Wouldn’t it be nice to be a millionaire? Just think of all the things you could do (other than subsidizing our national debt through higher taxes). You can put your kids through college, buy a better home, or retire comfortably without the fear of Social Security going bankrupt a month after you toss our your suit and tie. Yes, being a millionaire would be nice.

In honor of tax season, I’ve decided to give away my copy of “The Millionaire Next Door,” written by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. In this book, the authors provide you with years of research findings on the millionaires in the United States. They cover how they earned their money as well as how the spend it. Additionally, they reveal what professions these millionaires held in order to grow their wealth.

When we think of millionaires, we tend to think about the Wall Street brokers riding around in their limousines while wearing expensive suits and shoes. However, most of the millionaires in the United States come from “dull” careers, such as owners of mobile-home parks, paving contractors, and janitorial service providers. This is just one of the many surprising findings found in the book.

The authors cover seven key principles which the millionaire next door observe when building their wealth:

1) They live well below their means.
2) They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conductive to building wealth.
3) They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4) Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
5) Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6) They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
7) They chose the right occupation.

Don’t you wish our Congress would practice those principles when crafting their budgets and spending our money?

Contest rules

Since I only have one copy of this book to give away, I want to turn this into a contest. The rules are as follows:

For those operating a blog
- Post an article on your site mentioning this book offer.
- Link to this article using the tag “U.S. Common Sense”.
- Post a link to your article in the comment section below.

For those who do not have a blog
- Leave a comment below on one of these three topics: what business you would like to start, how would you use your wealth to help others, or how you would change the U.S. tax code.

Make sure you enter a valid e-mail address in your profile when you leave your comment. That will be the means by which I contact you so I can mail you the book.

Since this contest is in honor of the tax season, all entries must be submitted by April 14th. I will announce the winner on April 15th. The winner will be chosen by random.