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Everyday Millionaires

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In Everyday Millionaires, #1 national best-selling author Chris Hogan will show you how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth—and how you can too. You’ll learn how millionaires live on less than they make, avoid debt, invest, are disciplined and responsible!

Our new book is based on the largest study EVER conducted on 10,000 U.S. millionaires—and the results will shock you! You’ll learn that building wealth has almost NOTHING to do with your income or your background! It doesn’t matter where you come from. It matters where you’re going.

Most people think it takes crazy investing knowledge, a giant salary, a streak of luck, or a huge inheritance to become a millionaire. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! Here’s what you need to understand: if you’re willing to do the work—if you’ll follow the stuff we teach, if you’ll commit to our plan—then you CAN become a millionaire.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2019

995 people are currently reading
4942 people want to read

About the author

Chris Hogan

20 books130 followers

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5 stars
1,985 (29%)
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2,326 (34%)
3 stars
1,767 (26%)
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563 (8%)
1 star
141 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 754 reviews
Profile Image for Bryan Baecker.
28 reviews
January 24, 2019
As someone that both advocates Dave Ramsey's approach and loves ' The Millionaire Next Door' (TMND) so much, I REALLY wanted this book to be good; I really did. I pre-ordered it and got the audiobook included with my physical copy. I suffered through two and half hours of the audio book before switching to the book so I could skip past the author's redundant regurgitation of the same facts (he spent over 30 minutes of a seven hour book talking about how millionaires don't take unnecessary risks with their money) bad analogies. I’m giving this book one star because it was awful for several reasons.

First, 'Everyday Millionaires' (EM) was billed as an extension of the research done by Thomas Stanley and William Danko in the late 90s for the book 'TMND'. This book was such a huge disappointment in that regard. The extremely well-researched 'TMND' was packed with data and new insights about American millionaires. It dispelled the myths of wealth in American portrayed by the media. Furthermore, the anecdotes reinforced the insights with great detail. In contrast, the 245-page 'EM', with its huge font and excessively wide margins, brought nothing new to the discussion. In fact, they could’ve easily conveyed the same information less than 20 pages. I have never read a book that said so little with so many words. The author makes the same points over, and over, and over, and over again.

Second, the book reads like a transcript from the 'Dave Ramsey Show' at best - at worst it sounds like an infomercial. Most of the book is subjective commentary classified as either 'pep talk' from a coach (i.e. a lot of you too can become a millionaire if you just adopt the right mindset) or Dave Ramsey's opinion about how it is OK to be wealthy. The anecdotes about the everyday millionaires are shallow and lack any real detail. They basically just say, "this guy followed the Dave Ramsey approach, never wavered from it, and now has a $X MM net worth. And just like the later additions of the Total Money Makeover, you won't have any trouble finding plugs for his other book and Ramsey Solution products and services.

Third, the book is filled with unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence that just leaves you wanting more in every instance (e.g. He talks about how most lottery winners are broke within a few years but then offers absolutely no evidence to back up that claim).

Fourth, the research team didn’t conduct any additional research where they could’ve found cool extensions of the insights from 'TMND' (e.g. They again found that disproportionately high numbers of teachers are millionaires. Instead of focusing on the things that make teachers millionaires despite being notoriously underpaid, a fact they mention but ignore, they just move on).

Fifth, the research team used the data to fit the narrative they wanted - which is to follow Dave Ramsey's approach and that anyone with the right mindset can be a millionaire (e.g. The analysis on education is almost laughable. The data clearly shows a huge bias towards higher education but the author doesn’t even mention income inequality or that underrepresented minorities have more limited access).

Sixth, rather than talking about the research the author shares weird personal anecdotes (e.g. "Because I’m often on TV I pay attention to what other people on TV say." or comparing his body to Michael Phelps' and how he doesn’t like to go white water rafting because he doesn’t have a swimmers body - this is all somehow supposed to relate to the myths about millionaires and lead us to the conclusion that we are supposed to go against the current).

Lastly, the author takes credit for Dave Ramsey's ideas (e.g. he claims credit for the four Ds of partnerships when Dave Ramsey has been talking about that on his show for years). It very much seems like they are trying to spread Dave Ramsey‘s original methods across the 'Ramsey Network Personalities' without adding much, if any, new information in attempt to make more money.

If you need a basic understanding of personal finance you might find this book helpful but there are FAR better books out there. Save yourself some time and money read 'The Richest Man in Babylon', 'TMND', and the 'Total Money Makeover''.
63 reviews3 followers
January 3, 2019
This book feels like a hybrid of "The Millionaire Next Door" and Chris Hogan's "Retire Inspired".

This book was promoted online and on the Dave Ramsey show as an update of "The Millionaire Next Door". They did that study. They share relatively few of the resulting statistics except at a high level, such as the fact that fewer than 3% of the millionaires inherited a million and 80-90% of millionaires remain first generation. I compared this book constantly to the prior classic. The biggest shift in the data was that most millionaires now were people who aggressively saved for retirement in a 401K - think 15% or more - instead of owning a business. The book did go into detail on that.

Much of the book is a pep talk peppered with retirement facts to prompt readers to save for retirement, Chris Hogan's focus in the Dave Ramsey family of personalities. That you can become a millionaire, let's break the stereotypes of millionaires that make many hate them.

Then the book devotes at least a chapter on how to become a millionaire ... by saving 15% or more like Dave Ramsey has always recommended.

I wanted much more data on the new millionaire population, not just "half live in neighborhoods at or below average house values" or "most haven't spent more than $35 on jeans". The fact they promoted it as being the follow up study and then failed to include even a chapter of hard data as an appendix cost them one star.

They did not even mention, much less verify, the classic wealth building rules from the millionaire next door on how much house or car to buy.
Profile Image for Jessica.
119 reviews14 followers
January 12, 2019
This is my very first Dave Ramsey book I have read and I was highly disappointed with this book. If you listen to the Dave Ramsey show, this is just the show in written form. There was very limited new information. I would only recommend this book if you are new to the program or if you never listen to the show. I was also highly disappointed with the reading level. It reads like a high school book versus an adult level reading book.
Profile Image for Alex.
175 reviews
June 23, 2019
This is the second book by Hogan that I've been underwhelmed with (the first being Retire Inspired). He tends to be very redundant, saying the same thing repeatedly just in slightly different ways. This book especially felt like a pamphlet or small pocket book that was needlessly expanded into a full book. Now, I've read all of Dave Ramsey's books and listen to his podcast everyday, so that may be influencing my perception some.

I was also expecting much more data and to see the actual results of the study. The marketing was so focusing on the research side of this, I was expecting to see the full thing. All you really get are a bunch of percentages.

All in all, just an "eh" book that should've been shorter and contained more data.
14 reviews1 follower
January 26, 2019
This book seemed to simply be a money grab by Ramsey Media/Press. They sought to update the information contained in The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley with extensive interviews with wealthy people and data points showing how people build money over time. It was written in a very simple narrative, lacking the humor and personality of Dave Ramsey. Chris Hogan's life experiences are hard to identify with (he went to college on a Football scholarship), and lack the transformative experiences that make Dave Ramsey believable and appear to be an authority on the topic of wealth-building to large audiences. Based on listening to Chris and Dave on the show, I thought this book would contain more representations of the data that they collected. They stated that it was the largest study of its kind, but the book is a generous 250 pages. I appreciate Ramsey Media for what they do and highly recommend reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. If you want to go further, there are more valuable resources than this one.
Profile Image for Julianne Bailey.
286 reviews50 followers
March 9, 2019
I enjoyed this one, and was particularly interested in the Roth IRA analysis chapter. Overall, I wish he has delved into more interviews with the millionaires and even more data driven instead of anecdotal in how he discussed the myths. But overall a solidly good read, and I would actually advise reading this one before his other book, Retire Inspired, because This one focuses on the “why you can do it” and his other book focuses on the “how.”
Profile Image for Marcus.
257 reviews7 followers
September 29, 2019
I get that one of the book's objectives is to change the mindset of the reader about the attainability of wealth, but the first part of the book is too much of a political / ideological screed. It's repetitive, disingenuously presents complicated questions as simple and takes an exaggerated, extreme view of the issue. I was struck later on by the contradiction between claiming inherited wealth is not a significant factor in explaining why rich people are rich, while also frequently promising that by making a long-term plan for wealth you will ensure generational wealth for your descendants.

The presentation of the research is sketchy as well; Hogan generally avoids clarifying that when he cites percentages he's referring to the 10,000 millionaires they studied and not the 11 million millionaires in America. I imagine the study is meant to be a representative sample, but it's an awfully convenient study that perfectly backs up the lean of the message being pushed here with no real transparency into the data.

Although I've read better books on this subject, I did learn useful things (the bit on mortgage terms was helpful) and I did enjoy some of the psychological / mindset boosting. It's well suited to someone like me who has many years ahead to plan with. It's probably a more frustrating book if you're further along in your life.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
220 reviews
July 5, 2019
This is basically a recap of the Dave Ramsey radio show. I was hoping to get some insights on how normal people reach millionaire status without crazy or risky investing plans. It starts with the basics. Stay out of debt, including student loans. Make consistent efforts toward your savings goals. Live on less than you make. If you've read or listened to anything in the Ramsey solutions catalog, you already know this.

Hogan keeps stating that anyone can reach millionaire status, which I agree with, but he doesn't give much insight into how. He focuses mainly on not going into debt and starting your 401k in your early 20s. Those are great suggestions and will definitely build wealth over time. What about people that didn't have a 401k option in their 20s and do have some debt to take care of? According to his statistics there are people out there who didn't build wealth solely off early 401k investment. How did they do it? If you're going to base a book on the idea that anyone can become a millionaire it seems short sighted to focus on one limited option to get there.
Profile Image for Lyndi.
66 reviews
June 14, 2021
There were times reading this book that I felt a bit anxious. The concepts aren't foreign to me, I mean, I've been on the Dave Ramsey train for 10+ years and I'm familiar with their style. But there are absolutely lots of "shoulds" and "if you don't, you're an idiot," type expressions. I felt lots of shame feelings for "knowing better" and not doing "enough." But you know what? If you've got a desire to be financially healthy and have taken a single step toward it from wherever you are, that is enough. This book is an aggressive approach. And if you need it to light a fire under you, sure. Read it. It can do that. There were many "Holy Cow" moments. Becoming a millionaire isn't overnight, but it also isn't rocket science. It takes dedication, determination, and time. Build good habits, root out bad habits, and don't do dumb stuff. I do always appreciate when a book is read by its author. I do not appreciate when they sell their previous books in the current read. Annoying. Several moments of that for me in this read.
Profile Image for Jay French.
2,163 reviews91 followers
December 20, 2020
The book is touted as an update to the classic "The Millionaire Next Door", with a bigger and more recent sampling of millionaires in the US, to determine how they got to their million(s), and other related topics. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, but I can't say I got anything new out of it. If you have heard Chris Hogan on the Dave Ramsey show on the radio, you know exactly what this is about. You get a few more details, and a few more personal anecdotes from the author, and a few illustrative anecdotes from millionaires about their path. But this is very similar to many other wealth-building books out there. I still recommend "The Millionaire Next Door" as a great glimpse into the mindset of those prodigious generators of wealth that are out there. One specific nit about this book - at one point it says none of their 10,000 interviewed millionaires mentioned individual stocks as a top 3 factor contributing to their wealth. I don't believe this, given company stock purchase plans and huge gains on some popular stocks. None? No Silicon Valley millionaires in their survey? This just doesn't pass the sniff test. Either the survey wasn't built very well or the interpretation and data analysis was flakey. When you see bits like this that seem to defy logic, you wonder what else has been oddly interpreted to create a narrative. As I read these for motivation, I find the anecdotes often most interesting, and that was the case here.
Profile Image for Amanda.
19 reviews1 follower
February 21, 2019
This book was advertised as continuing the research of The Millionaire Next Door, but sadly the book gave vague statistics. It was more a cheerleading book encouraging you with short stories and quotes from millionaires. The information was repetitive with the “you can do it” message. Overall, if you’re looking for encouragement this might work for you but if you’re looking for deeper information and statistics I’d pass.
Profile Image for Kathleen Brunnett.
869 reviews6 followers
February 5, 2019
A motivating look at regular people who have achieved a net worth of at least one million dollars by saving and spending wisely. There is hope for us all!
Profile Image for Trea.
102 reviews4 followers
February 6, 2020
The statistics were fascinating. Solid practical advice.
Profile Image for Emily Wiebold.
423 reviews2 followers
January 20, 2022
It has been a while since I have listened to Dave Ramsey’s podcast so this was the perfect to keep staying the course.
Profile Image for Vanya Prodanova.
830 reviews25 followers
January 26, 2020
Още като я почвах книгата бях сигурна, че голяма част от нея ще е пълнеж, тъй като съм наясно с шоуто на Dave Ramsey и неговият принцип, че на идиоти нещата се повтарят стократно, че и още повече, но... книгата успя пак да ме изненада негативно повече от очакванията ми. :Р

Не е лоша като цяло. Нещата, които казва Крис не са грешни, просто звучат като един от епизодите на шоуто и нищо кой знае за т.н. им проучване на 10 хиляди милионери в Америка. За къде си я пазят тази информация, не знам... може би за още десетина книги.

Няма как и да не сравнявам книгата със "Съседът милионер", защото приликата е явно търсена от създателя. Това, което всъщност постигна "Everyday Millionaires" е, да преосмисля мнението си за "Съседът милионер", защото можело много по-зле да се представи (всъщност да НЕ се представи) информация от проучване.

Както казах, не е лоша, но ти трябва много сериозно въображение, мислене и разсъждаване, за да кажеш, че книгата всъщност дава информацията, която твърди, че дава. Отделно е твърде скъпа за малкия си размер, раздутост и липсва на целенасочено съдържание, което твърди, че уж предоставя. Мда, май заслужава единица, но тъй като фундаментално не е грешна и няма лошо чат-пат да си напомням някои основни принципи, няма да й дам единица, ама определено не си струва да се плаща за нея пълна сума, а и в Audible винаги можеш да я върнеш, хаха. :Р
Profile Image for Jade McDonald.
14 reviews1 follower
January 25, 2019
This is a great book for anyone interested in building wealth. Even if you have debt that you need to clean up first. I would recommend reading Total Money Makeover and STARTING with the baby steps explained there before reading this book. I found this book inspiring and interesting and an easy read. I think most people would be surprised by many of the statistics found in this research study. Millionaires are not typically what the average person visualizes.
116 reviews1 follower
November 25, 2019
We listened to this as an audiobook during a few short road trips. Very encouraging and inspiring!
Profile Image for Shelby Poinikiewski.
139 reviews3 followers
May 8, 2020
Feeling so pumped about our future after reading this book!!! I'm focused and not finished, my friends!!! We are going to be millionaires!!!
Profile Image for Talitha Baker.
100 reviews3 followers
December 5, 2020
This book could have been written in half as many words. I picked up a few good tips, which I appreciate.

I would have appreciated more tangible insights and less infomercial-y quips. The book has some slight diet culture ideas and seems to have a lot of dog whistles to republican ideals.

While I appreciate Hogan’s thesis that it’s incredible accessible to become a millionaire in America IF you are disciplined, he also sugarcoats certain common components of achieving wealth. For example, he talks constantly about the power of maximizing a 401k match... yes, I agree! But there are MANY people who aren’t able to access those types of jobs. He also talks about the power of marriage in this path... great, obviously two income homes are better equipped to earn and save more money. He says that children raised in divorced/single parent homes are less likely to go on to be millionaires themselves. (So, we have some single stigma here).

Alright.... so his theory isn’t “anyone in America can become a millionaire.” It’s “anyone can be a millionaire IF they embrace a normie is path of going to college, getting married, getting a job (probably an office job) with a 401k match, and they buy a house.”
I don’t know... I do aspire to one day be a millionaire and it seems that my decisions have gotten me on that path. However, I’m not 100% on his normie American dream path and the notion that I need to be more cookie-cutter and “perfect” to become wealthy... just... left me feeling pretty flat.

This book really didn’t do anything for me.
252 reviews
May 24, 2021
Solid book, but not for me. It's full of great information for anyone not already convinced they can be a millionaire. Lots of great advice and great stories here, but for the most part, it's a compilation of people's stories about becoming millionaires with quotable cliches for helping to get yourself there. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but it's not my cup of tea for where I am in life. I actually _really_ like Hogan and was sad to see him leave the Ramsey team because I enjoyed listening to the show when he was on, but just didn't really like this book. I stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through because I didn't feel like I was getting anything out of it, so hopefully Hogan didn't save anything special for the end of the book. I considered reading it all the way through just in case, but I have a LONG backlog of books I want to get through and I wasn't getting anything new from this book. Work hard, you can do it, I believe in you.. that's the basic premise. I whole-heartedly agree with the messaging, and think it is on point. I just don't need any more of it in my life right now.
38 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2021
This book has a target audience. It is nothing like "The Millionaire Next Door." This book is written for those who need encouragement and to be shown that it is possible. It is written well and easy to understand, however, he does drone on at times beating a dead horse on certain topics and ideas. I had high hopes for this book, however, it feel short in just about ever category. For those who aren't sure if they can be a millionaire, this is a good start bc everyone can and this book explains why by debunking myths. For those who understand that already but are trying to figure out how to become a millionaire, I recommend reading "The Millionaire Next door" which talks about the life style of an average millionaire. It talks about how they spend their money and what they do. It reshapes your idea on what the "millionaire life style" really is. I also recommend reading Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money MakeOver". He provides 7 baby steps, simple actionable items, for everyone to follow in order to become financially successful.
Profile Image for Charlie Moynahan.
Author 2 books
January 19, 2019
For those that follow the Ramsey Solutions movement (listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio or have read Total Money Makeover), recent publications have mostly been rewordings of the titular message. For example, Rachel Cruze’s “Live Your Life Not Theirs” was Total Money Makeover written for the millennial generation. Same content, but around new examples and applications of that content. Retire Inspired, Hogan’s first book, was largely based on the same principles as well, just more in depth. Not saying that’s bad at all, it’s good business and the variety appeals to some, but I was hesitant about “another Total Money Makeover”.

I was pleasantly surprised. This book is the result of a large study of current millionaires, so by definition there was a lot of new and useful information that everyone, for the most part, are able to use today to get rolling on becoming financially free.
Profile Image for Kate M. Colby.
Author 19 books76 followers
February 6, 2019
If you have read other books by Chris Hogan or another member of the Dave Ramsey team, a lot of the information and advice in this book will be repetitive for you. (However, I think that's part of the key message.) Hogan provides new and surprising statistics about "everyday millionaries" (people whose net worth is $1,000,000 or more), then gives straightforward strategies that the reader can use to build wealth. This is not a "get rich quick" scheme. Hogan's practices require the reader to be financially responsible for decades by getting and staying out of debt, saving 15% of their income for retirement, making smart goals/investments, etc. Whether you want to be a "millionaire" or just get your financial life in order, this book has the non-sexy, practical, and actionable advice to help you do it. Just be ready to work hard (and to read a lot of anecdotes about working hard).
Profile Image for Emily.
62 reviews
June 2, 2023
The Millionaire Theme Hour is one of my favorite parts of the Dave Ramsey Show, but I’m realizing that I like it as an occasional treat rather than the main course. Because they Ramsey Solutions team promoted this so much in the 4 months before and after the release of this book, there was very little here that was “new to me.”

That said, if you’re new to the Ramsey/Hogan sphere, and you doubt that the things they talk about are possible, the book is a pretty solid look at the end goal of a Ramsey-inspired life. One of Hogan’s missions is to help you see your retirement in “HD” and this is a really nice collection of anecdotes and research that really help you to understand the WHY and the HOW of following a plan like the Baby Steps. Definitely adding it to my recommend list, and I’m glad I own a copy, but I won’t be rereading it anytime soon.
Profile Image for Katlin.
38 reviews
January 20, 2019
Love the content, which I was already well acquainted with from reading Dave’s book The Total Money Makeover and Chris’ book Retire Inspired. I also enjoyed The Millionaire Next Door. However, this book along with Millionaire Next Door fall into the same trap of repeating the same message over and over again to make its point. Having been a sociology major, I find this is true of most population study-based books. I enjoyed the numbers and the personal stories the most, but I found it just went on much longer than necessary to make its point and didn’t have near enough straightforward factual data to support my interest. All that being said, I still LOVE the message that comes from Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan, and I cannot wait to do my debt free scream next month!
Profile Image for Debbie.
393 reviews20 followers
October 4, 2019
I found this book so motivating! Chris Hogan debunks common myths about millionaires. One important aspect of this book is it focuses on people whose net worth is a million or more not people whose income is a million dollars.

The steps to becoming an everyday millionaire aren't flashy or exciting. It comes down to hard work, saving consistently over time, and living on less than you make. The key is remaining committed and understanding this is a long term goal. In a day where everyone wants instant results this can be a tough pill to swallow.

This book got me fired up. I took notes and have already started getting my financial house in order. Will I be a millionaire tomorrow? No, but thanks to Chris Hogan I truly believe I will be one someday.
Profile Image for Jessica Gutierrez.
114 reviews8 followers
February 11, 2019
I honestly believe this book and his other book “Retire Inspired” should be required reading! This book really does a great job of not only myth busting what it means to be a millionaire in America today, but really changing the way you think about money. The lessons in this book can (and should) be applied to every area of life, not just finances. I really think that if you were to follow the advice laid out in this book, that it would have a humongous impact on your life, and on the lives of those around you. I mean wow this book has me so ready to handle my money better, get saving, and hit that millionaire status. Let’s goooo!
Profile Image for Olivia Chancellor.
46 reviews
April 16, 2019
The book was definitely encouraging to let me know I’m on the right path by remaining debt free. But as other reviews have said, this was expected to be a true update of the Millionaire Next Door yet it was not. There are a few high level stats but that’s it. I think I expected this book to be less fluff and more numerical facts. I liked reading people’s stories but they gave very few facts about the people in the stories. Many of the people in the book achieved their millionaire status via retirement 401k plans yet it was often not shared what % they contributed and the salaries of the people in the stories.
Profile Image for Mike Felker.
24 reviews3 followers
January 27, 2019
If you’re familiar with Dave Ramsey’s material and have been listening to his show for a year or more, there aren’t going to be any new formulas or surprises in this book. It’s all the stuff you’ve been hearing all along, which is to get out of debt, save, and invest.

Is the book still worth reading? Absolutely! Especially if you’re new to Ramsey’s material. But even so, the book is very encouraging and will remind you that anyone can do this. For the most part, the book is filled with stories, advice, and statistics. It’s very well written and a quick read.
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