Millionaires Tell How to Become a Millionaire

I loved the book The Frugal Millionaires: 70 millionaires anonymously share their ideas about money to help each other and you and thought I'd share a bit of it with you. The author starts the book by listing six simple concepts that most of the 70 frugal millionaires in the book have in common. The list:

1. Delayed gratification is easy for them.
2. Resourcefulness in getting what they want is a key to their success.
3. They make living way below their means painless.
4. They don't like wasting anything (especially money.)
5. Their sense of "self-entitlement" is highly minimized.
6. Spending is OK with them depending on what they are buying.

In the end, I think these six can be boiled down to a few simple thoughts:

• They spend less than they earn.

• When they buy, they buy on "value", not price.

• They've gotten rich by focusing on three simple steps.

I'll be covering more of this book in a few days, so stay tuned. There's some good stuff in here.

Comments

[aaron]

'their sense of self-entitlement is highly minimized.

i think this is crucial and something that many people struggle with.. aka having a job means entitlement to luxuries that we want, vs. staples or less upscale items. ive always thought.. even though i can afford most items on the spot. ill force myself to wait a couple weeks, as practice of patience and allow to coninually reevaluate my interest in something.

[Mindful Money/Beatriz]

This books looks interesting; thanks for the recommendation. I've been looking for
books to review for my stretcher blog...

[poor boomer]

I've been delaying gratification for decades. When can I finally have some?

I've never heard of anyone becoming a millionaire on a minimum wage income, let alone doing it painlessly!

PB - You're focusing on the wrong part of this post. I've also never heard of a self-made millionaire on a minimum wage income. But I've never known of a self-made millionaire without #2 above (resourcefulness). And I've never met anyone with resourcefulness that makes a minimum wage income for long (and plenty of them have less education than you).

The "little bit more" syndrome and delaying gratification posts that you constantly gripe on don't apply to you much more than to someone who just lost their job and has $0 income. Someone who makes $0 (or, in your case, slightly more) needs to remedy that first before these other spending issues matter much.

[thomas]

#5 is such a problem these days.

poor boomer, if you are making minimum wage and have been doing that for decades I feel very sorry for you.

[Big Cheese]

You need to have a good source of income and good saving habits and you can get to a million cash pretty easily. Minimizing on cost of living and taxes (as many legal deductions as possible) helps. I started with nothing but an education (Master's) and started working at 23. By 34 I had a NW of $1 million... mostly in cash and non-mortgaged owned property.

Without a six figure salary it's much harder to achieve. Poor Boomer the best way for you is to marry rich or win the lotto or poker tournament. Resourcefulness is good in starting a job but remember even good idea fail and fail often- you need the good idea plus a bit of serendipity to strike gold. It happens but it's still what I'd call as uncommon.

-BC

[Fabulously Broke]

I'm going to need to put that book on my list to read. It sounds interesting, and makes me feel a lot more comfortable in what I'm doing.

Non-PF friends of mine are looking at me like I'm mad for being so frugal.

Fabulously Broke in the City
"Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver."

[Ellen Kaye]

It is certainly true that one can downscale one's lifestyle without feeling much pain. I have made a conscious effort to so this year and have been quite surprised by the results. It is very easy to go out to eat a bit less and cook for friends more, look for sales on things you will buy anyway, racking up points for free travel and just being a bit more conscious of spending. It becomes almost a game and the end result of less financial stress more than outweighs any small, if any, inconvenience. It is more an effort of changing your own expectations of how you should live and instead enjoying life's experiences as opposed to mindlessly consuming.

[Dan L.]

As soon as I am rid of old debt (not too much longer), I will build up my emergency fund and really start living below my means. This is very important for me to follow...

[CW]

If the million dollar net worth target is more important to you than the instant gratification, it's easy to live below your means, and as anyone who has done it can tell you - saving becomes addictive over time.

I think for many people they simply don't believe they can become millionairs (nothing more than upper middle class now days), and that is why they see more value in the instant gratification verses the goal of the 1 mill net worth.

Just my opinion.

[Artfredo C. Abella, Ph.D. - C.O.A..-Philipipines]

Yes, I believe that millionaires are really frugal and they know how to leverage the resources of this world. They produce more they consume, they are great savers and investment conscious. Above all, millionaires are what they become since they really believe that they can create wealth in their life. After all being a millionaire is a mindset.

[Artfredo C. Abella, Ph.D. - C.O.A..-Philipipines]

Yes, I believe that millionaires are really frugal and they know how to leverage the resources of this world. They produce more than they consume, they are great savers and investment conscious. Above all, millionaires are what they become since they really believe that they can create wealth in their life. After all being a millionaire is a mindset.

[Anon]

I live on a poverty-level income and save one dollar a month. I could be misguided but I think I've got every millionaire beat on frugality.

Somehow I don't think the power of time is going to make me rich.