There is an interesting book called The Millionaire Next Door all about the behavior of millionaires AND you can read it for free!!
Excerpts from the book The Millionaire Next Door (free PDF book below)
Who is the prototypical American millionaire? What would he tell you
about himself?)
I am a fifty-seven-year-old male, married with three children. About 70 percent of us earn 80 percent or more of our household's income. (* Our profile of the typical millionaire is based on studies of millionaire households, not individuals. It is, therefore, impossible in most cases to say with certainty whether our typical millionaire is ahe or ashe. Nevertheless, because 95 percent of millionaire households are composed of married couples, and because in 70 percent of these cases the male head of the household contributes at least 80 percent of the income, we will usually refer to the typical American millionaire as "he" in this book.)
About one in five of us is retired. About two-thirds of us who are working are self-employed.
Many of the types of businesses we are in could be classified as dull-normal. We are welding contractors, auctioneers, rice farmers, owners of mobile-home parks, pest controllers, coin and stamp dealers, and paving contractors.
About half of our wives do not work outside the home.
Our household's total annual realized (taxable) income is $131,000 (median, or 50th percentile).
The typical (median, or 50th percentile) millionaire household has a net worth of $1.6 million.
On average, our total annual realized income is less than 7 percent of our wealth. In other words, we live on less than 7 percent of our wealth.
Most of us (97 percent) are homeowners. We live in homes currently valued at an average of $320,000.
Most of us have never felt at a disadvantage because we did not receive any inheritance. About 80 percent of us are first-generation affluent.
We live well below our means. We wear inexpensive suits and drive American-made cars.
Most of our wives are planners and meticulous budgeters.
We have a "go-to- fund." In other words, we have accumulated enough wealth to live without working for ten or more years.
We have more than six and one-half times the level of wealth of our nonmillionaire neighbors, but, in our neighborhood, these nonmillionaires outnumber us better than three to one. Could it be that they have chosen to trade wealth for acquiring high-status material possessions?
As a group, we are fairly well educated.
Only 17 percent of us or our spouses ever attended a private elementary or private high school.
As a group, we believe that education is extremely important for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.
About two-thirds of us work between forty-five and fifty-five hours per week.
We are fastidious investors. On average, we invest nearly 20 percent of our household realized income each year.
We hold nearly 20 percent of our household's wealth in transaction securities such as publicly traded stocks and mutual funds. But we rarely sell our equity investments. We hold even more in our pension plans. On average, 21 percent of our household's wealth is in our private businesses.
As a group, we feel that our daughters are financially handicapped in comparison to our sons.
I am a tightwad.
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