The Middle-Class Millionaire: The Rise of the New Rich and How They Are Changing America

by Russ Alan Prince, Lewis Schiff

A compelling look at a new class of the affluent - the middle-class millionaires – whose attitudes and values are influencing and reshaping American life

In this groundbreaking book, Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff examine the far-reaching impact of the middle class millionaires–people who enjoy a net worth ranging from one million to ten million dollars and have earned rather than inherited their wealth. Comprising 8.4 million households and growing in number, the attitudes and behaviors of these working rich are exerting a powerful influence over our society. So who are these people? They believe in the benefits of hard work. They believe in investing in themselves, and in self improvement. They are more likely to focus on drawing financial gain from their work, and less inclined to be discouraged by failure. And they don’t spend money on the extravagances indulged in by the very rich; instead, they wield their affluence according to middle-class values and ideals. From home security systems to health care, technology to travel, their spending choices are affecting us all – from the products we buy, to the communities in which we live, to the aspirations and values of the broader middle class and American population as a whole.

In the bestselling tradition of Bobos in Paradise and The Millionaire Next Door, THE MIDDLE-CLASS MILLIONAIRE is a captivating narrative – part sociology, and part aspirational journey into the lives, attitudes, and values of the middle-class millionaires. Based on extensive surveys and research into more than 3,600 middle-class millionaire households around the country, this book will reshape our understanding of what it takes to be successful – and how all of us can achieve similar success.

Genres: Finance, Business, Personal Finance, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Economics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published February 26, 2008

Reviews

[Billrogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is poorly written, but worse, it is based on a premise that doesn't hold up.

The authors posit that there are more middle-class millionaires than at any time in the past. Well, duh, yes - steady inflation guarantees that, as time goes by, at some point in the future even impoverished families will be millionaires.

This book was released in early 2008, based on interviews conducted in 2006. They defined a middle-class millionaire as a family with a net worth, including their primary home, of between $1 million and $10 million.

Two problems: First, they shouldn't have included the net worth of the family's primary residence. Definitions of wealth generally exclude the primary residence. As we learned in mid-2008, home prices in 2006 were unrealistically overstated due to an unsustainable real-estate bubble.

Second, based on what we learned in mid-2008, I'll bet that many of the surveyed families were untruthful about their debt level. It strains credibility to believe that many of these young professionals weren't "upside down" in 2006, and simply didn't speak truthfully about their net - that's an important word! - their NET worth.

A map of housing tear-downs, the authors say, coincides with the location of middle-class millionaires. Now we can see that the map also coincides with home mortgage defaults in 2008.

Do the authors expect us to believe that people would buy an older home for $500,000, then immediately pay to have it torn down and replaced with a new $1 million home - ALL IN CASH? Apparently they do.

Upper middle class individuals have always been with us - people with a high earned income and/or a high net worth, but middle-class values and sensibilities. This is not a new phenomenon, despite the authors' apparent success in adding to their own net worth by hyping a ridiculous concept.

I borrowed this book from our local library, thus leaving its cover price in my pocket. I suggest you skip the book entirely; even for free, it's a waste of time.

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guess who’s suddenly reading finance books. I felt highly irritated by this book but couldn’t put my finger on why until a good three-quarters in: these “middle-class millionaires” aren’t admirable at all. In fact, they’re disconcertingly white and conservative. I don’t think the premise of the book ultimately holds — that these middle-class millionaires exert outsized influence on the economy over the “true” middle class or even the ultra-wealthy — but it presents a series of anecdotes of how money buys influence as if there was some sort of deeper meaning. Ultimately: rich people buy shit and those who sell want to cater to that. If this book focused on multi-millionaires or the billionaire class I think you’d find they, too, have a lot (if not more let’s be honest) influence based on the money they have to splash around.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, easy read. Read overly leisurely 2 days.

Explores the values and habits of the new rich - millionaires with middle-class backgrounds & (for the most part) middle-class values. It also explores the effect this growing group is having on the economy and culture. Middle-class millionaires are defined as people with a net worth of just $1-10 million (including primary residence value) and a head of household that earns $50-80K annually.

Personal Question: How can someone with that low annual income reach a networth of $1-10 million? Inflated property values (especially in 2008)? Dual income households?

Published in 2008 (and based on research conducted years earlier) this information felt dated - especially real estate references and values. Some of the predictions have also been patently proven false by time.

Personally, some of the “middle-class millionaires” profiled rubbed me the wrong way. They seemed crass & vulgar in many ways. Also, a bit too self-interested and self-promoting. Very “new money” with all the negative connotations. I also wasn’t crazy about the section praising “tear-down neighborhoods”. As someone who personally buys & restores historic homes, the idea of tearing down an old house is sacrilegious.

I also didn’t appreciate the positive reference to Malcolm Gladwell, who I consider a charlatan. I happen to have a degree in Economics, but anyone with an elementary background in economics can see the random & irresponsible nature of his assumptions and leaps of logic. These authors copy Gladwell a bit in making huge assumptions and leaps based on minimal raw data. There could be a hundred possible meanings pulled from on single statistic - but the authors create one they like and act like it is a proven fact. They do not consider other possible meanings or interpretations, which makes their selected interpretation feel incredibly weak and ill-thoughtout.

However, it is always interesting to read a study of the rich. This book was part of a surge of similar books (ie The Millionaire Next Door) published just before Obama took office. You know, when it was still considered more honorable to earn money than be on the government dole.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

While we aren't exactly millionaires, this book described a lot of characteristics I see in my husband. It also gave me more insight into the choices we make and why we make them. This book is more a sociological study than a finance guide, so it was a pretty easy and enjoyable read.

[Ezzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible! Below are the majority of my thoughts as I was working my way through the book, but here's the main problem:
I think (I'm not entirely sure, it's awfully unclear) the point of this book is that if you want to make money, sell shit to middle-class millionaires. They spend lots of money, and more importantly, they LOVE LOVE LOVE to talk about how FABULOUS their purchases are.
There's a serious methodological problem with this, and that is that the data was obtained by survey. Not everyone will be willing to complete a survey on purchasing habits- especially elaborate, time-consuming surveys like this one. Will a rich person who doesn't like to talk about their spending habits? No. Someone who goes on and on about how great their "life coach"/time share (I don't care what you call it, it's still a rich person's time share)/college admittance counselor/etc is the kind of person who will do these surveys, which very heavily skews the data.

That's probably the most glaring methodology issues (to me). Even more annoying is their habit of conflating correlation and causation in all of their conclusions. Sometimes they throw a little bone to that, but it's pretty much assumed throughout the whole thing.

In the end it was tedious and poorly constructed. Am I supposed to envy these people? Aspire to be one of them? Worship them? Think that they're better than the rest of America because they enjoy things like concierge healthcare? Or am I just supposed to market to them? [which brings up another annoying omission, which is that most people don't have jobs where the authors' "advice" can even apply]. At any rate, I can't believe I suffered through the whole thing. If you want to be a middle-class millionaire, start with saving your money and not buying this book (or at least do as I did, and use your local library).


Notes taken while in the process of reading:

I'm only 5 minutes into the audiobook, but I wanted to note something about this book before I forget. A researcher "discovered" a millionaire demographic that hadn't previously been studied. These people have over a million dollars, including the value of their home. And these people tend to "congregate" on the east and west coasts.

Surprised? Two things at work here: people with the means generally don't want to live in Mississippi (no offense Mississippi) and the majority of homes worth more than a million dollars are in the NE and California, with fewer (but still more than the national average) on the rest of the coasts. If your metric is home value, by definition you're going to have more millionaires in those parts of the country. Salaries tend to be larger in these parts of the country for equivalent buying power, so I'm not sure what this is supposed to tell us about these people.

"The Influence of Affluence"- the first, but not the last, try for a catch phrase. Middle class millionaires talk about what they spend money on to other rich people, which creates word of mouth, which makes rich people more valuable to businesses than The Poors (regular middle class people). So... if I bought a plane, and most of my friends were "normal" middle class, I probably wouldn't go on and on and on about why I chose the plane I did, and why or why not everyone else should buy the same plane. If all my friends are rich like me, and thinking about buying planes (or electric cars, or generators, the examples in the book) I might spend more time talking about it. It's not that rich people care about their friends or are more likely to share tips with their friends, just that most people socialize with people of a similar economic class. Poor people share tips on how to get 4 meals out of a turkey. Rich people share tips on what kind of private car service they should use. I'm not sure why the author thinks this is revolutionary.

At almost 3 hours in, I'm further annoyed. Middle-class millionaires love their children more than regular middle class people, because a) they can afford exorbitantly priced houses in nice school districts, b) work insane hours away from their families to earn shit tons of money, and c) they're willing to pay for coaches for their kids college applications. And then- maybe my favorite part- he says "The meritocracy is rebuilding itself in the image of the middle-class millionaire."
HOLD ON. If your parents have ridiculous amounts of money, and they're willing to pay someone thousands of dollars to help you with your college application, and if you need that help to get into college- THAT'S NOT MERITOCRACY. BY DEFINITION. If this is explained in some reasonable matter later in the book and I haven't gotten there yet, I'll apologize nicely and edit this part of the review. [EDIT: THAT STATEMENT REMAINS INSANE, STUPID, AND ASININE, ALL IN ONE GO!]

Also, the idea that rich people care more about their children because they're willing to work more hours away from home to make more money to pay for college application coaches can only come from the viewpoint that in some ways money = love. It's not like study after study has shown that kids need their parents more than fancy Range Rovers, right? Because, you know, on their deathbed these parents will probably be super glad they worked all that overtime so their kid could flunk out of Yale instead of *gasp* a state school. These are parents, Prince tells us, who consider their kid's college entrance success as a major indicator of parenting ability. That's not love, that's a status symbol- one they can generally buy because they can afford summer programs and application coaches. It's easy for them to throw money at it, rather than actually investing emotionally in their children. More on this with the "coaches" thing below.

Otherwise, this mostly seems to be a list of obnoxious assumptions. Middle class millionaires have lots of money. They spend lots of money on their houses, which drives up property values and taxes, which improves school quality. Rich people love good schools. Good quality schools are the result of rich people who love their children more than The Poors. Etc, etc. I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to stick out another 5 hours of this book.

3.5 hours in- turns out, rich people like nice things. Poorer people then want those nicer things, and new technology and that demand brings down the price. Therefore, rich people get nice things and poor people get them later. Is the author of this book the first person to recognize this? No. Does he think he is? Apparently. Does he call this "the rich working for the poor" in a completely absurd try for a catch phrase and to imply some sort of benevolent noblesse oblige for The Poors? Absolutely.

On to the section on coaches. Middle Class Millionaires need to pay someone to inflict financial penalties on them, otherwise they won't bother to spend time with their families. I get it- these people got to be rich by working hard. They're good at making money. But if you have to pay someone to tell you to spend time with your children, please don't try to sell it as "I'm a great parent because I'm willing to pay someone to make me to spend time with my family." You're probably either an asshole, or someone with seriously fucked up priorities. This book's description of middle class millionaires makes me think both, probably.

The section on work coaches is also really drawn out, but would only actually apply to a very few types of jobs. Prince indicates that middle class millionaires hire work coaches because they care more about doing a good job at work, and being efficient, than regular middle class people. However, most middle class people don't have jobs where a life coach would benefit them (teachers, doctors, scientists, programmers, from my personal experience), so it's not that rich people are "more willing to invest" or "care more" as it's implied in this book- actually, I think they're probably just investing more widely.

On the millionaire planned development/commune- rich people like to live in nice places, and some of them want a sense of community, so they built themselves a perfect little town. They don't need government there, because rich people know how to take care of nice things (or, they can just afford to pay someone to clean up after themselves- tired of picking up dog poop? Just be rich and live in a community where the HOA pays a dog poop cleaning service!)
The authors find it amazing that when a commune family suffers a horrible tragedy, the community raises tons of money for the family. That's great, but the implication that this is because everyone in the community loves each other so much because they've all got "millionaire intelligence" is actually a bit offensive. People can be extremely generous in the face of tragedy in poor neighborhoods, too- but all that generosity won't add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, not because people don't love their neighbors, but because they don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to give.

This gets to what is most absurd about this book- on every page it equates spending money to values. While I do think it can be informative to look at how people spend their money, comparing someone with $10 million in assets to someone with $50,000 in assets, and then saying that "the richer person just CARES about XX more than the poorer person", is more than a little off-putting. Normal middle-class people don't like to wait in line for a doctor's appointment any more than rich people- they're not buying into "concierge health care" because THEY DON'T HAVE THE MONEY, not because they don't value their time. It's informative to talk about trends in spending among the wealthy, but to imply causation when comparing them to poor people is, if not impossible, certainly not supported by the methodology of this study.

[Ashley Mages · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting to how the research from this book is very different from the Millionaire Next-door. Much of the book seamed like case studies of individuals that had started companies that provided convenience they wanted. There is much information on mindsets comparing middle class and MCMs.

[George Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for something to aspire to...you don't have to give up your middle class values if you become successful.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't pick this up with any major expectations. Interesting look at the social impact on middle class millionaires but generally underwhelming in takeaways.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Middle-Class Millionaire offers an intriguing look into the differences in mindset and behavior between middle-class thinkers and millionaires. The author backs up their insights with fascinating statistics—some of which were truly surprising—and delves into how risk-taking plays a pivotal role in wealth-building. The emphasis on risk-taking resonated with me; it makes sense that those more established wouldn’t have to fight as hard or take the same level of risks as those striving to reach that level.

While the book provides valuable takeaways and gives readers a fresh perspective on success, I feel it might blend into the background over time, given the sheer volume of other books on similar topics that I’ve read. That said, it’s a solid read for anyone curious about the habits and thought processes that separate the millionaire mindset from the middle-class mentality.

If you’re interested in personal finance, entrepreneurial thinking, or what it takes to climb the financial ladder, this is worth picking up!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The so-called "working rich" are those whose net wealth fall between $1 - $10 million, and who work full time. The authors note how the majority of middle class millionaires come from the middle class themselves, and have adopted certain middle class values such as working hard, being focused, and placing a priority on family and work. The difference between MCM'ers and those who are actually in the middle class (defined by the authors as those who make between $50-80,000/year), is that the MCM'ers actually implement these values. For instance, the average MCM'er works 70 hours a week compared to 35 for the middle class.

All in all an okay read. The first chapter was by far the most interesting and probably the only one worth reading.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, and it gave me some business ideas for marketing to middle class millionaires. (But as I've learned in business, the reality of having a profitable business can be tough. Business is not for the squeamish at heart!) After reading some of the other reviews on Goodreads, I'm not sure about the authors' conclusions. There seem to be some serious methodology problems that would have been uncovered and caught if their study was peer-reviewed and published.

But overall Christina's Goodreads review captures my thoughts on the book: "Stories about new products for the wealthy but not super-wealthy and the mindset of people who are well-off but still frugal, willing to pay for convenience but not necessarily luxury."

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it probably has too many numbers for most people.

Middle-class millionaires are high income families with middle-class values. The author writes about how they get wealthy, how their middle-class values affect their spending habits and how they are transforming the economy - because they now control half of the disposable income in the U.S.

The author backs up his insights with hard data from numerous surveys. I love books that include insights based on hard numbers.

Also, it's fascinating to see how "middle-class millionaires" live and how they are changing the economy for the rest of us.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book begins by describing the personal traits of Middle Class Millionaires ($1m - $10m) which enabled them to achieve great success. Given that this group of people tend retain middle class values and have greater means (money) they can more fully achieve middle class goals (good education for kids, time with family etc....)
Book describes a number of business ideas that have sprung up to appeal to this group and implies they are a key driving force in America (which I cannot fully accept). Not the best book of this genre: Millionaire Mind is the best in my opinion.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information about the beliefs that middle-class millionaires hold as opposed to those of the middle-class. Provided a lot of numbers that are thrown around at times. Which tend to blur together after a while. Should have backed it up with numbers but focused more on the actual opinions that were being polled. Granted, it did provide a few nuggets as to what's going on in a working-class millionaire's mind and how it's different from the rest of the middle-class. And that, I think, is what the take-away from this book is.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting if you are interested in social economics and finances, otherwise it would be quite boring. The highlights were about how middle class millionaires influence the products that the middle class eventually use- such as electrical cars, conceirge physicians, etc. Middle class millionaires are those with networths of 1mil to 10mil, who earned their wealth, and yet whose values are more alligned with the middle class than upper class.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book I picked up as entertainment while on the road. It was interesting. It is written like a sociological study with some fun stories and examples included. My background in Sociology and interest in statistics probably made this more enjoyable for me than it would be for some. They made some intriguing points although I am not sure how valid some of their conclusions are. It gave me some things to think about.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not totally relevant to my life. I didn't finish it, as it was due back at the library, but I did enjoy what I read. Stories about new products for the wealthy but not super-wealthy and the mindset of people who are well-off but still frugal, willing to pay for convenience but not necessarily luxury.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this book in Publishers Weekly, and I wrote my editor and asked for a copy. The book has a number of insights about where we're going. I particularly liked his stories of the trends in health care and investing, and technology

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book held my interest and was enlightening, humorous, and helpful all in one. I was given some intriguing, and important insight into a base set of individuals it has become imperative to understand.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The authors provided fascinating insights and observations backed up by hard data that really illuminated the real differences between middle-class and wealth mindsets. I blogged about it at: http://cashonthebarrelhead.net.

[Bela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly had dry stat's, not enough personal stories to interest me.

[Wayne Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating - if you're into that sort of thing. A very interesting presentation of a survey of America's "fastest growing population".

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very insightful book on cultural behaviors of the middleclass and how it is changing our world. An interesting read.

[Francoise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't buy all of it but there is some particularly interesting stuff about the rise of concierge medecine

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book--great insight to time management, prioritization, and decision making. I was thrilled with this book!

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting character sketch of this growing group. The trickle down effect was interesting, a new twist on "The Tippping Point".

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pyschology behind what makes working, self-made millionaires be successful.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geared to the financial services industry, it says some significant things about how the wealthy influence the middle class.

[David Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was unimpressed with this book. I wanted to like it. Maybe it's not the authors' fault, though. Maybe the problem is that "middle-class millionaires" just aren't that interesting...

[Tori]

2011- Had some interesting information, but I wasn't really sure who the audience was supposed to be. Marketers? Those aspiring to be middle-class millionaires?