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Keep in mind, though, your big pay-off doesn’t always need to come from a new product or even a new business. In the next section, we’ll learn about other successful millionaires. If you simply can’t wait to get a taste of the high life, consider fractional living. You might find a new way to use an old product, like using materials that are typically discarded in a new way. Using this relatively new practice, people are sharing ownership of luxury items — homes, artwork, handbags, yachts, airplanes, cars — with as many people as it takes to afford the goods. Or, maybe you’ve noticed a location that could really use a certain type of store, and maybe there’s an opportunity for a franchise.
Daily Mail. “Teacher Becomes Self-Made Millionaire by Selling Catchy and Creative Lesson Plans.” Sept. Frank, Robert. “U.S. Has Record Number of Millionaires.” June 22, 2011. (Jan. 7, 2013) Wall Street Journal. Danko, William D. and Thomas J. Stanley. Greenspun, Phillip. “How to Become as Rich as Bill Gates.” Philip.Greenspun. Graaf, John, et al. Diamond, Jared. “How to Get Rich.” June 7, 1999. (Jan. 7, 2013) Edge: The Third Culture. Fidelity Investments. Fidelity® Survey Finds 86 Percent of Millionaires are Self-Made.
Invest as much as the law allows. If you are self-employed, set up an IRA and do the same. If you are 40 years old and earn $100,000 a year, you should have a net worth of $400,000. According to Thomas J. Stanley, author of “The Millionaire Mind” and “The Millionaire Next Door,” a good way to determine what your net worth is to multiply your age by your annual income (all sources) and then divide by 10. So, for example, if you are 30 years old and earn $50,000 a year, you should have a net worth of $150,000.
This level of wealth is attainable within a lifetime. It also means you’ll need to live beneath your means, which is a far cry from the millionaire lifestyle many of us have become conditioned to expect. We all imagine millionaires drinking expensive champagne at breakfast, driving expensive cars, shopping at the most prestigious establishments and vacationing in exotic locations. By making smart financial decisions and following a road map that includes a few key strategies, it’s entirely possible to become a millionaire. Researchers have studied the lifestyles of millionaires and come to the conclusion that the majority of them don’t live that way at all.
