二十年前,我便开始研究人们是怎样成为百万富翁的。我在全国范围内的豪华居民区作调查,结果发现一些奇怪的现象:许多家布置得富丽堂皇、开着豪华小轿车的人拥有的财富其实并不多。他们也许赚了大把大把的钞票,然而他们却把钱花得精光。后来我又发现一些更为奇怪的现象:许多拥有巨额财富的的并不生活在豪华居民区。 这些发现改变了我的生活,我因此退出了学术界(当时我是佐治亚州方大学的一位经济学教授),写了三本有关财富方面的著作,并且成为许多大公司的经济顾问。 Twenty years ago, I began to study how people became millionaires. I surveyed luxury residential areas nationwide and found some weird phenomena: many homes were magnificently decorated, and the wealth of those who drove the limousines was not much. They may make a lot of money, but they spend their money. Later, I found some stranger phenomenon: Many have a huge wealth does not live in luxurious residential areas. These discoveries changed my life, so I quit academics (then I was a professor of economics at Georgia State University), wrote three books on wealth, and became economic advisors to many large companies.