First 2 things

A study that reinforces what we already know, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

Steve Martin used to have a bit that went something like this:

You can be a millionaire and never pay taxes!

You say: ‘Steve, how can I be a millionaire and never pay taxes?’

First, get a million dollars…

I read about a big study of 90,641 households all around the world, published as a working paper for Austria's Oesterreichische Nationalbank (link opens as .pdf), looking at what wealthy families in developed countries do differently from less wealthy families. 

No surprise, they found a big worldwide wealth gap. And, if you drill down on the findings on the American part of the study—about 6,000 U.S. households—you’ll see two specific decisions they say are the difference between wealthy and not wealthy.

I mentioned that Steve Martin bit because there’s a bit of “first, get a million dollars” involved in their conclusions. But, let’s examine what they came up with.

Decision No. 1: Own your home (and eventually pay it off).

This is a big focus of the study: how much better off people are …