What do you think when you hear the word millionaire? If you are a millionaire, you must have a big house, fancy cars and lots of money! You may be surprised to find out that the vast majority of millionaires are just like you and me. They work hard, live modestly and struggle like the rest of us with money.
If they are just like us, how come we are not millionaires? Millionaires have goals and a plan to reach those goals. They are competitors in everything they do. They may fail, but they are not failures! When they fail, they keep trying to succeed until they do. They are doing something they love to do and they are good at it. They are passionate about their career. What does that mean? Are you one of those people who look forward to the weekend versus enjoying what you are doing? Then you are not passionate about your career. If you want to be a millionaire, you need to combine your interests and skills in a career that you love doing sixteen hours a day.
What are your interests? What are your skills? What energizes you? What do you find exciting? Can you imagine loving work so much that you look forward to going to work? Millionaires do! They enjoy their work so much that they are always thinking about it. That is why most millionaires are self-employed. They excel in a competitive environment. What does that mean? They are so good at what they do that they will be one of the best in their marketplace. Can you learn to be competitive? If you are in business, you have competition, it is how you react to competition that makes you successful or not. A business competes for customers or against other businesses for limited resources. How do you react to competition?
Successful people have a vision. They know where they are going, they know how to get there and focus on what it takes to succeed. If they do not have the skills, they learn the skills to meet the challenge. Do you do that? They want to be the best in their career. They may not be disciplined in many things, but most self-employed people are self disciplined regarding their business. Successful people are confident in their business skills or they find people who can advise them. They are problem solvers, who developed an approach to solving problems in their business that works for them.
Okay, millionaires work hard, successful, live modestly and own their assets. What does that mean? They have little or no debt! This is what makes them millionaires. They may or may not earn millions as income, but they are worth a million or more. They could be a plumber, retail store owner, restaurant owner, machine shop, doctor, accountant, or business person. What distinguishes them from other people performing the same service or business? They own real estate, investments and businesses. They tend to have a high savings rate (20%) and invest in their business and/ or other investments. They have a high savings rate and very little debt because of their modest lifestyle. Do you think like a millionaire? Do you act like a millionaire? The next step is become a millionaire! Maybe you want to share your thoughts in your comments, through social networking, or tell me if you like this post. Your feedback is important to me.
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“They own real estate, investments and businesses.”
You said it Krants! I truly believe people who accumulate wealth and invest their saving will eventually become millionaires. The only question is if they’ll live long enough to hit that threshold. 😀
Living long enough is not an issue! That is up to you or you can leave it to the wife and kid(s). You have more control over it than you realize. This bridges into the vision of retirement, what do you want to achieve and how do you want to achieve it?
Well said! Being competitive and willing to take a chance is very important. Many millionaires have failed before being successful. They also control their level of debt and spending without falling to the life style inflation presented by the media.
So true! In many instances they don’t look like the Hollywood stereotype. My point is that they think differently from us, but not radically. Anyone can be a millionaire!
This is classic “Millionaire Next Door,” which speaks to the power of Thomas Stanley revelations about millionaires. They are not rare, nor are they likely to ever be portrayed on TV. Most are just hardworking professionals and businessmen who have invested judiciously, lived beneath their means, and have done so consistently over a prolonged period of time. Who knew, except for Thomas Stanley (& the author of the Millionaire Barber), that busting through the marketing myths and profiling real millionaires would be so popular
True, most of them are! I have known very rich people and in many cases you would never know they were rich.
You are absolutely correct. “Millionaire Next Door” and the “Millionaire Mind” are both great reads. I have found both very inspiring. It is good to periodically read them as a reminder.
I Learned a long time ago if you want to be successful, start acting like successful people.
My mom is a millionaire and she is just a hard-working woman who came to the US with very little but built herself up. She believes in hard work and that it will lead to success. I learned a lot from her. There is no insurance that you will have millions in the this life but if you do what you need to you can have much more than you ever thought you could.
I, too was influenced by a very successful immigrant mother who was successful, but she didn’t know she couldn’t succeed. That determination certainly influenced me.
I wish I learned this a long time ago! But I’ll be debt free within a year and have money to invest.
I believe that most millionaires are also newly millionaires, which means that they worked for it and built up their fortune through sweat and hard work. And then what do we do? We tax the bejeezus out of them and ostracize them as lazy people who just live off of daddy’s money…
Funny, I never experienced that! When you earn a lot of money, you can take advantage of some of the best tax advice. Groucho Marx said, “I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as a member”.
Start investing as soon as you can even if it is a small amount.
I think what’s in the billionaire mind is that where will they put their money or what will they do to their money. I also want to be a billionaire someday. And if that happens, I will help many families especially children who needs help.
I think what’s in the billionaire mind is that where will they put their money or what will they do to their money. I also want to be a billionaire someday. And if that happens, I will help many families especially children who needs help.
Good luck. What is your plan to achieve this?
Good luck. What is your plan to achieve this?
I think there are several ways. I’m not one but am on my way. While I do believe the conservative approach is statistically higher (than other methods), persistence plays a key in most roads leading there.
Persistence and determination trumps everything else! Successful people fail sometimes, but still reach their goal.
Hi Krantcents!
Well, I think like a millionaire, but I need to use my money to purchase more assets now. Before, my husband and I were paying off our non-mortgage debt, paying cash for our wedding, putting a downpayment on a home (that’s an asset–hurrah!) and paying for our honeymoon. Now that all of this is over, and we just reached our full emergency fund status, it is time for us to start investing and acquiring assets. here’s to becoming a millionaire!
Multiple goals are a possibility! Even starting with $50 per month is worth it. Then the next step is to add to it.