Customer Reviews

Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There are some interesting bits and pieces in this book, most of which are generally familiar to readers of Stanley's other books. However, on the whole the book doesn't amount to much, wavering between sociological analysis and how to while not actually being either.

What is clearly stated, but somewhat hidden is that this is not a book about women "millionaires" in general. It is based on responses to a questionaire by a group of women business owners with incomes over $100,000 and a net worth between $1 million and $25 million. Not included at all are women professionals, women who have amassed over $1 million by working in corporations, or women who might have made their money as partners in majority male owned businesses. It is not surprising that the women millionaires in this study have not departed much in their consumption or living habits from their middle class roots. It's impossible to say whether his conclusions are even mildly relevant to women who might have made just as much or more money in other ways, and who may account for a larger number of women millionaires.

There were a few observations in the book that I did find to be interesting enough that I didn't feel like I wasted my time. One observation was about how many of the millionaire women had married a type he called "Marginal Bob". (I call them losers). I have observed this phenomenon scores of times in high achieving women, and it's the first time I've seen it documented. Another was the chapter about women who came from dysfunctional families but who were still quite successful.

To me the book felt like fairly pedestrian (and not very well written) how-to advice cloaked in the pretense of scientific investigation. At least the advice is to be frugal, don't overspend, be supportive of others, pick business opportunities based on types of businesses that actually make money, be persistant, etc. At least the book doesn't pretend there is a simple overnight way to be a millionaire. I would find a meaningful empirical study of successful women to be far more interesting. I would have also preferred if he had been more straightforward about what he was really studying. I picked this book up and bought it off the remainder table, and I'm not surprised it ended up there. It just isn't very good. At least it isn't dispensing bad advice and it does have some interesting nuggets.

If you're a woman who didn't quite see yourself in The Millionaire Next Door, there's hope. Women are different than male millionaires in several important ways. For example, the typical male millionaire has married once and remains married, but over half of female millionaires have been divorced. Women are also more generous than men.

The book mainly talks about business owners becoming wealthy, but it also talks about alternatives to business ownership. Stanley profiles a star saleswoman, educators (a wealthier group than you realize), and stay-at-home women who act as managers of their "family office". He also discusses parenting your children so they can develop a millionaire mindset. Many situations are presented in this book, so you can probably find something that will apply to you.

As for helpful advice, the author points out cautions women need to consider. Women need to watch out for the "Marginal Bob" worthless first husbands. Women also often provide continued financial support to their grown children and grandchildren. This "economic outpatient care" hurts both parents and children.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was well written and thoroughly researched. I will buy more copies for graduation gifts.

I absolutely loved this book! When I originally read Stanley's Millionare Next Door, I was put off that all the data was regarding men (but that it is still a very good book). I was suprised to stumble on this book and am very glad that I did!

Recently, before reading the book, I made the assumption that for women, money correlates with charity. Look at Susan Sarandan w/ the Heffer program and Oprah w/ her various charity beliefs...Awesome women who know how to give back to the world.

I feel it in my bones that this book is one of the variables in my life to lead me to success. It has opened my eyes and confirmed my assumptions to obtain success. And has also provided me w/ many other aspects and details I found interesting.

This is a definite book to have in your collection if you are serious about obtaining success. Not just monetary success but happiness w/in yourself and the community/world you live in.

For all the fans who loved Dr. Stanley's previous book, Millionaire Next Door, this fascinating follow-up will exceed your expectations. Packed from cover to cover with inspiring, touching, and creative stories of how regular women made their way to the top of the tax bracket, Millionaire Women Next Door offers plenty of advice and inspiration on how we can all become successful. What's great about this book is that the women profiled within are not celebrities who have had success managing their millions, but rather the "everywomen" who've managed their careers, families, households, and finances throughout the years. Highly recommended for everyone!

We have long known that women and men approach both work and money differently. The nature of the differences, though, is not what most people expect. In fact, Thomas Stanley leads the book with an illustration of exactly this: a man is vociferously insisting that businesswomen are cold, obsessed, unfriendly, tyrannical, unmarried and even dangerous and, as a result, are not worthy of study.

Stanley knows otherwise, though, and shows through exhaustive interviews and surveys that successful businesswomen have a great deal in common with their male counterparts in that they are next to impossible to define by qualitative measures alone. They are married and unmarried, mothers and not, formally educated and self-taught. One way they differ sharply from the male millionaires Stanley studied in a previous book is in their greater tendancy to allow family members to become "economic outpatients" - persons whose constant need for money is met by the successful person over whom they exercise emotional control.

One of the greatest gifts that Stanley gives all women in this book is showing in detail and with great care that one need not be born with a silver spoon to be financially successful (in fact, having ample financial resources while growing up may hinder self-directed success). In fact, several of his cases are of women who were neglected and/or abused in the most horrible ways and still managed to look within themselves and create success. It is clear through this work that if a woman truly desires to be free of economic pressure, she can be so regardless of her background and upbringing.

This is vintage Dr. Stanley. Thoroughly researched and accurate. I suspect that the 1 star reviews and unhelpful votes are from men who are jealous of the opposite, but very wealthy and successful gender.

Thank you Dr. Stanley for pointing out that so many women have outperformed men. It's about time. Hooray for the Millionaire Women!

While I loved the millionaire next and was eagerly anticipating this release I had a strong sense while reading this book that perhaps the author was under the gun to meet a deadline. What could he ever have possibly been thinking to dedicate a whole chapter to a man with dyslexia (perhaps in the author's mind a handicapped man somehow equals a woman...Argggh!) Even more disappointing were the many charts regarding small business opportunities. In my opinion, they would have had much more pertinence to the reader-(and the supposed subject matter of the book) if they were WOMAN OWNED businesses. There are some interesting cases but all and all I was not impressed for the above reasons.

I just finished reading this book after picking it up at a bookstore about five days ago. I read from it every chance I got, and though on the one hand, I have to agree with those readers who pointed out that the book was tough going at times, on the other hand, I also have to agree with other readers who had very good things to say about the book, as the favorable reviews are well deserved. First I will cite the bad about the book, and then I will cite the good.

First the bad. The book appears to rely heavily upon convenience sampling and voluntary response. The author seems to have shared mostly only those stories sent to him, or more plainly, that just fell into his lap. Second, like his two other millionaire books, the author uses the book as a platform to share with us the things he values, and appears only to look for that information or evidence which supports his values, never once addressing information that contradicts his position. Third, in keeping with the standard paradigm of women = victim and male = (opportunistic) victimizer, (which always plays well to the target demographic of the book), the author's attempt to make out this group of women as selfless, do-gooding heroines was a bit overdone. The millionaire women are seen as generous and charitable as a group, and the millionaire men are portrayed as heartless misers who penny-pinch at every turn. I felt especially incensed when Stanley went out of his way to make excuses for some millionaire womens' poor choices in mates- the so-called 'Marginal Bobs' (the book titled, Smart Women, Stupid Choices, comes readily to mind for some peculiar reason). By association, if some of the men made poor choices in terms of mates, would they too be given sympathy and generous excuses, or are we to believe that they deserve what they get?

And now the good. Aside from the obvious attempts to play to the book's target audience (middle class, educated wage-earning women) and attempts bordering on the egregious to trumpet the merits of personal financial planners of various stripes, the book did have quite a few good points about it. We learn that if we divide the millionaire women into two groups, those that give the most to charitable causes tend to have lower annual earned incomes and higher net worth. These women tend to give just for the joy of giving, and seek to make the world they live in a better place. Many people took issue with the inclusion of a chapter about a dyslexic man who did good; however, I think the point of the chapter was to show that even those with identifiable disabilities can become millionaires, be they male or female, so long as they play to their strengths, live below their means, save and invest, avoid a lifestyle centered around consumption, and most of all, have a source of thoughtful, intelligent mentoring available to them. Readers that read the book carefully will glean some powerful information from this book, such as the following: 1) you can not change the past, but you have considerable control over your future, 2) those who are professional, service-oriented and customer-focused will always beat the competition, 3) it pays to play to your native strengths, 4) great investors are not born, they are made through trial and error, so go ahead and make a few mistakes, and 5) most important, limit borrowing only to those things that generate a realizable (net) income- a lesson all of those would-be real estate moguls and Robert Kiyosaki mimics would do very, very well to keep in mind.

In passing, I did not think that it was appropriate for Stanley to profile two college professors in his chapter on wealthy educators, simply because in order to become a college professor, one has to spend, at last count, a minimum of at least seven years beyond the Bachelor's degree to receive a doctorate. These days, most places won't allow you to teach on the faculty without a PhD, and more than a few people on faculties do not get tenure. In my mind, it would have been better for him to profile a wealthy elementary or high school teacher, as this is a goal that is more attainable for most readers. Still, I got a good kick out of his story of the matronly professor who touched the lives of so many deserving students.

In sum, I found the book to be a very worthwhile read. Though many would dismiss the book's more important contents as common sense, it is hard to believe that many people still don't get it. Readers should keep in mind that it all comes down to the choices we make, and take special care not to equate one's net worth with one's self worth, a trap too many Stanley devotees tend to fall into. I still contend that ongoing investments in one's health and continuing education will lead to satisfying increases in one's wealth.

When I read reviews like the one that precedes mine and says that this bookis just a rehash of Dr. Stanleys earlier work, I have to wonder why people post reviews who obviously never read the book.

But upon checking reviews on The Millionaire Mind, I couldn't help but notice the same nonsense that The Millionaire Mind was supposedly the same as The Millionaire Next Door. And then upon reading some reviews on The Millionaire Next Door, people were comparing that book to books written by other authors.

I guess the millions of copies that were sold were purchased by people who must be extremely ignorant and naive right? WRONG! DEAD WRONG!

Each one of Sr. Stanleys book's are different. The fact that this book is titled Millionaire Women Next Door should be a hint that this book is different. As a female, I am glad that Dr. Stanley decided to profile the many millionaire women out there. In fact, it's past due time for the female sect to get ample recocgnition for our accomplishments.

And let's not forget that it was and still is more difficult for females to move ahead in corporate America than their male counterparts, even if the females do have better skills. Fortunately, that trend is slowly changing.

Men and women are different. Comparing this book to The Millionaire Next Door which profiled the men is like a doctor giving medication for male sexual disorders to a female.

I am glad that Dr. Stanley wrote this book and grateful that he has given the female sect the recocnition and praise they deserve. To me, this book is an inspiration to achieve in a world dominated primarily by the male sect. Dr. Stanleys great work gives hope and purpose for females who feel overshadowed by the men. It also shows that female gender can kick butt in the business and financial world and in many cases, far outperform men.

Millionaire Women shows the mental makeup as well as other factors that enabled females to achieve great financial success. Dr. Stanley, I applaud you for this work. 1 star reviewer, try reading the book before writing a review and get a life!

Wow! What a great book! No, I'm not a millionaire woman, not even close. But I certainly learned WHY, and that there is a millionaire woman in me, in all of us, if we choose it and pursue it. Women see their personality in this book, or their ex-husband's, or their parents, or their children, possibly all of the above. It should definitely open a dialogue between mothers and their sons and daughters, if we want to raise future generations of happy, well adjusted, young women and men.