I ASKED 100 MILLIONAIRES ABOUT THE BOOKS THAT HELPED THEM BUILD WEALTH, AND 7 BOOKS KEPT COMING UP
Charlie
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·
John, who runs personal finance
blog ESI Money and
doesn't share his last name online, has spent the past few years interviewing
millionaires.
·
John was a business executive for 28
years before he retired at age 52 with a $3 million net worth,
and has previously shared his own spending with Business Insider.
·
He asked those 100 millionaires
about their favorite books, and found the seven titles that came up repeatedly
included classics like "The Millionaire Next Door" and "Your
Money or Your Life."
Today we continue reviewing
information from my first 100 millionaire
interviews.
We've already covered several topics
including the numbers detailing their successes, 13 surprising facts about millionaires,millionaire wealth stories, and millionaire investing strategies.
We're going to add to these by
discussing books that have had the most impact on millionaires.
To reiterate from past posts, this
is NOT a scientific survey of what millionaires read and I'm not pretending it
is. It's a summary from millionaires I've interviewed.
It's no surprise that millionaires
read a lot. If our own interviews were not enough to confirm this, a quick trip
around the web confirms it.
Since reading seems to be a (vital?)
part of their success, wouldn't it be great to know the money books they like
best?
I certainly think so.
There's only one problem: I didn't
ask my first 100 millionaires what books they love (something I'm rectifying in
future interviews). I know. Ugh.
That said, starting with interview
#38 I inserted the following question that did generate some book mentions:
How did you learn about finances and
at what age did it 'click'? Was it from family, books, forced to learn as
wealth grew, etc.?
In addition, many millionaires
volunteered books they liked as they told their stories.
But this was still not enough
information. So what did I do? I sent the millionaires an email, asking for the
top three money books that made a difference in their life, and how. If there
weren't any books, I wanted to know that, too.
And I received a lot of great
responses!
So between the emails and the original
interviews, I now have a wealth of information (pun intended) on what
millionaires read.
Before we get into the books
themselves, let me state that there were many comments like "I read Dave
Ramsey books" or "I like books from the Rich Dad series."
Unless a book was mentioned by name,
I did not count these in the results below. They were just too vague. I only
included responses where a specific book was named.
I also want to note that while I
might simply say "books" below, we are talking about money books
specifically. I'm not really interested if they read Jane Eyre or Batman
novels.
Here are the findings …
1. Millionaires have wide-ranging tastes in what they read
Overall, there were 56 different
books mentioned by the group.
The grand total mentions was 114
(not all responded, but those who did often mentioned several books, many of
which over-lapped.)
It's no surprise that they read
broadly and have various interests. Their stories illustrate different paths to
a million dollars. The same diversity is realized in their favorite money
books.
2. Millionaires love certain books disproportionately
While there's a wide range of books
listed, seven of the books received over half the mentions.
Here are the top seven books listed
in order, along with my thoughts and quotes from millionaires:
While their votes demonstrate this,
their comments add even more love.
Here's one that summarizes many
others I received:
Like many others, the Millionaire
Next Door would be by far number 1 and have re-read it multiple times
throughout the years. It reinforced that there were multiple ways to accumulate
wealth, to always live below your means, that you didn't necessarily have make
a high income to be a millionaire and that many millionaires were
"hidden" living middle class lifestyles. I think your blog is the
current version on the Millionaire Next Door and one of the reasons I was open
to sharing my family's story.
How kind. It's hard to imagine being
put in the same group with such a book.
Here's
another one:
I didn't read The Millionaire NextDoor until I was solidly on the path to financial independence. However, before
I read this, I considered us to be the cheap people in our neighborhood. This
book helped me to understand that the folks who are buying all the fancy stuff
are usually the folks that really don't have any money. The wealthy are
generally the folks living frugally and not worrying about trying to keep up
with the Joneses and just show off their material crap. It actually gave me
comfort to understand that we're on the right path and doing things the right
way.
And a similar comment:
The Millionaire Next Door is a very
fundamentally important book. It displaces so many untrue but commonly held
beliefs that surround how wealth is created. I think it's message is incredibly
empowering. It shows you that mostly everyone can achieve significant wealth if
you are willing to make basis, smart decisions. I have actually read this cover
to cover twice about 15 years apart.
Finally, here is a thought about the
book being the granddaddy of the financial independence movement:
The Millionaire Next Door This is a
classic. I read it when I was in high school and it really opened my eyes. It
is not about how much you spent but how much you saved. This book set me on the
"FI" path before I knew what FI was.
This was my personal experience as well.
I read it when the book first came out and tell people, "I did what it
advises and I became wealthy as a result." Pretty simple really.
This one offers a bit more detail:
The fundamental message in this book
is so profound. Some of the sections come across a bit "hippy" but
the message is so deep. Whether you realize it or not, you are trading your
life energy every day. You need to do so mindfully or you will get to the end
of this wonderful life disappointed.
And another:
I loved the mindset change this book
gave me. The idea that my time was too precious to waste on anything but things
that made me feel happy and uplifted was liberating. It helped me focus more on
what I was running to vs. what I was running from.
One more:
It gave me a great perspective on
how to measure success in my life, and not just net worth.
You get the point. The book does an
awesome job of relating time and money and showing that you spend your life
(time) on so many worthless things. It's a great perspective-builder!
This one was a surprise for me.
I've read it (of course) but it
didn't really do much for me (and thus didn't make my top five list).
In addition, there's been a lot of
less-than-positive chatter from money bloggers about the book — is it a real
story or made up, is the author legitimate or just a great salesman, etc.
One millionaire addressed these
issues head on:
You can put down Robert Kiyosaki and
say that he's a fraud or that he makes more money from his seminars than his
real estate. However, this was the book that was the light bulb for me. This
was the book that made me realize that it's possible for the everyday person to
attain wealth. Although this was more of a motivational book than a
step-by-step guide, it became the inspiration for me to get off my butt and try
different things to get out of the rat race like real estate and starting my
own businesses.
There's no doubt this book has more
of a focus on the accumulation of assets than many other money books.
One millionaire noted this:
This book really taught me the
importance of accumulating income-producing assets. I never did get into real
estate but I did get into the stock market. In my mind, a stock paying a
dividend is a lot less work than an apartment-paying dividend. I read this in
high school as well. Because of this book in addition to others, I opened a
Roth IRA at the ripe old age of 16.
Here's
one with a different takeaway:
Rich
Dad, Poor Dad was one of the 1st books that I
read when I started to get really serious about personal finance. I think that
fundamental message that I took away from this work is how important it is to
work smarter than harder. Working hard is important and fundamental but if you
do not work wisely you are making it very challenging to succeed. You need to
make sacrifices so that your money can work hard for you. It the 1st personal
finance book that I had my oldest son read while in college.
Again, a surprise for me but there's
no doubt this book has had a major impact on millionaires.
#4 (tie): The Automatic Millionaire
This book didn't make my top five
list but made the honorable mentions.
My main issue with this one is that
it can be summarized in one sentence — so why do we need a whole book?
But millionaires disagreed and found
tons of value — many loving its simple yet powerful message.
Here's
a comment that encapsulates the general sentiment:
This one was a surprise for me as
well.
Not because it's a bad book — it's a
very good book, in fact.
But it's so new compared to the
others. They have had many decades to become well-known and popular while this
book was published only a few years ago.
My guess is that this book will
become the standard investing book for the FIRE community and replace the
popularity of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing oneday.
For millionaires, looks like that
day has already come.
And another:
Just positive messages to influence
and grow your abilities and riches will come.
I remember it being just what they
said — positive and inspirational.
I'm not going to comment on every
book millionaires listed (or else this post would be the size of a book!) but I
will list them all.
This section includes all the books that
were mentioned more than once, but not as many times as the top seven:
3.
Not all millionaires are readers
When asked what books influenced
them, several millionaires said "none."
In fact, this was the third most
popular answer after The Millionaire Next Door and Your Money or Your Life.
Here's
one millionaire's response:
None. I've read a lot of investing
books, but none of them really made a difference in my life.
While all of them have had some good
information, so many have been either so basic or so technical that I either
lose interest or struggle to find applicability to my life. As an example, I'm
reading Chris Hogan's "Retire Inspired" and just finished a section "What
is a 401k."
I think it's a great book for
someone with limited financial exposure, but was looking for something that
actually was a little deeper and geared more towards the advanced/expert level.
For me personally, the material that
I am reading that is making a difference are blogs from people such as
yourself. It's much easier to read a section, ruminate on what I read, do
research and ask questions verses slogging through page after page of entry
level topics as I have to do in books. There are always those nuggets found in
books, but I can't trudge through 400 pages looking for it.
Here's
another one — a very interesting perspective:
There were no money books that I
found in time. That said, who knows what books the people I learned from read?
I bet they were good ones!
Well said!
Millionaires
and money books
So, what have we learned in this
review? My thoughts:
·
Most wealthy people are readers.
This reading, in turn, probably helps them learn and grow which then makes them
better money mangers. Or maybe it's just a coincidence that the wealthy read a
lot.
·
They like a wide variety of money
books. Much wider than I would have guessed, in fact. I found some books I need
to read!
·
There are seven books that seem
particularly impactful. If you are strapped for time and can only read a few
money books, the top seven is probably a great place to begin.
·
Millionaires and money bloggers seem
to be on the same page. Just look how similar the millionaires were to what money bloggers said were their favorite books.
That's the list. I'm sure there will
be some discussion on which ones are "best," so let's get to it!
Read the original article on ESI Money.
Copyright 2019. Follow ESI Money on Twitter.
www.kyle-phoenix.com
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Kyle Phoenix is a teacher, certified adult educator, sexologist, sex coach and sexuality educator with over two decades of intensive experience. He studied at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, New York University, and Columbia University. He has worked, consulted and taught individuals and focused professional developments for the CDC, Department of Education, Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York City Department of Health, non-profits, Fortune 500 companies and unions. He began his career facilitating on-campus workshops addressing a wide range of sexuality and sexual health issues and then moved on to teaching at universities, non-profits, private groups and clients, hosting The Kyle Phoenix Show on television and multiple online webinars, including YouTube and Sclipo and writing extensively through his blog, Special Reports, articles and other print and E books in the Kyle Phoenix Series on relationships, finance, education, spirituality and culture. He lives in New York with his family.
Smile, Kyle
KylePhoenixShow@Gmail.com
#KylePhoenix
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Kyle Phoenix on Facebook and TwitterThe Kyle Phoenix Show LIVE STREAMING on MNN.org 1130pm, Spectrum Cable Manhattan, NY Channel 56 & 1996, also FIOS 34 and RCN 83.
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Don't forget to watch The Kyle Phoenix Show LIVESTREAM on Channel 56 (Time Warner), 83 (RCN), 34 (Verizon) Thursdays 1130pm
Kyle Phoenix is a teacher, certified adult educator, sexologist, sex coach and sexuality educator with over two decades of intensive experience. He studied at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, New York University, and Columbia University. He has worked, consulted and taught individuals and focused professional developments for the CDC, Department of Education, Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York City Department of Health, non-profits, Fortune 500 companies and unions. He began his career facilitating on-campus workshops addressing a wide range of sexuality and sexual health issues and then moved on to teaching at universities, non-profits, private groups and clients, hosting The Kyle Phoenix Show on television and multiple online webinars, including YouTube and Sclipo and writing extensively through his blog, Special Reports, articles and other print and E books in the Kyle Phoenix Series on relationships, finance, education, spirituality and culture. He lives in New York with his family.
www.kylephoenix.com
Smile, Kyle
KylePhoenixShow@Gmail.com
KylePhoenixShow@Gmail.com
#KylePhoenix
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