Quotes from Thomas J. Stanley

If you are creative enough to select the ideal vocation, you can win, win big time. The really brilliant millionaires are those who selected a vocation that they love, one that has few competitors but generates high profits.

Money should never change one's values…. Making money is only a report card. It's a way to tell how you're doing.

There are lots of things about millionaires that make them pretty ordinary, but what's not ordinary is their ability to accumulate wealth, how hard they work, and what they do for a living.

The reason that so few people are financially independent today is that they place many negative roadblocks in their heads. Becoming wealthy is, in fact, a mind game.

Grades don't measure tenacity, courage, leadership, guts or whatever you want to call it. Teachers or any other persons in a position of authority should never tell anybody they will not succeed because they did not get all A's in school.

Anybody with a reasonable income can become financially independent in a lifetime.

Millionaires are risk-takers, and they don't become millionaires until they're 40 or 50. It's a slower process than a lot of people think.

Before you can become a millionaire, you must learn to think like one. You must learn how to motivate yourself to counter fear with courage. Making critical decisions about your career, business, investments and other resources conjures up fear, fear that is part of the process of becoming a financial success.

QUESTION 2: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR FAMILY SPENDS EACH YEAR FOR FOOD, CLOTHING, AND SHELTER? Almost two-thirds of the millionaires surveyed (62.4 percent) answered "yes" to this question.

What if he had taken full advantage of the tax-advantaged benefit from the time he was first employed? Today he would be a millionaire. Instead, he is on the perpetual earn-and-consume treadmill.

The advertising industry and Hollywood have done a wonderful job conditioning us to believe that wealth and hyperconsumption go hand in hand.

Operate your household like a productive business.

It is easier to purchase products that denote superiority than to actually be superior in economic achievement.

Most millionaires measure their success by their net worth, not by their realized income. For the purposes of wealth building, income doesn't matter that much. Once you're in a high-income bracket, say $100,000 or $200,000 or more, it matters less how much more you make than what you do with what you already have.

For every millionaire who owns a $1,000 suit, there are at least six owners who have annual incomes in the $50,000 to $200,000 range but who are not millionaires.

Your test scores are inferior, therefore you're inferior," and the result is yet one more economic dropout. Instead, tell a youngster there are many ways to win. Tell him that creativity and even common sense, social skills, and integrity count in the economic arena. If we convey that message, we will have many more people becoming productive citizens.

There is an inverse relationship between the time spent purchasing luxury items such as cars and clothes and the time spent planning one's financial future.

Me, me, me is dull, dull, dull.

What is to be learned from this case scenario? Choose a financial advisor who is endorsed by an enlightened accountant and/or his clients with investment portfolios that in the long run outpace the market. If you don't have an accountant, hire one. Another

UAWs tend to live above their means; they emphasize consumption. And they tend to de-emphasize many of the key factors that underlie wealth building. YOU

All too often high-income-producing UAWs spend countless hours studying the market—but not the stock market. They can tell you the names of the top auto dealers, but not the top investment advisors. They can tell you how to shop and spend. But they can't tell you how to invest. They know the styles, prices, and availability at various car dealers. But they know little or nothing about the various values of equity market offerings. As

Conspicuous symbols of wealth, such as homes and motor vehicles, are better indicators of one's credit use than of the size of one's investment portfolio.

The foundation stones of financial success are: Integrity—being honest with all people Discipline—applying self control Social skills—getting along with people A supportive spouse Hard work—more than most people

Twenty years ago we began studying how people become wealthy. Initially, we did it just as you might imagine, by surveying people in so-called upscale neighborhoods across the country. In time, we discovered something odd. Many people who live in expensive homes and drive luxury cars do not actually have much wealth. Then, we discovered something even odder: Many people who have a great deal of wealth do not even live in upscale neighborhoods.