When books are revealing and generally true to their basic thesis, they can be life altering. Such was my experience in 1997 when reading The Millionaire Next Door. Initially, my reaction was incredulous because most books that seem to promote quick wealth building strategies seem only to bring prosperity to the author. But after scanning the table of contents and noticing that this book was on the New York Times and Washington Post bestseller lists, my interest was more than piqued and boy am I better off after having read it.

From the beginning, the elements of this book distinguished it from others of the same genre. The book discusses seven qualities that are common among those who have amassed wealth. This discussion dispels widely held myths perpetuated in the media and films of the typical millionaire, including how he/she accumulated their wealth and their extravagant lifestyles.

Reading this book was life altering because prior to reading it I was not an avid investor --- something that changed soon after reading this book. This was not the primary reason it was life altering, however, since that may suggest the primary reason for my reading this book was the potential for personal financial gain (although, it would be disingenuous to suggest that this is not important).

The book was most revealing because you discover, as the title suggests, that most millionaires do not live in well known wealthy enclaves such as Beverly Hills or Park Avenue, but may in fact live next door to YOU (check with your neighbors to confirm this assertion). In short, the authors cogently argue that the typical millionaire is actually a normal Jane and Joe America.

Here is a concise profile of the typical millionaire as proposed by the authors of this book, "He is married with three children, lives in a small town for all of his adult life, has married once and remains married, (good ol’ family values), about one in five is retired, business types including but not limited to --- welding contractors, auctioneers, rice farmers and pest controllers; about half of the wives do not work outside the home, the household's total annual realized taxable income is $131,000 (median, or 50th percentile); while the average income is $247,000, he has an average household net worth of $3.7 million, 97 percent are homeowners; most live well below their means, they are fastidious investors, they are frugal and finally as a group there are fairly well educated.” This should offer a snapshot of some of the characteristics that the average American would not associate with the typical millionaire.

The authors also introduced excellent acronyms to characterize those who have the appearance of being rich as opposed to the inverse. For instance, to describe the first category of those perceived to be wealthy the term is UAM which stands for an “under accumulator of wealth” versus a PAM which stands for “prodigious accumulator of wealth” and for those of us in the middle, we are referred to as an AAW, an “average accumulator of wealth”. Now, of course, you'll need to read the book to better understand their methods of measuring the above categories, which I found more than reasonable and verifiable. Throughout the book, the authors share a plethora of anecdotal experiences to buttress their basic arguments.

Moreover, the authors trace those millionaire’s ethnicities to cite which category (i.e. English, Irish, Jewish and Scottish) comprised the primary makeup of this group; you'll find this discovery most interesting too. More particularly, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the lifestyle choices of the legitimate millionaires such as whether they purchase new versus used cars, houses and other commercial commodities. Many of you should feel reassured that legitimate millionaires do not spend excessively as Hollywood so often suggests.

In writing The Millionaire Next Door, Doctors Stanley and Danko have done a great civic service by telling the true story of those who are fortunate in building wealth and debunking widely-held images of the "Rich and Famous.” According to this book followed by the sequel, those who have accumulated wealth are industrious, frugal common Joe and Jane with an uncommon devotion to discovering the American dream and actually waking up to live it as well. Stay tuned for a review of the sequel; The Millionaire Mind, authored solely by Dr. Stanley.•