May he rest in peace!
I heard of his death today on the Dave Ramsey radio show. I then sent this to the LA Times:
"The Los Angeles Times has sunk to a new low, publishing a hit piece on Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, author of the best-selling book The Millionaire Next Door, shortly after his death. Worse yet, you are dead wrong. There are numerous of us in the greatest country ever who are millionaires next door. I’m one, and I know many others. All over the country, we are there. None of us are royalty or born to a special caste. Most all of us are self-made millionaires, not inheritors. Most all of us make money doing real things, not speculating on stocks and such. Never before in history have so many common people had such great opportunity.
I was born poor, with a rusty spoon in my mouth, not a silver one, and my father died when I was 12. My wife grew up and began working in a country occupied by the USSR. Yet, we are self-made millionaires next door, with a net worth in the top one percent.
Like many, we own a small business. I started my consulting company with nothing but a commitment to quality and service, and initially had to struggle to balance eating with paying for things such a phone line for a FAX machine. Building my first computer meant no longer having to go to rent time on computers. Getting that first printer, and then that first copier, meant we could do all of our office work in our own offices. We had no clients to start, so we went out and found people who needed help and built a business.
I was stupid with money when I was younger, yet am now as great a proponent as I can be of avoiding debt. My wife and I are debt free, owning our home and 15 income properties in seven states. Neither of us are show offs, but we’re not cheap. I drive an average of 2,000 business miles per month, so did not hesitate to buy a new loaded Jeep Grand Cherokee last year. However, even that was a thrifty purchase, as an equivalent Mercedes-Benz M-Class, designed at the same time and made with many of the same parts, costs 50% more than the Jeep. I have a hobby collecting and restoring radios, especially those from the 1930s, but avoid the expensive "collector" models. We travel to Europe every year, but coach. I almost always wear blue jeans to work, and often also wear a tool belt. Our other car is a Mercedes-Benz, but it is a 12 year old C230K hatchback which only cost $25,500. We do enjoy eating out, but as another former professor once asked at a meeting for real estate investors, what do you have the next day after an expensive meal? We mow our own yard, and I change the oil in my Jeep.
Being wealthy and debt free also means being able to give. We have a list of charities and non-profit organizations to which we donate. One of our nieces who’s father died at age 38 recently graduated from a top business college, so we were happy to be able to surprise her with a trip to California. You can’t enjoy doing such thing when you’re poor.
Despite the 100 year long effort by leftists to destroy the United States, this is still the land of opportunity, so it is also the land where millionaires next door are numerous. Get rid of the ball and chain of far too much government, and there will be dramatically more millionairess next door."
