Oftentimes when we think of a millionaire, we think of Donald Trump, LeBron James, Oscar de la Renta or Lilly Ghalichi. A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank or savings account. The Millionaire Next Door, written by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko focuses on how net worth is a measure of how well off you are, with multiple examples in American culture of millionaires being self-made individuals who practice the simple concept of living below means. The average millionaire is a middle-aged individual, who has been married to the same spouse for several years and have lived in the same house together for majority of not all of their adult years.
His solution is to make simple declarations out loud. There are numerous declarations, but after each declaration he tells his readers to place their finger to their head and say “I have a millionaire mind.” By having his readers say this he is trying to reprogram their thought process into successful thoughts. The lesson he imparts with all of these declarations and affirmations is, "Your income can grow only to the extent that you do." Part two of his book answers the question of “How do rich people think and act?” Ekers answer to this comes from 17 different ways rich people act and think. Eker starts the book with the claim that a person’s income can grow only to the extent that the person grows.
“The rich get richer and the poor get prison”. Discuss. ‘Money makes the world go around’. This can almost pass as a fact, as how can anyone deny that our lives are revolved around money. You cannot do anything unless you have money; your lifestyle is determined by how much money you have and the most famous people in the world are by no coincidence the richest people in the world.
The Millionaire Next Door The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko) provides an outlook of households of the wealthy (at least one million dollars net worth ) and high income earners. (Based on 20 years of research the authors produce statistics and studies from these people to provide insight of typical millionaire households contrary to what is believed and seen on television. Only a small percentage of millionaires actually live a lavish lifestyle that we often see on television and are typically people who live in average neighborhoods; hence the title “The Millionaire Next Door.”) The Authors indicate 7 characteristics of the successful wealth builder: 1. They live well below their means. Generally, millionaires are frugal.
By creating distinct social classes-old money, new money, and no money-Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running throughout society. The first and most obvious group Fitzgerald attacks is, of course, the rich. He presents two distinct types of wealthy people. First, there are people like the Buchanans and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations, and are known as the ‘old money’.
John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard mutual fund family and father of the index fund, and Warren Buffett, likely the most successful investor of the 20th century, both speak out against high turnover in investment portfolios as an activity that serves only to reduce the returns assets can generate. Mr. Buffett places patience high on his list of qualities that make an investor successful. He is noted for saying that he only buys stocks that he would be satisfied holding if he knew that the stock market was going to be closed for the next ten years. Buffett says that ‐ “I often make more money when I am snoozing than when I am
Wouldn’t it be amazing to make millions of dollars by playing one game or tournament? Well famous athletes feel they do. Many people feel that professional athletes are extremely overpaid. People feel professional athletes are getting to much money in a society where incomes are traditionally based on the value of one's work. Average Americans work standard hours and get paid a dismal amount compared to an athlete.
Arundhati Roy’s text “Excerpts from War Talk” and “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer” by Robert Reich are two texts explaining the major reasons of why in todays society rich people get richer while poor become poorer. Unfortunately, the society is very unfair. There is a system in place that is controlled by a handful of extremely wealthy people, who often were luckily born into the right families and never worked their way to the top. These people in power positions have the game rigged to continue to benefit them and to protect their heritage. Your future wealth is no longer depending on how hard you work; there are hardworking intelligent people and hard working less intelligent people in all groups of society.
It goes without saying; we are significantly influenced by history. History has affected our media, our music, our fashion, and many other things. There are many things that are more important than the luxuries we enjoy that history has influenced, such as our life choices. Throughout history we have learned from other peoples’ mistakes and people benefit by using others to push themselves higher at the expense of that person. For example, common sense says that most people who dropped out of high school, abused illegal substances, and do not have an education higher than 10th grade, did not end up to be the next CEO and president of the most successful Fortune 500 company to date.
Isn’t today’s “American Dream” to also be comfortable with elaborate and fancy material possessions? Both decades had many concepts and techniques towards accomplishing their dream, but they were both aiming for the same goal: to live the high life prosperously. In the 1980s the incomes for many middle-class people stayed stagnant, but high prices began to rise. This affected families financially. Wealthier families could afford to pay the rising prices, but the middle-class society started to have problems with ascending rates.