The Millionaire Mind [Paperback]

Thomas J. Stanley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2001

After its first publication, Dr. Thomas J. Stanley's second best-seller The Millionaire Mind spent over four months on the New York Times best-seller list, rising to position #2, and has sold over half a million copies. Here is the first paperback edition of Stanley's second groundbreaking study of America's wealthy.The Millionaire Mind targets a population of millionaires who have accumulated substantial wealth and live in ways that openly demonstrate their affluence. Exploring the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors that enabled these millionaires to build and maintain their fortunes, Dr. Stanley provides a fascinating look at who America's financial elite are and how they got there. What were their school days like? How did they respond to negative criticism? What are the characteristics of the millionaire's spouse? Is religion an important part of their lives?The author uncovers the surprising answers to these and similar questions, showing readers through concrete examples just what it is that makes the wealthy prosper when others would turn away dejected or beaten.The Millionaire Mind promises to be as transformational as Dr. Stanley's previous best-seller. This book answers universal questions with solid statistical evidence in an approachable, and anecdotal style. The number of copies sold of this soon-to-be-classic will surely be in the millions.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What do you do after you've written the No. 1 bestseller The Millionaire Next Door? Survey 1,371 more millionaires and write The Millionaire Mind. Dr. Stanley's extremely timely tome is a mixture of entertaining elements. It resembles Regis Philbin's hit show (and CD-ROM game) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, only you have to pose real-life questions, instead of quizzing about trivia. Are you a gambling, divorce-prone, conspicuously consuming "Income-Statement Affluent" Jacuzzi fool soon to be parted from his or her money, or a frugal, loyal, resole your shoes and buy your own groceries type like one of Stanley's "Balance-Sheet Affluent" millionaires? "Cheap dates," millionaires are 4.9 times likelier to play with their grandkids than shop at Brooks Brothers. "If you asked the average American what it takes to be a millionaire," he writes, "they'd probably cite a number of predictable factors: inheritance, luck, stock market investments.... Topping his list would be a high IQ, high SAT scores and gradepoint average, along with attendance at a top college." No way, says Stanley, backing it up with data he compiled with help from the University of Georgia and Harvard geodemographer Jon Robbin. Robbin may wish he'd majored in socializing at L.S.U., instead, because the numbers show the average millionaire had a lowly 2.92 GPA, SAT scores between 1100 and 1190, and teachers who told them they were mediocre students but personable people. "Discipline 101 and Tenacity 102" made them rich. Stanley got straight C's in English and writing, but he had money-minded drive. He urges you to pattern your life according to Yale professor Robert Sternberg's Successful Intelligence, because Stanley's statistics bear out Sternberg's theories on what makes minds succeed--and it ain't IQ.

Besides offering insights into millionaires' pinchpenny ways, pleasing quips ("big brain, no bucks"), and 46 statistical charts with catchy titles, Stanley's book booms with human-potential pep talk and bristles with anecdotes--for example, about a bus driver who made $3 million, a doctor (reporting that his training gave him zero people skills) who lost $1.5 million, and a loser scholar in the bottom 10 percent on six GRE tests who grew up to be Martin Luther King Jr. Read it and you'll feel like a million bucks. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In The Millionaire Next Door, read by Cotter Smith, Stanley (Marketing to the Affluent) and Danko (marketing, SUNY at Albany) summarize findings from their research into the key characteristics that explain how the elite club of millionaires have become "wealthy." Focusing on those with a net worth of at least $1 million, their surprising results reveal fundamental qualities of this group that are diametrically opposed to today's earn-and-consume culture, including living below their means, allocating funds efficiently in ways that build wealth, ignoring conspicuous consumption, being proficient in targeting marketing opportunities, and choosing the "right" occupation. It's evident that anyone can accumulate wealth, if they are disciplined enough, determined to persevere, and have the merest of luck. In The Millionaire Mind, an excellent follow-up to the highly successful first analysis of how ordinary folks can accumulate wealth, Stanley interviews many more participants in a much more comprehensive study of the characteristics of those in this economic situation. The author structures these deeper details into categories that include the key success factors that define this group, the relationship of education to their success, their approach to balancing risk, how they located themselves in their work, their choice of spouse, how they live their daily lives, and the significant differences in the truth about this group vs. the misplaced image of high spenders. Narrator Smith's solid, dead-on reading never fails to heighten the importance of these principles that most twentysomethings should be forced to listen to in toto. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Dale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (August 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740718584
• ISBN-13: 978-0740718588
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (218 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Thomas J. Stanley is the author of six award winning books concentrating on America's wealthy population. His seventh book, Stop Acting Rich, was published in September 2009 by John Wiley and Sons. He began studying the affluent in 1973. Dr. Stanley wrote The Millionaire Next Door, in 1996. Over 2,000,000 copies of this New York Times bestseller have been sold. In 2000, he published The Millionaire Mind, which explored America's financial elite and how they became so. The Millionaire Mind debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. Dr. Stanley's first book, Marketing to the Affluent, was selected as a top ten outstanding business book in America by the editors of Best of Business Quarterly. The author lives in Atlanta, holds a doctorate of business administration from the University of Georgia in Athens and was formerly a professor of marketing at Georgia State University. Visit Dr. Stanley at www.thomasjstanley.com for more information.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

203 of 209 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Book! Well researched, November 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Millionaire Mind (Paperback)

This great followup to the run-away best seller "The Millionaire Next Door" tells us how millionaires became millionaires. In "The Millionaire Mind", Dr. Thomas Stanley tells us how America's wealthy got there and perhaps even more importantly, how you can become one of them.

In "The Millionaire Mind" you will discover answers to questions like:

*** What success factor made them wealthy in 1 generation?

*** What part did luck and school grades play?

*** How do they find the courage to take financial risks?

*** How did they find they ideal vocations?

*** What are their spouses like and how did they choose them?

*** How do they run their households?

*** How do they buy and sell their homes?

*** What are their favorite leisure activities?

"The Millionaire Mind" is a awesome book. To become a millionaire you have to think like one. This book tells you how.
I also recommend "SuperSelf" by Charles Givens and "The 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People" by Dr. Covey to further enrich your life with positive proven strategies.

193 of 200 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A peek into the minds of Millionaires, November 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Millionaire Mind (Paperback)

While "The Millionaire Next Door" showed us what the Millionaires do RE: Frugality. "The Millionaire Mind" let's us peek into the mindset that makes a Millionaire.

I can't say that I enjoy this book more or less than "The Millionaire Next Door" and don't understand some reviewers who try to make comparisons. It's more like apples and oranges. The books are different and intended to be as companions, not in place of the other.

I would recommend reading "The Millionaire Next Door" first though or at least in addition to "The Millionaire Mind."

Dr. Stanley, excellent book and I am looking forward to your next foray.

186 of 193 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Millionaire Next Door!, June 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Millionaire Mind (Paperback)

I felth that Millionaire Mind went into more depth of what it really takes to become a millionaire. Topics lke success factors, vocations, how they buy and sell houses, leisure activities and even how they chose their spouses.Good bok and definitely a must read for anyone who wants to be a millionaire or at least financially independent.