A few weeks back, I read most of Millionaire Mind (it’s so freeing to realize that you don’t have to finish books or read them in order — thanks Mark and Bob) and was impressive with a couple of great concepts (Julien Smith summarized the book well as “Those that are wealthy are not those who ACT wealthy. Those that look wealthy are usually in just debt, while the rich tend to act broke.” in his list of hilarious and succinct summaries of 200 books.)

Some of the highlights for me were:

• “I taught my sons and daughters that money is not their God. You control it…not let it control you.”
• People who have net worth (not necessarily high incomes, but people who are worth a long instead of people who make a lot and spend a lot) often share characteristics like: they enjoy their work, they don’t buy luxury items (big, fancy, new houses; flashy cars), but they do buy things of value
• They enjoy their work
• They spend significant time socializing with friends and maintaining personal and professional relationships well
• Millionaires see keys to success being things like honesty, discipline, being easy to work with; instead of intelligence, SAT scores, etc.
• They are very focused on using their time well — minimizing things they aren’t passionate about (e.g. they make shopping lists before they go to the store to avoid wandering) and making time for things they do care about (friends, passions, hobbies, etc.)
• They don’t blame others for their circumstances of think about or start things without finishing them

The book is full of inspiring stories about people who worked hard and accomplished impressive things, like the part-time, school bus driver who saved his pennies, studied the stock market tirelessly, and retired after sending his 3 children to Ivy League schools with $3M in assets.  It’s a great read as a reminder of how focused our society is on buying shiny, new things instead of spending time with friends and other things we’re passionate about.

(I love Evernote for taking notes of things on things like great quotes/points in books.)