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Twenty years ago, I began studying how people be－come millionaires. Surveying residents of posh neighbor－hoods across the country, I discovered something odd. Many people who live in expensive homes and drive luxury cars don’t have much wealth. They may earn a fair amount of money,but they spend it all.
Then, I discovered something even odder, many people who have a great deal of wealth don’t live in posh neighbor－hoods. In one large metropolitan area I surveyed, fewer than half the millionaires lived in high-rent districts.
That small insight changed my life. It led me out of an academic career(I was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University), inspired me to write three books on affluence, and made me an adviser to corporation that sold products to customers with high net profit.
What most people don’t realize is that wealth isn’t the same as income. If you, make 1 million a year and spend 1 million, you’re not getting wealthier, you’re just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.
How do you become wealthy? There, too, most people have it wrong. It’s rarely luck or inheritance or even intelli－gence that builds fortunes. Wealth is more often the inex－orable1 result of a person’s hard work, perseverance2 and, most of all, self-discipline.
Who tends to become wealthy? Not the exotic back-stabbers and dabblers in high finance you see depicted on TV. The average person with a net worth of 1 million or more is usually a businessman who has lived all his adult life in the same town. He owns a small factory, a chain store or a service company. Married once, and still married, he lives in a middle-class neighbor－hood3,next to people with a fraction of his wealth. He?蘖s compulsive4 saver and investor. And he has made his money on his own: 80％ of American’s millionaires are the first-generation rich.
So millionaires are dull? By Hollywood stan－dards, maybe. But these dull folks have something exciting to teach about money.
Attitude is the greatest difference between millionaires and the rest of us.
20年前，我开始研究人们如何成为百万富翁。调查了全国许多豪华住区的居民，我发现了一些奇怪的情况：那些拥有豪宅和名车的人并不很富有。他们可能赚了很多钱，但又都花掉了。
接下来我又发现更奇怪的现象：许多真正富有的人并不住在这些豪宅里。在一个大城市城区，也只有不到一半的百万富翁住在房费高昂的地区。
这一点认识改变了我的一生。我放弃了学术工作(当时在乔治亚州州立大学做市场营销教授)，写了三本论述如何发家致富的书，并且担任几家公司的顾问，这些公司以高额利润向客户销售产品。
许多人并不知道财富不等同于收入。如果你一年赚100万，同时又花费100万，那么你的财富毫未增加，你只是生活得很豪华。财富是指你的积累而非花费。
如何能成为富翁?许多人都理解错了。好运，继承，甚至智慧，并不是你富有的主要原因。财富的来源更多的是个人的勤奋努力、锲而不舍的精神，尤其是自我控制而产生的结果。
谁能成为富翁呢?并不是电视中描述得很离奇的暗箭伤人者和涉猎巨额资金者。大多数拥有净资产百万以上的富翁通常是在一个小镇上生活了很久，拥有一间小型工厂，一个连锁店或一家服务公司的人。他只结过一次婚，并且没有离婚，住在中产阶级居住的街区，附近的居民都比较穷。他擅长于积蓄和投资。他的财产是靠自己挣来的：80%的美国百万富翁是第一代致富的。
这样一来，百万富翁的故事也就索然寡味了。用好莱坞的标准来衡量，也许真是如此。但是这些并不有趣的人物，在金钱问题上，却有令人兴奋的故事并给人以启示。
处世态度的不同是富翁与普通人的最大区别。
Then, I discovered something even odder, many people who have a great deal of wealth don’t live in posh neighbor－hoods. In one large metropolitan area I surveyed, fewer than half the millionaires lived in high-rent districts.
That small insight changed my life. It led me out of an academic career(I was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University), inspired me to write three books on affluence, and made me an adviser to corporation that sold products to customers with high net profit.
What most people don’t realize is that wealth isn’t the same as income. If you, make 1 million a year and spend 1 million, you’re not getting wealthier, you’re just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.
How do you become wealthy? There, too, most people have it wrong. It’s rarely luck or inheritance or even intelli－gence that builds fortunes. Wealth is more often the inex－orable1 result of a person’s hard work, perseverance2 and, most of all, self-discipline.
Who tends to become wealthy? Not the exotic back-stabbers and dabblers in high finance you see depicted on TV. The average person with a net worth of 1 million or more is usually a businessman who has lived all his adult life in the same town. He owns a small factory, a chain store or a service company. Married once, and still married, he lives in a middle-class neighbor－hood3,next to people with a fraction of his wealth. He?蘖s compulsive4 saver and investor. And he has made his money on his own: 80％ of American’s millionaires are the first-generation rich.
So millionaires are dull? By Hollywood stan－dards, maybe. But these dull folks have something exciting to teach about money.
Attitude is the greatest difference between millionaires and the rest of us.
20年前，我开始研究人们如何成为百万富翁。调查了全国许多豪华住区的居民，我发现了一些奇怪的情况：那些拥有豪宅和名车的人并不很富有。他们可能赚了很多钱，但又都花掉了。
接下来我又发现更奇怪的现象：许多真正富有的人并不住在这些豪宅里。在一个大城市城区，也只有不到一半的百万富翁住在房费高昂的地区。
这一点认识改变了我的一生。我放弃了学术工作(当时在乔治亚州州立大学做市场营销教授)，写了三本论述如何发家致富的书，并且担任几家公司的顾问，这些公司以高额利润向客户销售产品。
许多人并不知道财富不等同于收入。如果你一年赚100万，同时又花费100万，那么你的财富毫未增加，你只是生活得很豪华。财富是指你的积累而非花费。
如何能成为富翁?许多人都理解错了。好运，继承，甚至智慧，并不是你富有的主要原因。财富的来源更多的是个人的勤奋努力、锲而不舍的精神，尤其是自我控制而产生的结果。
谁能成为富翁呢?并不是电视中描述得很离奇的暗箭伤人者和涉猎巨额资金者。大多数拥有净资产百万以上的富翁通常是在一个小镇上生活了很久，拥有一间小型工厂，一个连锁店或一家服务公司的人。他只结过一次婚，并且没有离婚，住在中产阶级居住的街区，附近的居民都比较穷。他擅长于积蓄和投资。他的财产是靠自己挣来的：80%的美国百万富翁是第一代致富的。
这样一来，百万富翁的故事也就索然寡味了。用好莱坞的标准来衡量，也许真是如此。但是这些并不有趣的人物，在金钱问题上，却有令人兴奋的故事并给人以启示。
处世态度的不同是富翁与普通人的最大区别。