The Millionaire Next Door p. 100-140

This portion of the reading discussed frugality, and both some common consumption tendencies of millionaires, as well as common investment strategies of millionaires. While the term frugality has been commonly used throughout the book, the author gave specific examples of how the majority of millionaires in America are frugal. The author described the consumption of automobiles by the wealthy. In his studies the author witnessed that the overall majority of millionaires in the United States had never spent more than $30K on a car. My favorite part of this section was when the author described the most common cars that millionaires have, the Chevy Suburban, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the Ford F-150. This was my favorite section because these are three of my favorite cars, so it's promising to know that they would suit me as a millionaire. The author includes in this portion the ways in which most millionaires purchase cars. The overwhelming majority were frugal buyers, spending monthly speaking to different dealerships in search of the best deal. These are life lessons which my parents have taught me since I was young. My mom recently bought a new car, which she had been in the hunt for spanning out over a full year! Another interesting topic evaluated by the author in this portion of the book are the ways in which the most successful millionaires in the country invest. The author found through his studies that the majority of successful millionaires in the country are independent investors who are independent. They study specific sectors within the stock market where they may have some sort of expertise. They are not overly active in their investments; the overwhelming majority won't touch their investments until they've been in the possession of the investor for over two years. Oppositely, those who don't succeed as well in the stock market are those who shop around for investing expertise. Rather than being independent, they are reliant on cold callers, and other people trying to make a quick buck. In addition, these people are typically overactive in their investments. Rather than allowing their investments to appreciate, they are constantly making changes to their investments, sometimes even weekly. Rather than having any special knowledge in one area, they spread out their investments, even into fields where they have zero expertise.
What I took from this portion was that in terms of investments, it's best to be independent and focus on a couple of sectors to invest in, or stay away from depending on the trends in that sector. In addition, buy the cars that you like (for me) rather than ones that attempt to display status.