Suggested Reading: The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy

Do All Millionaires Drive Fancy Cars?

When I was a younger man I heard a great story about the owner of a large car company that has stuck with me all my life.  This owner would drive his 20 year-old truck to work everyday.  I’m sure he could have had a limousine and a driver drop him off at work, or drive a fancy sports car, but he never did.  Even when the senior managers of the company that he owned would chide him about his choice of transportation, he still drove that old truck to his workplace.

Our society and media in general puts so much emphasis about our outward appearances, the car we drive or the house we live in, but are all people who spend exceedingly in these areas wealthy?  A great book on the subject is “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy” by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko.

Does that really mean that Millionaires deprived themselves of daily lattes?

It’s not really the point.

Making positive financial changes should not take away from your overall enjoyment of life, it should instead, add to it.  Understanding the difference between good debt and bad debt is the key.  Russ Alan Prince, coauthor of “The Middle-Class Millionaire” says that Millionaires make judicious use of debt, they take out loans to build their business, avoid high interest credit card debt, and they leverage their home equity to finance cash flow producing assets.