Who would not like to become a member of the millionaire club? I would love to become a millionaire.

So with this goal in front of me I began to search the Internet with google to find out how one can become a millionaire.

I used to believe it is very difficult to become a millionaire unless you have a top job with a six-figure salary and a string of qualifications from the top MBA schools in the US. If you did not have any of these then you should have be lucky at least to be born to a millionaire. This thought itself use to discourage me from thinking any further in achieving my goal.

With this background I began the search to find out how one becomes a millionaire. The first result that was displayed by google was the book “The Millionaire Next Door”. The title of the book made me believe that this would be the right book. I went to Amazon and ordered the book online.

What I read in the book was a bolt from the blue. All my beliefs in the minimum requirements necessary to become a millionaire were not at all required. In fact the survey results in the book said that there were many high-income earners with a six figure salary and were not in the millionaire club. Though they were earning a good income their net worth was not commensurate with it. They were high spenders too, to keep up their status and with their neighbours. The eye opener was people whose income was not in six figures and those with moderate earning were millionaires. This made me more curious to find out. Believe me, I was stunned by what I found out. It was, as the author of the book says, to become a millionaire all that is required is be ‘frugal’ – live within your means. It is frugality that turns into wealth.

What one has to do to become wealthy are the following, according to this book. I am sure most of you would be aware of all these things, at least I was well aware but my thoughts never gave any importance to them.

• Live a frugal life

• Live within your means

• Invest in wealth creating assets and not the assets that create more liability

• Allocate time, energy and money efficiently in ways conducive to building wealth

• Have a budget and plan your expenditures

• Never spend against your future expected incomes

• Set financial goals and spend time, money and energy to achieve those goals

• Believe what millionaires believe - that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status