Millionaire Next Door: Chapter One

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself – and be lenient to everyone else.”- Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Millionaire Monday!  Have you learned anything new about yourself during last week’s questions for self analysis?  I certainly have.  One of the things I learned is that it is so much easier to stay focused on what I am reading when I have to extract questions for self-reflection.  I have also learned that I need to practice self-control in my spending so I think I have finally chosen my one word of 2014.  But more on that later.

This week we begin Chapter 1 of the Millionaire Next Door.  “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly,” Mae West.  That is what we are doing with our joint reading.  Reading a chapter a week is slow progress but it allows for completion of the questions and re-reading of sections for emphasis.  So without further delay, see below:

1.  In today’s society, what does a millionaire look like?

Describe the prototypical millionaire.

Which millionaire would you prefer to be?  Society’s version of a millionaire or the prototypical millionaire.

2.  According to the author, self employed people accounted for two-thirds of the millionaires at the time of publication.  Many of their businesses would be classified as dull-normal.  What type of dull-normal small business could you create based on your expertise and experience?

3.  What is your total annual realized taxable income?

Are you comparable, close, or not in the same ballpark as the average millionaire?

4.  What would 7% of your income amount to?

What would it take for you to begin living off 7% of your current income?

What changes are needed in order for your to live off 7% of your income?

5.  How do you define wealthy?

Do you have at least one or more of the wealth producing areas?

6.  What is your expected net worth?

Are you a PAW, UAW, or an AAW?

Bonus Question:  Why is it that you have not amassed even modest amounts of wealth?  How did you amass modest amounts of wealth?