So, Mr. Stanely, for the money:

How can I get richer?

Subscribe to the cheap date, hurry up and wait philosophy, Stanley says. That is, spend less, save more, and repeat.

To hear him tell it, millionaires next door are no rocket scientists. They didn’t get rich quickly, and neither will most of us. (Unless you’re about to unveil, say, a mind-powered personal jet pack that will revolutionize human life. Let’s talk.)

On Saving

“The millionaires next door were not saving a ton of money in their 20s and 30s,” Stanley says. “They saved probably about 5 percent of their income.” Ramp that up to:

• 10 percent in your 40s.

• 15 percent in your 50s.

On Investing

“There’s a real misconception about millionaires and how well they do in the stock market. I’ve consistently found that their stock portfolios don’t perform any better than the market, but they do it consistently.”

“The best thing is a low-cost Index fund. If you take $5 a day during time you work and put it in low-cost index fund, you’d be millionaire by the time you retire. Most people don’t know that.”

(Hey, now’s a great time to buy!)

On Spending (or the Duh factor)

Take a shopping list to the grocery store.
Have your shoes re-soled.
Pay off your debt.
Pay off your mortgage as quickly as you can.
Avoid a $300 (or more) monthly car payment (or insert an equivalent nice-to-have expense here).
Get out of line for that lottery ticket and put that money in savings!

On Persevering

When you have those moments where you just don’t believe you’ll get there, look at how far you’ve come, and remember:

“You don’t realize how close you are to success,” Stanley says. “When I first discovered all this, I wished someone had told me 30 years ago.”

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Tags:   cheap date · hurry up and wait · investing · spending: duh factor2 Comments