Do you dream of being fabulously wealthy and not worrying about money? Do you ever wonder what others have done to build wealth? Would you be surprised to learn that many people you think are filthy rich may be drowning in debt? We are going to share the 12 rules to becoming a millionaire.
I’ve been helping people reach their financial goals for over 20 years, and I can tell you the flashiest people are not always the richest. The person driving down the street in a Ferrari may not be wealthier than the person driving a 20-year-old Honda. Granted, I’m confident they have a much larger car payment. Many trappings we associate with wealth are just money-sucking traps for the average American. Keep reading as we share the 12 golden rules of building true life-changing wealth.
1. Earn More Than Your Spend
Regardless of how much money you make, if you never save any of it, you will never build up any substantial amount of wealth. It is not how much you make but how much you keep that matters. There are people making millions of dollars per year who still claim to be living paycheck to paycheck. Pay yourself first and save for the future. In most scenarios, trying and earning more money will be easier than frugaling your way to wealth.
2. Limit Your Exposure To Bad Debt
At first, a small amount of credit card debt may not seem like a big deal. However, with sky-high interest rates, credit card debt has a way of spiraling out of control. Especially if you are taking on this debt while still fully employed. If you continue to carry credit card debt, more and more of your income will go to paying the interest on debt—nothing fun or fabulous about that.
3. Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful, and Fearful When Others Are Greedy
The rich got richer during both the financial crisis and the Coronavirus Pandemic. Those who could face their fears and continue investing during what we expected to be a once-in-a-lifetime sale on stocks have made out like bandits.
The stock market has multiplied several times since the depth of the Great Recession. If you bailed out of the stock market or didn’t own any stocks to begin with, your net worth won’t benefit from the amazing run-up in stock market values.
You can still make money investing when times are good, but you will likely get a bigger return starting when others are scared to invest.
4. Build Wealth, Don’t Just Try To Look Rich
Be rich. Don’t just look rich. Some people live in glamorous homes, drive a G-Wagon, and take numerous luxury vacations who you probably assume are wealthy. If that house is rented, the car leased, and the vacation bill is sitting on a credit card, they are only pretending to be rich. In reality, people in scenarios like this may be setting themselves up to drown under the cost of their lifestyles no matter how much money they make. Indeed, none of these things will help you become a millionaire.
5. Take Steps To Increase Healthspan And Plan To Live Forever
If you live long enough and do most things right financially, anyone can become a millionaire. The challenge may be being able to keep building wealth over time. Investing time and energy into increasing your healthspan (the time that you are healthy rather than just alive) will allow you to work longer (or more efficiently) to stay on track to becoming a millionaire.
If nothing else, increasing your healthspan will help you enjoy the time you have more. It may even save you money on medical care costs as you age.
6. Choose Your Path To Building Wealth
Over the past two decades, I have guided people toward building a happier, healthier, and wealthier life. During this time, I’ve seen six main ways that people can get rich. Most people will find the greatest success by combining a few of these.
The six ways you become a millionaire and more:
1) Marry Well
2) Receive an Inheritance
3) Have a unique talent (think athletes, celebrities, or tech geniuses)
4) Amazing Luck (such as lottery winners)
5) Have an ownership stake in a successful business
6) Live within your means and invest your savings over long periods
The reality is that the sixth way is the most common for the average American to become a millionaire. If you’ve read the book “The Millionaire Next Door,” you probably know that the typical millionaire is just like you or me. They earn a relatively average income, drive a fairly common car, and have invested a bit of money over long periods. Now, they have created their own luck and have become millionaires. While it would be exciting to be Taylor Swift (and as wealthy as her), not all of us can sell out an around-the-world stadium tour.
7. Avoiding Risk Can Be The Riskiest Strategy Of All
The biggest rewards come to those who take smart risks. You don’t have to be crazy risky, but you must still put yourself and your money out there. If you hide your money under the mattress, you are guaranteed to lose money every day due to inflation.
It may seem scary, but building wealth over time will require you to risk some of your money. That will likely include investing in things that can fluctuate in value. This could be stock or bonds. It could also be real estate or business ventures. Heck, it could even be committing the time and money to getting a college degree.
If, at age 22, you were able to put away $1,000 per month into a bank account, you would have around $965,000 at age 70. That’s assuming a two-percent annual interest rate and ignoring taxes on the interest for simplicity. This may sound good, as you are still almost a millionaire.
Now, if you were to invest the same amount of money and earn below-market returns, you would still have substantially more money. Assuming a 10% rate of return over time, net of fees and taxes, you could have a whopping $14,170,000 or so at the age of 70. There will be some scary times on this ride to becoming a multimillionaire, but stocks have outperformed bank accounts by a wide margin over time. How long would you have to work to earn an extra $13 million?
8. Get The Best Financial Advice
The internet is full of financial advice. Some will apply to you, and some won’t. Some will be legitimate financial advice, and some will get you sucked into a get-rich scheme or in trouble with the IRS.
If you don’t want to take the time and energy to invest for yourself, make sure to work with a financial advisor who is a fiduciary all of the time. This means they are required to put your interests ahead of theirs. Also, look for someone who is a certified financial planner and is not tied to a specific company or pushing particular products.
Friends and family can be good resources to help point you toward an excellent financial advisor. Beware of taking advice from someone who only appears to be rich. You only live once, and you should treat yourself. That sounds great. But this approach to spending could leave you broke.
9. Make Saving Automatic
Look for ways to set it and forget it. Make contributions automatically to your investment accounts each month. Invest into your retirement account right from your paycheck. The less you fuss with it, the more likely you are to continue saving.
10. Money Is Time, And Time Is Money
Most people know time is money. As a big believer in financial freedom, I also know that money is time. The more money you have, the more time you can create for yourself. You can pay a cleaning crew if you don’t want to clean. Are you too tired or too busy to cook a healthy meal? Get a meal delivery service or a private chef if you are super fancy. If you hate thinking about money, work with an amazing financial planner. Want to get in better shape faster? Hire a private trainer. Sorry, the trainer can’t do the working out or sweating for you. In all these circumstances, having money allows you to take time to do other things you may enjoy more.
11. Embrace The Magic Of Compound Interest
The earlier you get your financial house in order, the more wealth you will be able to build. In tip 7, saving $1,000 a month from 22 to 70 could net you around $14 million (assuming a 10% rate of return after taxes and fees). If you wait until 30 to begin saving, this number drops to about $5.1 million. Eight fewer years of compounding interest drops your net worth by nearly two-thirds. OUCH! To be fair, even a $5.1 million net worth should put many people close to achieving financial freedom.
12. Have A Plan To Minimize Taxes Now And In Retirement
Minimizing taxes while you are still building wealth will make it easier to put more time, money, and effort into becoming a millionaire. Likewise, having a strategy to minimize taxes in retirement will help you stay a millionaire longer or, at the very least, decrease the chances of running out of money in retirement.
The truth is anyone can become a millionaire with the proper financial guidance and enough time. The sad reality is that many more people will choose to live a rich lifestyle, living beyond their means and never accumulating much, if anything, in the way of wealth. The choice is yours; do you want to achieve financial freedom and live your best life, or do you want to stay on the hamster wheel of consumption and spend, spend, and spend working until you can’t anymore? The choice is yours.
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