“One of the reasons that millionaires are economically successful is that they think differently,” wrote Stanley, who interviewed hundreds of low-profile millionaires. They had a lot of stuff, highly mortgaged homes, but little to no savings or assets they could sell to carry them through hard times. The economic downturn pulled the curtain back from many wealth pretenders. In fact, it puts an exclamation point on his life’s work of studying the rich. In the preface to an updated version of “The Millionaire Next Door,” Stanley addressed the question of whether his research still holds true following the Great Recession. Recently his estate made its first distributions to the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and the Brooks Library for $4.8 million and $1.2 million, respectively, according to his attorney’s office. Read was known for his frugality and modest lifestyle. When I think of Stanley’s work, I think of Ronald Read, a Vermont gas station attendant and janitor, who was in the news recently when people in his community found out - after his death at 92 - he was a multimillionaire. Stanley contributed so much to the field of personal finance by showing us that the frugal folks who live next door to you may be extraordinarily wealthy. The best tribute I could give Stanley is to remind people of his work and his message. This month, instead of a new pick for the Color of Money Book Club, it seems more fitting to talk about “The Millionaire Next Door” and why it remains one of my favorite financial books.

28, Stanley died in a car crash near Atlanta, where he lived. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.” If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. “Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America,” Danko and Stanley wrote.

Thomas stanley