The other day, I came across some interesting data on spending habits of millionaires from the book “The Millionaire Next Door” by Stanley and Danko. It was about how much money millionaires spend on items like suit clothing, shoes, watches, and cars. I am presenting this data in a tabular form below - “typical” values are highlighted in green; for example, a typical millionaire spends about $140 on a pair of shoes.
It’s a pity that the authors do not explicitly mention the time frame of the survey (although, there is some generic information about their surveys towards the end of the book), the number of millionaire participants, or the age distribution of the participants included in the survey - but what is presented should be enough to make (some) people think about their spending habits. Of course, all surveys have their limitations, so a bit of skepticism won’t be out of order (keep in mind that the book was first published in 1996 and the surveys were conducted around that time, so there will be some inflationary effect on the numbers by now).
Anyways, assuming that the survey satisfactorily reflects the millionaire population in the US (around 8.9 million households), if you find yourself placed in a higher percentile group (more than 10%) in the above tables, then there are probably hundreds of thousands of millionaires who have less expensive tastes than you. 
Try to visualize this whenever you feel like contemplating on your spending habits.
I (fortunately, so far) fall in the lowest spending percentile on all four counts. Here are some specific numbers for my case:
- Most expensive suit clothing: $99 (plus tax) suit jacket from a JC Penny sale; bought 3 years ago.
- Most expensive shoes: $70 leather shoes; bought 6 years ago.
- Most expensive wristwatch: $9 + change (don’t laugh); bought more than 6 years ago.
- Most expensive car: $12,200; bought a couple of weeks ago.
What about you? have you been spending more than the typical millionaires on the items mentioned above?
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Wow I fall pretty high on three of the four lists. My most expensive vehicle we just bought was one year old used and ran about 13,000.
But otherwise, I have spent a lot of money on clothing over the past few years. One suit was about $350 and most others ran a little less. When you factor in a nice dress shirt, cufflinks, tie, belt and shoes it is amazing how much money I’m actually wearing!
Unfortunately my profession demands it so it comes with the territory
Oh, man, I fail so hard at the shoe category. 95% of millionaires have more frugal shoe tastes than I do. On the other hand, Jimmy Choos and Doc Marten boots very rarely appeal to older white guys, which is presumably the largest category of millionaires, so…there you go.
My most expensive car has only been $9k, though. Makes up for it a little.
Here is my rundown:
* Most expensive suit clothing: $120 (plus tax); bought 8 years ago.
* Most expensive shoes: $150 Shaq sneakers (extreme moment of weakness in college when I thought shoes mattered); bought 10 years ago.
* Most expensive wristwatch: $99 (titanium Fossil watch…don’t even wear the watch anymore thanks to cell phones); bought 6 years ago.
* Most expensive car: $16,500 (first car purchase, used Honda Element); bought May 2, 2007.
hmmm, i’m a bit off the board.
suit: $700
shoes: $700
wristwatch: $18,000
car: $52,000
some explanations:
suit: it doesn’t matter what it costs so long as it is fitted well. a well fitted $200 suit will look much more expensive than a $2000 poorly fitted suit. I find the happy medium of around $500-$600 with tailoring adding to $700.
shoes: i’m a big fan of getting well made shoes. i get them resoled. i have had the same shoes for 15 years. men it’s a little different than women, b/c you can buy conservative business shoes and they will stand through time.
wristwatch: well, watches are my thing. other people have other hobbies, i have watches and pens. paid the one listed fully in cash.
car: this is my newest car which included extended manufacturer’s warranty, taxes, etc. paid it fully in cash. i like the car and we keep cars a long time. my last car was a 1984 of the same make but older model.
Golbguru, looks like we are reading the same book! I am currently on page 58. At this point, I can definitely say I spend more money that most of these millionaires. Well, I guess it’s time to kick the habit.
suit: 300
shoes: 150
wristwatch: never purchased one for myself
car: 3000
I’, generally a big fan of the Millionaire Next Door - definitely a lesson to be learned for most individuals about living under your means, but I felt at the end of the book that the Authors really wanted only to conclude what they wanted to conclude rather than writing a more comprehensive book.
I haven’t spent a lot of money on cars, watches or shoes but I have bought myself a couple nice suits. When it comes to the remaining items I just don’t need anything super fancy or expensive just to say I bought it. If I had money to burn then maybe I might spend a lot on a car or a watch but until that day where it’ll be functionality before glitz.
suit: Still havn’t bought one.
shoes: $100. Bought 1yr ago. Stopped wearing 3months ago. Average
I’ll bet 60-70% of the regular middle class spends more than 29 on their car. Especcialy since SUV’s are now family cars.
I can’t even imagine living on that little money. and with kids. forget about it.
Excellent article. I am in the 50% on suits, 25% on shoes; 75% on watches (I spent $300 on my watch - that was 10 years ago and I am still using it - so money well spent); under 10% on vehicle (still driving my junk 1997 Geo Prizm that I bought for $8,000 in 1999).
Are you seriously telling me that 25% of millionaires have never spent more than $285 on a suit? What kind of suit can you get for that price and where do you get it?
First of all, the data provided in the article is nonsense.What do you call “millionare?”Did you know that the 1% of the richest peple in the world spend ovr 60% of the world’s wealth? You should have referred to what you call millionares as the American middle class. If I belonged to that demografic, I would spend my money in traveling, assuring a good house (meaning one I won’t loose to a lender),studies for my children and health.
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