How Millionaires Become Millionaires

After sharing Millionaire Facts, I ran into this piece from Yahoo Finance titled Wealth Is What You Save, Not What You Spend that talks about how millionaires became millionaires. How could I not post on something with this title? ;-)

Some of the quotes from the piece I just have to share (with my thoughts added in):

Most of those folks with a net worth of $1 million or more have earned it themselves.

Many people mistakenly think that most millionaires have their wealth handed to them from either their relatives or some stroke of luck (like winning the lottery, being gifted with amazing abilities/talent, etc.) This is completely false. Most people with over seven-figure wealth got it the old-fashioned way, they earned it.

Most of those with big bucks live well under their means and they put their money instead toward investments that help them stockpile more wealth.

This is why spending less than you earn is my best piece of financial advice. It's also the reason that over-spending is the worst money mistake anyone can make.

"It is seldom luck or inheritance or advanced degrees or even intelligence that enables people to amass fortunes," the authors wrote. "Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning, and, most of all, self discipline."

Some related FMF posts that you might like to read that support these claims:

• The Wealth of Farmers
• Intelligence Still Linked to Income, Not Wealth
• How Most Millionaires Become Wealthy

Income alone does not make one rich. It helps, of course, to build wealth, but the financially independent look to their salaries as a means to an end, which is that pile of cash.

Simple math tells us all that it's easier to become wealthy with higher incomes (that's why I recommend growing your career and offer other money making suggestions as well.) But those who make more often spend more -- either treading water or even going backwards financially.

Among the biggest differences between those flush with cash and those wishing they were is in how they pay for things. Millionaires tend to use cash for most of their purchases, including cars, homes and boats.

We paid for our last car with cash (and several before that), our last home with cash (from the sale of our previous home), and we don't want/need/have a boat. Of course I prefer to pay for anything by credit card, get the cash back, and pay it off immediately. ;-)

And they're patient, willing to invest in the long term and wait it out. "They stick with their investments and are more likely to have a financial plan," said Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. Many take the long-term approach to investing because they're working at being financial independent.

They "just so happen" to take advantage of the #1 way to grow their investments: time.

When it comes down to it, becoming wealthy is pretty simple: make your gap as big as possible and invest it for a long, long time.

Anyone working on this plan? I know you're out there. ;-)

Comments

[Seth]

Just curious, but why would you not want a boat? You certainly could afford one.

[FMF]

Seth --

Why would I want one?

[Debt Free Divas]

I don't think I want a boat either...just some really good friends with boats. Great post!

[Everyday Tips]

I wouldn't even want a free boat. So much maintenance!

My husband and I started investing (401k) with our very first paychecks out of college. Whereas most general guidelines would state that our investment would be about 3 times the purchase price, reality hasn't been nearly so generous. In other words, our returns have not been as fantastic as we would have hoped, or even expected. I must have been born at the wrong time, or I picked all the wrong mutual funds!

[Rick Francis]

>When it comes down to it, becoming wealthy is pretty simple: >make your gap as big as possible and invest it for a long, long >time.
>
>Anyone working on this plan? I know you're out there. ;-)

Yes, the thing people don't realize is that $1M just isn't that much money anymore. If I could collect full SS and had $1M I could retire today but I'm only 41. By the time I retire $1M won't be enough to retire even with average inflation.

I suspect a comfortable retirement will need at least $2M, so I'm targeting $3-4M just in case SS & Medicare gets cut drastically.

I'm getting to the point where my where the returns on my money will be larger than my yearly contributions. There is still a long way to go but I'm starting to feel the power of compound interest.

-Rick Francis

[billyjobob]

I wanted a boat. So I bought one. But me being the frugal guy I am, I bought a 12 foot dingy. Not the expensive Zodiac dingys. I got mine for half the cost off the internet for $1000 and then I bought a used 15 hp motor for $800. I,ve had a blast in my boat. I've also noticed that many of the big boat owners all have dingys tied behind their big boats and it seem that they use the dingys more for cruising and the big boat just stays parked in the boat slip. They don't like to buy the gas for those big boats I guess. When we have had fireworks or something, I will usually take the dingy out and we will hook up with other dingy boaters. I've been ask more than once." where is you boat" I answer.... this is my boat. :-) ... just the dingy... they all assume I have a big boat parked in the slip some where. Anyway, I think the thing that's important is not what kind of boat you have, but what kind of fun can you have with the boat you have.

[Indigo]

I don't need a boat even though there's a large body of water near where I live. I enjoy swimming in it in spring and summer. But it's hard to not get excited seeing speeding boat and jet-skis swish on by. I can always satisfy my curiosity by renting a boat. It costs about $400 to rent a speedboat for a day. That's much better than going $10,000 into debt for something that I will only use a few times a year.

The only long term saving plan I have it my 401K. I'm working on paying off major debt burden I have. Once I'm done paying off, I plan to contribute more toward the the 401K and open up a Roth IRA and also start investing in index funds. My understanding (which is very limited) is that I cannot tap into 401K and Roth IRA until I'm old and senile. But what I invest in index funds and/or mutual funds, I can tap into rather easily. At least age won't be a factor.

I have been playing around with my 401K numbers in excel. I like what I see. I now I may not live until I'm 60 years old, but the numbers excite me. It makes me feel happy and worry-less and worthy.

Good luck to everyone.

[Jonathan]

My wife and I are only starting out on our journey to millions, but we'll be getting there in several ways. We were both lucky to be born into stable, fairly well-off, 2-parent families. We will have help at least from one family, in terms of investment knowledge and access to exclusive opportunities. We will likely eventually get an inheritance (but fortunately, that should be a LONG way off). But by far the most important factor will be our discipline in saving and investing what we earn. We live on a small percentage of our earnings and have been blessed to be able to put nearly $200k into various investments over the 3 years we've been married. Our only real financial goals are to be able to have freedom from a W-2 income and to be able to live and give generously as we see fit.

I'd also love a boat! But, like Indigo, I've seen that you can rent a nice sailboat for 24 hours for around $400. I don't know how to sail on my own yet, but the same place that rents the boats will teach you how to sail them.

[Money Reasons]

My kids enjoy riding on a boat with our friends. I'll pitch in for gas money, just so I feel better about going out with them. While I personally, don't think I'll ever own a boat, my kids really enjoy tubing...

For what I make, I'm doing pretty well over all, but I think I'll have to increase my savings delta to become really comfortable once I retire.

I'm on a projectory for at least 1 million dollars, but I'll need more than that in retirement if I want to do that things that I want to do.

[crashdamage1957]

Hey, do you know what the he two happiest days in a boat owners life are?

The day that the boat is purchased, and the day that its sold ;)

[Jason @ Redeeming Riches]

Excellent piece! Patience and directing excess cash flow to savings is key! Cash flow drives everything.