Who wants to be a Filipino millionaire?

Books on acquiring wealth are very popular now, I’ve noticed. Some promise a peek into the lifestyles of The Millionaire Next Door; others examine family history and its ties to wealth (Rich Dad, Poor Dad). Still others are presumably written for... well, idiots (The Idiot’s Guide to Becoming Rich).

Sure, everyone wants to become rich. Especially the people who put out these self-help books. They’re not doing too bad for themselves. Take Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., author of the latest bestseller, The Millionaire Mind. Stanley was co-author of the 1999 phenomenal bestseller, The Millionaire Next Door, a book which explained why there are more American millionaires today than at any time in history, plus where you can write to them for a loan. No, it doesn’t say that. But The Millionaire Next Door is an eye-opener for people who thought millionaires lived grand, ostentatious lives, enjoying their wealth with lavish impunity and gusto.

No, according to Stanley, true American millionaires shy away from lavish impunity, and wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near gusto. It turns out the American millionaires Stanley interviewed led low-key lives, paid for their purchases in cash, socked their money away, and generally behaved like poor people. How boring. It occurred to me that American millionaires would be unrecognizable next to Filipino millionaires–at least the Filipino millionaires who make international headlines and end up going on trial for graft and corruption now and again.

Stanley’s latest book, The Millionaire Mind, peers deeper into the psyche of those who possess most of the wealth in America – the thousands of newly-minted millionaires who got rich, not from dotcoms or silicon chips, but through more mundane industries like manufacturing and dry cleaning.

That’s right, the habits that led these people to acquire millions are detailed, and it’s not much different from the conclusions drawn in The Millionaire Next Door. Rich folks, according to Stanley, are frugal, hard-working, cautious about risks, and not interested in social status. They tend to buy unflashy cars, steer away from yachts and sports cars. None of them would admit to paying over $40 for a haircut or $400 for a suit. As described by Stanley, they seem like the most boring millionaires on the face of the earth. It almost makes you wonder why they bother acquiring all that wealth to begin with.

Contrast them with Filipino millionaires – no, not the legitimate businessmen who gather their acorns dutifully and expand their businesses carefully and know how to play the game by the rules here. I’m talking about the ones who go about acquiring wealth the quick and easy way: by stealing it.

These are, by any standards, much more interesting millionaires. I won’t mention any names, but the type of millionaires who tend to occupy the scandal sheets and the Guinness Book of World Records pages sure know what to do with money. They are big-time splurgers. The trick with splurging, I’ve noticed, is to do it with such sheer gusto and impunity that even your critics are left gape-mouthed at what you’ve just purchased. A bunch of mansions? Why not! An island? Small, medium or large? A judge or a congressman? Small potatoes. What else have you got? Wrap it up...

Now, this kind of wealth is only truly measurable in opposition: it helps to have a background of extreme poverty in your midst – rows of squatter homes or beggars – the better to be viewed by the world as "wicked wealthy" (I believe that’s the correct socioeconomic term).

Perhaps, by Stanley’s yardstick, it’s an illusionary wealth. Maybe, in the long run, these millionaires are spending more than they’re stealing. Maybe they are fostering bad habits of "wealth dependency" by lavishing luxury gifts on their many legitimate and illegitimate offspring. And, damn it, they just can’t seem to stay away from the $1,500 bottles of wine and expensive designer shoes.

But hey, if you can’t be a millionaire and live a little at the same time, what’s the point?

Here are some of Stanley’s observations about "the Millionaire Mind" and how they stack up against the Filipino Millionaire Mind:

• Choice of Vocation: According to Stanley, those of the Millionaire Mind "were wise in selecting the ideal vocation given their abilities, aptitudes, and strong interest in becoming financially independent." Here, that would amount to entering politics.

• Inherited Wealth: Only two percent of Stanley’s millionaires inherit their wealth, or dole it out to their kids as "gifts." But here, how else are you gonna keep it in the family?

• Success Factors: Integrity, Discipline, Hard Work, Social Skills, and a Supportive Spouse top Stanley’s list. At least here, they can count on a supportive spouse.

• Educated: Fully 90 percent of Stanley’s subjects earned college degrees. As history has shown us, though, such finery and parchment is not always necessary to become a Filipino Millionaire.

• Choice of Housing: Few of Stanley’s millionaires ever had a home built from scratch; they find it much more economical to buy a pre-existing home. Needless to say, Filipino Millionaires will have none of that penny-pinching. Order up another super-mansion, quick, and make sure it has extra waves!

As you can see from this discussion, being a Filipino Millionaire is not always as easy as it looks. It requires dedication, and a fierce determination to spend one’s huge, engorged wealth before it’s all taken away. It requires mastery of certain serial account numbers in Switzerland. But most of all, to be the kind of millionaire that can rightfully be termed a "millionaire" – one whose lifestyle elicits bug-eyed envy, uncontrollable drooling and mass intakes of breath – you gotta have flash.

After all, millionairing shouldn’t be wasted on amateurs.

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