The book, "The millionaire next door" is based on extensive research on the consumption patterns of America's wealthiest and a surprising majority live below th

The book, "The millionaire next door" is based on extensive research on the consumption patterns of America's wealthiest and a surprising majority live below their means and don't play that game. They're wealthy is spite of being low earners -- in other words they play solid economic defense and often have a weaker economic offense than many. There are a lot of people driving BMWs who can't afford them, and the economic crises revealed a ton of people over-leveraged on mortages. Now, in that case there's certainly a strong argument that people were taken advantage of, and inequality is a really big problem -- I'm just not convinced the status game is something that must be played. Again, the book makes a compelling, fact based argument that frugality is a bigger determinant of wealth than high income.