans rather than investment. The second reason is that American society has prescribed a lifestyle to these professions. Doctors are expected to live in an upscale neighborhood with multiple cars, a boat, and other luxury items. Their lives become a high consumption lifestyle to fulfill the “Better Than” theory.

Correlation between income and wealth

With doctors having a high propensity to be a UAW as evidence, there is an indirect relationship between the level of income an individual earns and the net wealth that one accumulates. Doctors have a reasonably high level of income; therefore, it is more likely that doctors have relatively low amounts of net worth. The same holds true for those that have lower levels of income. They are more likely to accumulate more in relation to their level of income. Of course, there are those who are an exception to the rule on both sides of the spectrum. Mr. Friend’s parents were poor, but they lived a high consumption lifestyle leading them to be UAWs.

Children of UAWs

When children are brought up in a high consumption, UAW lifestyle, they are more likely to become UAWs themselves. More often than not, the children of high income UAWs become more devout believers in the UAW system than their parents. The children grow accustomed to extreme luxury and believe that they too must possess the same luxury as their parents, even if their income is much less. It is an extreme manifestation of the “Better Off” theory. On the other hand, PAWs may also produce UAW offspring. If the Friends had invested the money they had been consuming, they would have been considered PAWs; however, the standard of living that their son, Mr. Friend, grew up in would have been diminished. Mr. Friend would have felt an even higher desire to be “better off” than his parents were. He may still have been a UAW regardless of whether his parents were UAWs or PAWs.

Economic Outpatient Care

Economic Outpatient Care (EOC) is a term used to express when an affluent parent provides money to an adult child. Besides offspring observations resulting in UAW children, EOC is a contributing factor to the passing on of the UAW belief. Offspring who receive EOC have 98% of the annual income compared to their counterparts who are not recipients of EOC. In comparison, they also have 57% of the net worth. EOC gives recipients a false sense of financial security. For this reason they purchase homes in upscale neighborhoods that exceed the recommended value according to their incomes. Thirty percent of American families live in homes valued at $300,000, yet only earn an annual income of $60,000. These homes then demand nice cars for the driveway, nice furniture for the living room, and a nice plasma TV to complement the furniture. These offspring also purchase and consume the EOC rather than invest it. If a dose of EOC is given on a regular basis, the EOC can actually be absorbed into the individual’s perceived annual income. Expenditures are then calculated with the anticipation of a regularly scheduled dose of EOC. America: the ultimate UAW

The average American is a UAW, with an annual income of $32,000, a total net worth of $36,000, and a realized income value that is about 90% of their total net worth. The government draws the poverty line based on income, and society determines a family’s well-being based on their level of earned income. Income is a poor indicator of well-being. On the other hand, wealth is a good indicator of the financial independency or financial dependency of individuals. Unfortunately society has an almost unlimited number of ways to consume income and limited ways to save income; therefore, individuals are more prone to spend than save. That eventually results in an adoption of a UAW lifestyle.

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Overview from another source:

Rules from the book

As it turns out, becoming a millionaire is not rocket science, just a matter of planning well, living below your means and avoiding a few stupid mistakes. Want to know how?

Use these 3 rules to improve your chances of ending up with a million dollars in the bank:

1. Save responsibly from the moment you first start earning more than you need to live.
2. Use this simple formula to calculate if you’re falling short of your financial potential.
3. Avoid economic outpatient care to reach your goal.

Committed to making your dream of financial independence come true? Let’s see if you can keep these rules!

Lesson 1: Save responsibly from the moment you first start earning more than you need to live.

Most people think the only way to become a millionaire is to earn at least $1 million/year for a couple of years. But even if you’re one of the top earners in the world, taxes will eat away roughly 50% of your annual income. Deduct living expenses, maybe a mortgage and a few vacations and you might end up with just $200,000 – if you’re lucky.

However, that would indeed make you lucky, because you never even have to earn a million dollars in a year, in order to become a millionaire.

Not with this one rule anyways: The moment you earn more than you need to live, save as much as you responsibly can and avoid spending cash on things you don’t need.

Budgeting well and living a frugal life is really all you need to build wealth (especially if you’re still young). Around 55% of all millionaires attest their wealth simply to being deliberate about their finances and disciplined saving.

Note: For the youngsters: If you’re not out of college yet, remember this at all costs (haha), so you can instantly start saving half or even more of your income, once you start your first job.

Lesson 2: Calculate if you’re not reaching your full financial potential with this simple equation.

Stanley has come up with a simple formula to calculate your expected wealth:

Multiply your age with your pre-tax annual income and divide by 10.

Whatever this number is, it reflects how rich you could be right now, if you’ve already cultivated good spending habits. For example, if you earn $80,000 at age 30, your expected wealth comes out to $240,000.

Take this with a grain of salt, since it takes younger people longer to reach their expected wealth, because of compounding interest – a 50-year old will have reaped the benefits of the interest they get on their interest for much longer, for example.

However, it’s still a good indicator of how well you stack up and can keep you from becoming a big-hat-no-cattle-type. That’s someone who appears wealthy (like a farmer with a big hat), but in reality spends all their money on keeping up this illusion (and thus has no actual cattle).

Try to get closer and closer to your expected wealth over time, not by saving excessively, but by avoiding spending too much.

Lesson 3: Don’t fall for economic outpatient care to see your bank account go to seven figures.

Do you know how kids with rich parents often can’t handle their finances and never worry about spending?

That’s what economic outpatient care (EOC) is all about. Most affluent parents mean well when they support their children with their hard-saved money, but in reality it hurts their ability to handle money.

Almost half of all wealthy Americans sponsor their children and grandchildren with over $15k/year, which leads them to acquire the according lifestyles, even though they technically can’t afford them.

I’m not American, but in hindsight I think I too have received that much each year and while I never went crazy and invested most of the money into my future (studying abroad, buying books, courses, travel, etc.), I still didn’t know how to save and grow my money until I started earning my own.

The problem with regular EOC is that it eventually just fades into your annual income, making you believe you earn more than you do, and even calculating with that money in advance.

What’s the lesson?

If you have rich parents, don’t waste their money – at least invest it wisely! If you are a rich parent, don’t spoil your kids – you won’t do them any good.

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Summary

The general premise of The Millionaire Next Door is that the pop culture concept of a millionaire is quite false and that most actual millionaires live a very simple lifestyle. The authors, Stanley and Danko, did extensive profiling of people whose net worth defined them as millionaires along with those whose salaries and age defined them as likely millionaires and, using this data, created a detailed profile of who exactly a typical millionaire is. From there, extensive interviews with these “typical” millionaires created a much more detailed picture of what it actually means to be a millionaire in today’s society. Many people who earn high incomes are not rich, the authors warn. Most people with high incomes fail to accumulate any lasting wealth. They live hyperconsumer lifestyles, spending their money as fast as they earn it. In order to accumulate wealth, in order to become rich, one must not only earn a lot (play “good offense”, according to Stanley and Danko), but also develop frugal habits (play “good defense”). Most books focus on only one side of the wealth equation: spending less or earning more. It’s refreshing to read a book that makes it clear that both are required to succeed.

It’s as if people can be classified based on the following table (which is my own invention based on the authors’ findings):

1. High Income
2. Low Income

Frugal wealthy breaking even (spartan)

Spender breaking even (lavish) broke

High-income spenders live in a house of a cards. Sure they have the money now to fund their hyperconsumer lifestyle, but what happens when that money goes away? It’s also difficult for low-income frugal folks to acquire wealth. They need to learn to play financial “offense”. But those with low incomes who spend are in the biggest trouble of all.

The wealthy, on the other hand, generally have a high income and a frugal mindset. They share other characteristics as well.

1. 80% of America’s millionaires are first-generation rich. This is contrary to those who would have you believe that wealth is usually inherited.
2. 20% of millionaires are retired
3. 50% of millionaires own a business

The authors write, “In the course of our investigations, we discovered seven common denominators among those who successfully build wealth.” Those characteristics are:

1. They live well below their means. In general, millionaires are frugal. Not only do they self-identify as frugal, they actually live the life. They take extraordinary steps to save money. They don’t live lavish lifestyles. They’re willing to pay for quality, but not for image.
2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. Millionaires budget. They also plan their investments. They begin earning and investing early in life. The authors note that “there is an inverse relationship between the time spent purchasing luxury items such as cars and clothes and the time spent planning one’s financial future”. In other words, the more time someone spends buying things that look good, the less time they spend on personal finance.
3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. The authors spend far too much time beating home this point: usually millionaires don’t have fancy cars. They drive mundane domestic models, and they keep them for years.
4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care. That is, most millionaires were not financially supported by their parents. The authors’ research indicates that “the more dollars adult children receive their parents, the fewer they accumulate, while those who are given fewer dollars accumulate more”.
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. This chapter is fascinating. The authors clearly believe that giving money to adult children damages their ability to succeed.
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities. “Very often those who supply the affluent become wealthy themselves.” The authors discuss how one of the best ways to make money is to sell products or services to those who already have money. They list a number of occupations they feel have long-term potential in this area.
7. They chose the right occupation. “Self-employed people are four times more likely to be millionaires than those who work for others.” There is no magic list of businesses from which wealth is derived — people can be successful with any type of business. In fact, most millionaire business owners make their money in “dull-normal” industries. They build cabinets. They sell shoes. They’re dentists. They own bowling alleys. They make boxes. There’s no magic bullet.