Tom Stanley and I crossed paths on the speaking circuit any number of times in the years immediately after his TMNS (and my The Excellent Investment Advisor) came out, and I always found him to be as refreshingly down-to-earth and unassuming as the modest millionaires he wrote about. The fact is that we had quite a lot in common: two poor kids from the outer boroughs of New York City, born just a few months apart; both having startlingly rewarding careers doing something good and valuable in the world; both inexpressibly blessed to have gotten to work with a daughter (Tom’s Sarah and he were working on multiple projects as well as two new books when he died).
If you’ve never read The Millionaire Next Door – and especially if you have, but not for a while – put it at the top of your list. It cannot fail to galvanize your thinking about the kind of prospective clients you really want, and about what a joy it is to work with them. Indeed, it may even focus you more clearly on the kind of person you want to be – as I’m quite sure it did me.
I’ll be going out to dinner in a little while with my first and only wife, driving my 2006 Chrysler – and mourning Dr. Tom Stanley, as should we all.
© 2015 Nick Murray. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. Nick reviews current books, articles and research findings in the “Resources” feature of his monthly newsletter, Nick Murray Interactive. To download the most recent sample issue, visit www.nickmurray.com, and click on “Newsletter.”