By the way, Matthew, you have millionaires in your chapel? And a man who owns a nearly million dollar home? Or was that just an exaggerated example to make a point?
Not at my chapel, but we do know millionaires who behave as I describe. Unfortunately, we are not that "close" to them :)
and that's how they probably became millionaires or at least that's how they may be keeping their money, by living like their neighbors who have less money.
Has anyone here read "The Millionaire Next Door"? The main theme among millionaires is that they live way below their means and you could have one living next door to you and not even know it. Of course, most or many of them lost much of their paper wealth in the last 3 years but that's another story, isn't it?
Here's a summary of the book:
Most millionaires drive older cars (average of 10 years old or so),
own houses that are smaller or simpler than what they can afford,
decorate their homes simply and inexpensively,
wear clothes from JC Penney's or Sears,
don't eat out all that much.
They may even homeschool or send their kids to public schools.
Many of them made their millions by working long and hard at some type of business but they may not have finished college.
They don't look like they have lots of money and so one may be your next door neighbor who drives a 10+ year old Chevy truck and wears jeans and a flannel shirt to his Janitorial business, employing 50 hard-working people.
These millionaires used to put a lot of their money in the stock market and so many of them lost much of their money since '08 and are no longer millionaires. Have anyone seen articles lately about how the U.S. now has far fewer millionaires than there were in '07?
If you want to read the book, just borrow it from the library or get it for a penny plus shipping from Amazon if think you have to own it, but you probably don't need to spend money to put it on your shelf, since I already told you the main theme of the book: Live below your means, and look like you don't have money. Then you won't be tempted to try to keep up with whomever it is that you envy.
Of course, I'm sure that most if not all of us here are already working on living below our means and not envying our neighbors, but I doubt any of us expect to be millionaires. I just hope to be able to retire some day, and hard work and trusting in God are my "main themes". :stare: