Middle-class millionaires
In America, millions make you middle-class. The book is The Middle-Class Millionaire: The Rise of The New Rich And How They Are Changing America ($24, Currency Doubleday).
Some key points:
Middle-class millionaires exhibit 4 qualities: Hard work (70 hrs/wk rather than 40), Networking (using information as capital), Perseverance (typically fail twice professionally), Risk (choose jobs with greater risk and pay rather than avoiding risk).
These books, reports, etc. that try to find similar qualities within a group of people inherently contain a lot of hindsight bias. In this case these are the 4 qualities are described as “Millionaire Intelligence” by the authors. By looking at the winners (such as “millionaires”) people assume that these particular qualities led them to success. However, there are plenty of people that exhibit the same qualities, yet did not end up millionaires. A lot of “success” has to do with pure randomness. Right place, right time. By being prepared you have a bigger window of opportunity, a higher probability of success, nothing more.
Another middle-class millionaire behavior is choosing a house in the best public school district. Regular middle-class people say three things, almost equally, influence where they live — schools, convenience to work and convenience to shopping.
I agree.
The book also reveals that studying for a post-graduate degree, unless it’s an MBA, is unlikely to make you richer.
This is incorrect. I know JDs (”Juris Doctor,” I had to look that up) that are definitely richer. Even a graduate degree in engineering works. It won’t make you rich, but “richer.”
Prince and Schiff [the authors] reveal that, on average, people believe it takes $13.4 million to feel wealthy. Middle-class millionaires put the figure even higher, at about $24 million.
That’s ludicrous.