The Millionaire Mind

There are only a few books that when finished reading I think to myself “Shit, why did I not read this ten years ago?” I happen to just finish reading one of these types of books; The Millionaire Mind, Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.

Part of being an Obsessive Compulsive Entrepreneur is that my career path is far from normal. My days are typically filled with uncertainty.

For some reason this book I just read seemed to piece together a lot of questions I had about how highly successful people built their wealth. Dr. Stanley used a statistical model he built over his entire career focusing on these very questions.

Are the mega wealthy in this country rich because they were born with trust funds, or did most of them earn it from humble beginnings? And I’ve wondered about those who earned it from humble beginnings and how they live their lifestyles. This is why I love to read books on how companies have started.

It turns out, as Stanley discovered that there are some major commonalities among our countries elite and how they became so wealthy.

I am not talking about guys who earn $300,000 a year and who live in McMansions. As he discovered folks who tend to live in newly built housing developments are typically overextended and have very little to no wealth at all. Granted their incomes are nice, they drive nice cars and wear fancy cloths but when all is said and done, they really have no true wealth.

When I think of mega wealthy now, thanks to Stanley I think of someone who owns a business and has an income of $700,000 a year plus and a few million in the bank. These folks own all if not the majority of their mortgages and have very little debt.

When I first thought of mega wealthy I pictured Gates, Buffett, and the Hiltons. But those people are so far and few between that it is ridiculous to study them.

So what goes on in the mind of a millionaire or a person who is working their way up to this status? What goes on in the minds of these people even when they are starting out their career path? How did these people overcome their feelings of uncertainty such as the ones that occupy my mind daily? Do they even have these feelings of uncertainty?

What I loved about the book was the humanistic case studies and interviews he used to make his points. The dozens of examples he referenced all had the same worries and concerns that I feel daily and after reading the book I literally turned to my wife and said, “Shit I wish I read this thing ten years ago!”

Now, the thing that I love best and will remember for the rest of my life about this book is …

Go on, buy the thing, read it and earn it. You wont be sorry.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Cool Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.