This book is 20 years old (pre-dot.com bubble, pre-2008) so it would be interesting to see what the millionaire pool looks like currently. When the authors were gathering their information in the 1980 and 1990s they were surprised to learn that a high percentage of Americans with a net worth of $1 million or more were non-flashy men and women (including 1st generation Americans) who lived modestly, budgeted carefully, and frequently owned their own businesses. In contrast, flashy high-earners who drove the best cars and lived in the nicest neighborhoods didn't have much net worth because their lifestyle met (or exceeded) their income. In some cases, their career fields (law, medicine, etc.) demand a certain standard of living that the modest millionaires (teachers, business owners, etc.) were able to avoid.

I have small beefs with the book, but can't really argue with the main message: wealth and an affluent lifestyle are not the same thing, and frequently do NOT go hand-in-hand.