'Millionaire' Blockbuster Author dies in Crash

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | March 1, 2015

[Cecily]

The author of a blockbuster book series on the habits of millionaires was killed in a car crash Saturday afternoon near his home in Marietta, according to his family and Cobb County police.

Thomas J. Stanley, who was 71, used research to smash the stereotype that being wealthy meant looking wealthy. On the contrary, his works said: Self-made millionaires — the real deal, not the wannabes — are much more likely to be frugal and spurn spending for show.

As for the people showing off the bling? “It’s the neurotic middle-class,” he said in a 1991 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Or the millionaires’ children.

[Cecily]

I enjoyed his book "The Millionaire Next Door."

RIP.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[SamAdams76]

That's a shame. I was just re-reading his "Millionaire Next Door" book. It's advice I've been taking for 20 years now. A key takeaway for me was to live below my means and to this day, I continue to save 20% of my income and live as though I was only making 80% of my current salary.

[Kenny Bunk]

Maybe he should NOT have spurned “spending for show,” and gotten himself a chauffeur?

[jjotto]

“The Millionaire Next Door” should be required reading in high schools.

RIP Thomas Stanley

[cripplecreek]

If I won the lotto I would avoid drawing attention to the fact. No expensive cars or anything like that.

[Gay State Conservative]

So he wrote that? Excellent book.But I think he was writing about an earlier generation.My Dad,a child of the Depression,*always* lived well below his means.He drove Oldsmobiles when he could have afforded much better.He always wore Timex watches when he could have afforded much better.It's one of the many valuable lessons he taught me...live below your means.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Not much a chauffeur can do about someone hitting you from behind.

[nascarnation]

and gotten himself a chauffeur

Sometimes even that doesn't work too well (Bob Simon)

[yarddog]

Probably the only thing I liked about Ted Kennedy was that he drove an Oldsmobile.

[tbw2]

That book was as valuable to financial literacy as Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover”.

[Bob]

If I won the lotto I would avoid drawing attention to the fact. No expensive cars or anything like that.

Here's my plan if I ever do win the lotto:

1. Hire an attorney and an accountant.

2. Change my name.

3. Move.

[jjotto]

Chauffeur for the Corvette he was driving? Isn’t that against one of the laws of thermodynamics?

[max americana]

When I interned here in L.A., every “slave” read that book. There’s nothing wrong splurging in something expensive once in a while as it’s a reward system for your hard work. The main message I got was try not to spend more than you can make, and to make money, you need money.

[max americana]

I saw a foreign ad before where a guy wins the lottery and there was a BEFORE and AFTER scene. The BEFORE scenes were his geek friends, fat girlfriend and Toyota Corolla. The AFTER scenes were his rich friends kissing up to him, his model wife coming out of the pool and his butler’s washing the same old Toyota Corolla.

[cripplecreek]

I like where I am but I would get a security system (Minus the idiotic signs announcing it) and I would be armed pretty much all the time.

I would buy a place in the upper peninsula for getting away.

[Cecily]

4. Get a trained guard dog (German Shepherd) to live in the house and ward off criminals, stalkers and other crazies.

[Jim from C-Town]

The most effective part of a security system is the sign. Save the $ on the system and buy the sign and stickers for your doors and windows.

[eartrumpet]

I never needed a million dollars to be armed all the time.

[Zhang Fei]

Should have bought a Navigator instead of a Corvette.