Richer Than a Millionaire with Best Selling Author William D. Danko TB

Richer Than a Millionaire with Best Selling Author William D. Danko TB

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Welcome back to The Daily Mastermind. My name's George Wright III with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education so that you can create your ultimate destiny. We are joined today, boy, I'll tell you what, you are gonna be blown away with what we're gonna be offering today. We're joined by a, a good friend, past colleague, Dr. William Danko. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, George. It’s been a while, right? We’ve worked together many times over the years and have known each other and reconnected.

And I'll tell you what, I'm super glad to have you here because your message, your timing, your latest book couldn't come at a more opportune time. And I appreciate you scheduling me into your fun lifestyle that you have up in the Adirondacks and up in upstate New York. It's hard to get you tied down, but I'm sure we'll get into some of that today. So thank you so much for being here.

Glad to be here.

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Dr. William Danko’s Background and Career

Let me do this—for those of our listeners that do not know you, that maybe have heard of your work, or I've talked about you and mentioned you in past podcasts, let me just do a quick introduction. Because many of them know you as the co-author of the main Millionaire Next Door, New York Times bestseller for over three years. But I'm gonna give them a little bit of your background.

After 31 years on the marketing faculty, nine as the chair, you received the emeritus status in 2007 at the School of Business at the State University of New York at Albany. And during your tenure, you studied consumer behavior, in particular the topic of wealth, which is a very high topic for this podcast. As the author of The Millionaire Next Door, a research-based book about wealth in America, that really—this thing just crushed it for years and years. We actually featured it quite a bit in our events over time.

But you've most recently co-authored a book called Richer Than a Millionaire: A Pathway to True Prosperity, which we'll talk about today. I know your academic publications and career have spanned the globe—Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising Research, and many others. You've also spoken and presented to crowds, groups, and select individuals across the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and Taiwan.

You earned your PhD at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, correct?

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Yes. RPI for short.

Oh, that's awesome. Nobody can say Rensselaer. That's the problem. Nobody can spell it. What I do know is you are an expert when it comes to studying human behavior as well as wealth building. And that's the reason I wanted to have you on our podcast.

We had a call a week or so ago, and both of us looked at each other afterward and wished we had just pressed record on the mic because that would've made an amazing podcast. So we'll do our best to regroup and readdress some of these amazing topics we talked about. I really enjoyed that.

So with no further ado, I really appreciate you being here. I hope we can do what we can to just get some golden nuggets from you. With that introduction, maybe you could give us just a little bit of your background—not just your career, but what took you into this specific direction of wealth and looking at consumer behavior and individual entrepreneur behavior, which kind of led to the first book. Then we’ll talk about The Millionaire Next Door and eventually transition to your more recent book, Richer Than a Millionaire. So maybe give us a little bit of your background so people know you more.

Yeah, no, fair enough. That’s a good way to start.

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The Millionaire Next Door – Origins and Insights

It goes back to 1973 when I was a mere undergraduate student, and one of my professors was Professor Thomas J. Stanley. It was a good course in consumer behavior—it felt like a sociology course. We developed a relationship, and he encouraged me to continue my studies, which I did. I got my PhD at RPI subsequently.

From 1973 to 1993 I was still in upstate New York, and Tom went down to Georgia to become a professor at Georgia State University. We kept in touch, doing a number of consulting studies and academic studies over the years. It was good. And in 1993, that was a pivotal year.

He called me up and said, “Do you still have the old data sets from various financial institutions that we consulted for?” And I did. He said, “Let’s reanalyze the data and create an over-encompassing umbrella survey.” And we did.

It was an academic study. We self-funded all of this. This was before either of us were rich and famous. We were just struggling academics. I said, “Holy smoke.” I had a young family. He had a young family. But the concept sounded good.

As we were developing the manuscript, the running title was Big Hat, No Cattle—which is a lot of entrepreneurs nowadays. A lot of people have the illusion of wealth. They have the big car, the nice neighborhood, all the trappings—but they’re on an economic treadmill.

So with the survey research, we found what we call industrial strength neighborhoods—looking at their zip codes. There were people in the trades and farming, plumbing, carpentry, car sales, and car dealership owners. Not the professions like law, engineering, or medicine. These were the people working with their hands for the most part.

And as opposed to being elite, college-educated, beautiful people, they had substantial net worths. Over that 20-year period from 1973 to 1993, we had IRS data, census data, our survey data, personal interviews—and we had what’s called convergent validity. Multiple sources of truth were converging to give us the basic premise of what became The Millionaire Next Door: how ordinary people can really achieve a substantial net worth.

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Misconceptions About Millionaires and Wealth Habits

Okay. So that’s how that book evolved then. And I wanted to point out—it’s interesting, because a lot of people just grow up around this idea of “I want to be a millionaire, and this is what I want, and this is why I want it.” But they don’t really have any clue. Not only do they not have a clue, but they think they know what a millionaire really is. They think they know what it takes to be there. And a lot of times, it’s a vision and a dream and a plan that really has no basis behind it. So it’s really interesting, some of the things in that first book that really pull that out.

Yeah. Exactly.

In The Millionaire Next Door, if I had to summarize it: there’s a lot of quiet wealth. There’s not a lot of flash with these ordinary millionaires.

And one thing we discovered in that survey, and in subsequent surveys, is that 80% of the millionaires in our country are first-generation wealthy—which means they earned it on their own.

One of the hallmarks of wealth generation is being an early and consistent saver. Many are small business owners. When I look at how they became millionaires, they often had multiple streams of income. They may have their day job—that’s the active income—but they also own billboard companies, storage units, parking lots.

One of the more colorful examples was a guy who owns two trailer parks. I said, “What’s the story there?” He said, “I have a piece of developed land with utilities, and the person living there owns the trailer. If they don’t pay the rent, I have a whole new definition of rolling stock.”

There are some states—like New York, where I live—where being in the rental business can be burdensome. California’s the same way. There are a lot of tenant rights. We don’t want to abuse tenants, don’t get me wrong, but boy—if you can own a parking lot, or find other ways to create passive income, that’s a great thing.

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Frugality, Habits, and Economic Scarcity

But that’s a common characteristic, right? These millionaires were everyday people just like us—but they had a side hustle, something else going on. And I also want to make sure I mention what you said a minute ago—that they were early savers, or they treated money a certain way. Because one thing we talk a lot about on our podcast is how you do anything is how you do everything.

You can’t be someone that manages millions if you mismanage money along the way. These are principles, characteristics, and traits you have to adopt early on. And that was a common characteristic of people that were truly not just high-income earners—but net-worth millionaires. Correct?

No, this is true. They’re good stewards of their resources—that’s for sure.

In fact, there’s this concept called self-imposed economic scarcity, and it became clear in The Millionaire Next Door. Say you’re making $100,000 a year—but you spend $100,000 a year. You’re on an economic treadmill. You’ll never get ahead.

But what if you get between your ears the notion of: “I am going to systematically save and invest 20% of whatever I make, and live on 80%”? Right now, in America, the typical household is saving about 8% of their income. And that’s not even necessarily long-term saving. That might be for an emergency fund or tuition. It can go really fast.

But if you could adopt the attitude of saving 20% for long-term investing—building a portfolio—I prefer low-load mutual funds, personally. I don’t give investment advice, but the fewer expenses you have, the better off you’ll be.

You know what’s interesting—you say that, and it’s an amazing point. I love the term self-imposed economic scarcity, meaning: stop spending everything you make. And not just because you need to save more to invest more, but because it solves the problem of having “not enough.” A lot of thought leaders say it differently today—like “everyone complains they can’t start a business or invest, but if they just spent less money, they could fund their own dream.” Whether it’s a side hustle, an investment, or passive income—that strategy is huge.

That’s right. And this is why, in our survey research, we found the typical millionaire becomes economically self-sufficient in their fifties. Because they’ve learned that lesson. It’s a steady-as-you-go approach.

The problem is, there are people in their fifties saying, “Gee, I want to retire in 10 or 20 years. Maybe I should start saving now.” But we have to get the power of compounding working for us. And the earlier you start, the more compounding works in your favor.

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Tax Strategy, Debt, and the Illusion of Status

It’s interesting—you’ve spoken for me many times on stage at our asset protection events. And we talk a lot about how reducing taxes is one of the quickest and safest ways to create additional funds to invest with. But people don’t spend time on that either. So clearly, knowledge and learning need to increase—and it needs to increase at a younger age.

I love the concept. And there’s a reason The Millionaire Next Door was a New York Times bestseller for years and years. Is there anything else you want to bridge into the next topic—because I know you had a personal transition leading into Richer Than a Millionaire—but feel free to go whichever direction makes sense here.

Maybe one or two more points first.

Millionaires tend to avoid excessive debt. Yes, some are highly leveraged—but there’s that biblical admonition in Proverbs 22:7: “The borrower is a slave to the lender.”

When you are in debt, you are a slave. When you have a mortgage, a beautiful car, a home in a fancy neighborhood—but you also have car payments, credit card bills, and you’re barely hanging on—you’re a slave to money. You can’t stop working. That’s stress, anxiety, pressure. It doesn’t free you.

That’s literally the definition of stress and anxiety. You think you're getting these things to feel better—but you’re a slave to them. You’re not in control.

Exactly.

And when I reflect on this academically, from a sociological standpoint—social class used to be defined by things like “what neighborhood do you live in” and “how do you make a living.” So if you’re a doctor in a high-end neighborhood, you have a higher social status. If you’re a plumber in a blue-collar area with a high net worth, you technically have a lower status—but more wealth.

And somewhere along the line, we got it in our heads that appearing upper class is better. The Millionaire Next Door challenges that. It says, “Wait a minute—who am I trying to impress?” Wouldn’t you rather have the freedom to do what you want with your life?

And that’s the real advantage of being a true millionaire—not for status, but for freedom. The ability to act in ways most people can’t.

I love that. And that’s such a powerful concept—stop trying to impress people. The irony is, if two people both make $100K—one lives modestly in a blue-collar area, and the other maxes out to live in a high-end neighborhood—the guy at the bottom of his social circle is going to feel stress, while the guy at the top probably feels peace and security.

Exactly.

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Economic Outpatient Care and the Danger of Enabling Dependence

And before we leave The Millionaire Next Door, there’s one chapter in particular I want to highlight: Economic Outpatient Care, or EOC. It refers to parents financially supporting adult children—sometimes well into their 30s, 40s, even 50s. They’re still on the dole, and they depend on their parents’ money.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak at high-net-worth luncheons where both parents and adult children attended. The parents loved hearing about EOC. The children… not so much.

So this is essentially adult kids depending on their parents financially.

That’s right.

What’s the takeaway there? What’s the message for the audience of this podcast?

It comes down to tough love. You’re not doing your children any favors by making them financially dependent.

I have three kids and five grandkids. And I always ask myself: what do I really want for them? I want them to be healthy, stay out of trouble, and most importantly—be economically self-sufficient. I don’t want to subsidize their lifestyle.

Now, to be fair, I made sure my kids got out of undergrad school debt-free. That was important. But from there, they were on their own. Two of them earned PhDs, funded by their employers. All three are gainfully employed. None of them went into marketing. My wife’s in occupational therapy; none of them went into medicine either. One’s a mathematician, and two are engineers.

They got the message early. When they were little, all they saw was me working and studying. We didn’t have money. So they never felt like they needed money to be happy. That was a blessing.

Warren Buffett once said something I love: “Give your children enough so that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing.”

That’s huge. And in today’s culture, I think it goes both ways. Kids need to understand that they have to create their own life, and parents need to understand that enabling adult children keeps both parties stressed and stagnant. And that ties right into one of the biggest things we talk about on this show—ownership and creating your own economy.

Exactly. It’s about taking full responsibility. When you don’t, you create anxiety—for both sides.

And the worst part? It always starts innocently. You don’t want to see your kid suffer. You just help them out “this one time.” And then it becomes a pattern. Before you know it, you're bailing them out over and over.

Right. It starts simple… but it never ends simple. You have to rip the band-aid off eventually.

Exactly.

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Transitioning into Richer Than a Millionaire

Let’s talk about the next phase of your journey—Richer Than a Millionaire. Because I know you had a personal experience that really shifted your focus and led you to write this second book.

That’s right. 2015 was a pivotal year.

Tom Stanley, my co-author on The Millionaire Next Door, died in a car crash. And my quadriplegic brother—who my wife and I had been caring for at home for 20 years—also passed away that same year. Two years later, his cat died. And that was when we were truly free.

Wow. You were the full-time caregiver for 20 years? That’s no small commitment.

Yeah. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Back in 1995, my mother had a stroke and couldn’t care for my brother anymore. He had multiple sclerosis and was paralyzed from the neck down. Couldn’t even scratch his own nose. I had a university professor’s salary, and thanks to the royalties from the book, I bought him a home and kept him out of a nursing facility.

I became the weekend caregiver—every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for two decades.

That gives you perspective most people never get.

It really does. And it shaped everything about my view on wealth and purpose.

I started having deep conversations with a colleague of mine, Richard Van Ness. We’d drive around upstate New York, talking about what kind of legacy we wanted to leave our kids and grandkids. We took notes. And those conversations became the foundation of Richer Than a Millionaire.

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The Role of Giving and Purpose in True Prosperity

So you went from researching wealth to discovering fulfillment. And that’s so relevant right now—everyone’s chasing fulfillment, but few people know where to start.

Right. Between the two of us, Rich and I had over 50 years of teaching experience. We saw students come and go. We saw what they valued—and what they were missing.

That’s when we started looking at Benjamin Franklin’s 1758 essay, The Way to Wealth. In it, Franklin says that being industrious, frugal, and prudent are great—but without a blessing from above, it’s meaningless. He also warns: don’t forget to be charitable.

That was the theme we wanted to explore. Does charity matter?

We looked across major religions—Christianity, Judaism, Islam—and all of them emphasize giving. So we ran the data.

We surveyed people based on net worth, charitable giving, hours volunteered, and more. We also used a psychological scale called Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) to measure how happy and well-adjusted people felt. The results were amazing.

People who gave more, volunteered more, and lived by the golden rule were significantly happier.

So you measured both net worth and happiness—and the big differentiators were giving, faith, and peace of mind.

Exactly.

Money is good. But money + happiness is better.

Among people with $100K–$1M net worth (the “up-and-comers”), 73% considered themselves happy. Among those with $1M+, 88% were happy.

So yes, more money correlated with more happiness—but giving and peace of mind were the real drivers.

And that’s the kicker: giving and service don’t just improve the end result. They enhance the journey.

Absolutely. And that’s what Richer Than a Millionaire is about. You can have wealth, but you also need to build your life around purpose, peace, and connection.

We looked deeper: Were these people at peace with their soul? Did they experience anxiety about the future? Was God central to their life?

Those who said yes were far more likely to be happy—regardless of income level.

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Final Thoughts and Resources

This is such a powerful message. Because in today’s culture, people think: hustle, grind, scale. But they’re missing the inner work. And ironically, it’s that inner work—gratitude, giving, clarity—that leads to success and fulfillment.

Exactly. One of my favorite quotes comes from Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret. He says, “The man says to the stove: Give me heat—and then I’ll give you wood.” But of course, that’s backward.

Yes. That’s such a powerful metaphor. You’ve got to give first. Give value. Give service. That’s how you get heat. That’s how you get fulfillment, wealth, all of it.

Right. And that’s what we’re trying to teach in this book. You can chase wealth, but if you don’t learn how to live well, it’ll never be enough.

So here’s what I tell people: Start early. Be frugal. Save and invest. Create multiple streams of income. Build strong personal relationships. Avoid toxic debt. And never stop giving.

Amen to that. So where can people find your book and learn more?

Amazon is the easiest place. You can also visit RicherThanaMillionaire.com. Rich Van Ness and I have essays, interviews, and other resources there. It’s a great place to explore the ideas further.

And I encourage everyone listening—pick up the book. Not just for wealth strategies, but for true life strategies.

As I always say: you absolutely have the ability and greatness inside of you. It’s never too late to start living the life you were meant to live. So put these practical principles into action. And thank you again, Dr. Danko, for sharing your wisdom with us.

Thank you, George. This has been fabulous. I truly hope your listeners will hear the message—and not just agree with it—but practice it.

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About George Wright III:

George Wright is a Proven, Successful Entrepreneur- and he knows how to inspire entrepreneurs, companies, and individuals to achieve Massive Results. With more than 20 years of Executive Management experience and 25 years of Direct Marketing and Sales experience, George is responsible for starting and building several successful multimillion-dollar companies. He started at a very young age to network and build his experience and knowledge of what it takes to become a driven and well-known entrepreneur. George built a multi-million-dollar seminar business, promoting some of the biggest stars and brands in the world. He has accelerated the success and cash flow in each of his ventures through his network of resources and results driven strategies. George is now dedicated to teaching and sharing his Prosperity Principles and Strategies to every Driven and Passionate Entrepreneur he meets. His mission is to Empower Entrepreneurs Globally to create Massive Change and LIVE their Ultimate Destiny.

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