“Most millionaires are not intellectually gifted in an analytical sense. They did not receive all As in school. That’s why they decided not to compete in macho dogfight environments where superior analytical intelligence is a requirement to succeed.”
Thomas Stanley
The Millionaire Mind | Thomas J. Stanley
Thomas J. Stanley is an incredibly clever academic, and author of the best selling novel ‘The Millionaire Next Door’ which has sold over 1 Million copies. In this his follow on book, he delves deeper into the psyche of the average Millionaire, finding out how they tick and seeing if we can reverse engineer any important lessons out of them.
Stanley continues his research and survey of over 1,000 millionaires to understand their way of thinking and lifestyle; for example he asks
“Who is the average millionaire? Do they eat gourmet or fast food? Does they drive fancy cars, take chic vacations, and indulge wherever and whenever they can? Or do they resole their shoes, turn off the air conditioning when they leaves the house, and spend a lot of time at home with close friends and family?”
Thomas Stanley
His research finds that most millionaires actually don’t fit the mould as model citizens; many failed at school, were told they wouldn’t amount to much and didn’t even attend college. Stanley proposes these challenges potentially teach some how to overcome challenges and even motivated them to succeed in spite of their failures.
The thing he found in common with most Millionaires, was their propensity to take risks, particularly financial risks. They overcome their fear of failure by failing, and demonstrate the courage to innovate, adapt and learn from these failures.
He found most millionaires to be surprisingly ‘frugal’, more content with quality time spent in strong and committed relationships, rather than being driven by consumer spending. He found some of the most common traits and strategies used by millionaires included;
- Positive self talk and visualisation
- Strong communications skills (verbal and non verbal)
- Sharing concerns with their spouse
- Outsourcing time consuming jobs to employees
- Hiring specialist advisers and professionals
- Exercising regularly
- Life-long learning
- Good time management and planning skills
- Generous with their money and skills but protective of their time
Check it out on Amazon here, listen to it through Audible or buy it from Australia’s local bookstore Booktopia
Captain FI is a Retired Pilot who lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He is passionate about Financial Independence and writes about Personal Finance and his journey to reach FI at 29, allowing him to retire at 30.