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Over the years I have worked side by side with a lot of self made millionaires and while there was no common thread, one of them told me something at lunch one day that had a ring of truth to it. He said, "You will never be a millionaire" and when I asked him why, he said "Because you are too nice of a guy.....to make money you have to be a SOB and not care about other people."
While there are exceptions to that, most of the rich guys I knew got there because they did whatever it took to accomplish their goal ,and if people got in the way, they didn't let emotions stop them from moving ahead.
Don
Most of the millionaires I know are some of the nicest most humble people I have ever met.
now there are some instances of having to remove people from their lives, or having to go around someone, but it is not like those people were looking out for anybody other then themselves, and trying to screw the one that ended up becoming a millionaire.
Over the years I have worked side by side with a lot of self made millionaires and while there was no common thread, one of them told me something at lunch one day that had a ring of truth to it. He said, "You will never be a millionaire" and when I asked him why, he said "Because you are too nice of a guy.....to make money you have to be a SOB and not care about other people."
While there are exceptions to that, most of the rich guys I knew got there because they did whatever it took to accomplish their goal ,and if people got in the way, they didn't let emotions stop them from moving ahead.
Don
Don that is a VERY true statement. Although I can think of two exceptions, all the other rich guys I've been around have that other side to them that doesn't give a f*ck about other people. When you see a rich dude with his picture in the paper because he gave a big donation to a local charity, in the end he is really doing that to give HIMSELF good PR.
What others have said so far is true. This is especially if you’re talking about people with only 1 million+ net worth. Some traits that most of them possess are:
-Good self-discipline
-Possess a decent amount of intrapersonal intelligence
-Usually planners who plan out long term goals
-Wise with how and what they spend their money on
There are more traits but these are probably the most prevalent among self-made millionaires. In terms of profession; some are entrepreneurs. Others have skills to land upper middle class jobs and used that salary to invest wisely. In regards to the thread mathjak mentioned; yes there are multimillionaires on that thread. I know some from their posts but I will let them tell you who they are if they decide to divulge that detail to you.
^^^^^
Plus...live beneath you means. New millionaires are flashy with money. Established millionaires don't care. They live their lives. If it looks like they can afford nicer toys it's because they can. They don't do it to impress, they are merely going about business as usual.
Most of the self made millionaires I have known started out saving money and buying real estate. They then invested heavily in stocks, bonds and bills. They then lived comfortably on passive income. Keeping up with fashion was never an issue and they wore old clothes. Their newer and younger wives would blow up money on the stupidest crap and insist on buying beach houses and extravagant jewelry....5 caret diamond rings? They want stuff as useful as a life raft in a desert or a can of gasoline in a raging inferno.
One woman confided in me after her wealthy old husband died and told me she didn't know he was so well off.
Duh...Who writes checks at car dealership for a matching set of his&her Town Cars to be delivered to the house the next morning? The same guy I talked out of buying a Rolls Royce. Who writes checks for 5 caret diamond rings? Who is invited to State Dept receptions on an annual basis?
The old guy confided in me before he would his wife.
It's definitely easier to get to a million if you start at 900,000. But a million today is like $135K in 1965, so the mountain is not exactly as difficult to climb as it once was. There are meanwhile lots and lots of different ways to get there. Many different sorts of people managed to accomplish it way back then and many different sorts do so today as well. The thing I see most consistently among wealthy people is a desire to give something back.
By the way, becoming wealthy can often require the inputs of other people who are not just willing, but enthusiastic about working with you and for you. Being or acting like an SOB is NOT a good way to collect any of those.
My dad is 54 and a millionaire, semi-retired. Not multi....I would say net worth probably in the $1.5 to $2 million range.
I'm 28 and I will probably have a net worth over a million by the time I am 33.
Here are the traits I identify.
-Hard-working. My dad has always been hard working. It paid off in the end for him. I would say I wasn't that hard of a worker up until age 26. My highest salary in that time was probably around $45k. Since then I have kicked it in gear. It jumped from that (and I bought a business which changed my whole outlook on how much hard work you have to do) to $180k last year. I expect it to increase about $50k a year over the next 5 years at least.
-Smart. You can work as hard an anyone but many people can work hard. You need to be in a field where more than just hard work is needed. I would say I'm smarter than my dad but not quite as hard of a worker. I have genius level IQ.
-Frugal. You can make a ton of money and end up dead broke. Or you can take forever to become a millionaire when it could have happened 20 years sooner if you planned right and didn't waste so much money. I said I plan to have a net worth of over a million in 5 years. I also plan to still be driving my 2008 Honda Civic at that time too. Young millionaires that are self made drive 13 year old Hondas. That is why they are now millionaires.
Plan ahead: I am 28 and have 3 different retirement accounts and I'm about to set up a 4th. It is never to early to plan for retirement. If I want to retire at 65-70 and I could live to be 90-95 then $1 million isn't going to cut it. Not the way I want to live at retirement. If I only have $1 million to retire on I will have to work up until I am 80 or die. If I am going to retire at 65 I'll need at least $5 million to be comfortable.
But that's crazy!!!! No it isn't. 50 years ago if I would have said in 2015 when I retire I will need a million dollars to live comfortably and maintain my lifestyle.....you would have said that is crazy.
Both sets of grandparents, my parents,my 2 uncles are all self-made millionaires.Both grandfathers grew up poor in agriculture.They did not inherit anything or much but worked hard in a good career, lived frugally and invested well.
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