[closeparen]

The Millionaire Next Door isn't about the elite, it's about responsible late-career middle class families who have followed entirely standard middle class practices like going to college, saving for their children's college funds, owning their primary residences, and saving ~15% for retirement every year.

A family at median household income ($51k) that mortgaged a median-priced home ($180k) and saved 15% for retirement starting from age 25 will have $856k in a 401k and the better part of their house's value in home equity around age ~57.

If they don't at least have the 401k balance, they're going to be in serious trouble before before they're dead (unless Social Security is still around).

The Millionaire Next Door describes the minimum behavior required to avoid falling out of the middle class over a lifetime.

It's about the kind of people who might buy tickets to the symphony once or twice in a lifetime. Not the kind of people who attend its fundraiser galas. 40%-ers, not 1%-ers.

[danielvf]

Pro tip: Symphonies price segment like crazy. Except the cheap seats are pretty good. A couple can usually go to a symphony for about the same cost as movie tickets plus movie theater snacks.

[SomeStupidPoint]

It was about $100-200 for two tickets in my city the last time I was pricing them. (Price varies by show, age, and if you're buying tickets to multiple shows.)

So about double a movie + dinner.