Tl;DR: The book provides a profile of the average millionaire during the 1990’s. The described profile is based on extensive survey data. The book describes the habits of your average millionaire which is to consume in alignment with a clear budget. The average millionaire earns an average salary but is skilled in accumulating wealth because they stick to a budget and live below their means. Save yourself the full read and take a look at the Wikipedia Page.

I won’t try to sugar coat it; I found the advice to be sound but the references to be very dated. The author’s conducted survey’s of millionaires and used the survey responses as the basis for the book. While the conclusions the author’s reach still hold merit the data used/referenced is old. Younger generations are likely to lose appreciation for things like holding a Sears credit card vs a boutique brand credit card. Also, because of inflation the further away from this book you get the less “shocking” the data points become.

The long and short of it is that your average millionaire is not a spender; they are a saver. They spend a significant amount of their time managing their finances. The more you can do to instill this value in your children the more likely your family is to experience generational wealth. In terms of recommended occupations the book makes a recommendation that I find still valid and that is that professions that service the affluent will continue to be in high demand.

The book highlights how more often than not those that put their wealth on display through their consumption habits usually have not accumulated much wealth. Rather, the author’s suggest that it is those who DO NOT display their wealth through their consumption habits that have actually been successful in accumulating generational wealth.

Reading this book became a bit of a chore towards the end as the author continued to reaffirm their statements via survey results. Highlighting specific behaviors of the wealthy, such as budgeting, and then backing it up through real purchase data such as the most ever spent on a suit or the most ever spent on a car.

This book broke my reading routine a bit because I found it was not a night time read. Thinking about your finances before trying to go to sleep is not something I would recommend. To combat sleepless nights I decided to pick up a second book for reading a night. The millionaire next door became my morning read while Wherever You Go There You Are became my evening read. As a result of this read I’ll be revisiting/tweaking my reading list for the remainder of the year.