…by 60. Okay, so maybe that’s cheating a little bit as no one wants to wait that long. Well, honestly that’s too bad. If you want my list of how to become a millionaire in a month, here it is…1. Buy a winning a lottery ticket, 2. Go back to the fetus stage of your life and be born a Walton, Hilton, or Gates, 3. Go back in time and invest heavily in Berkshire Hathaway or Apple, 4. Use same time machine to invent the personal computer in 1975, 5. Marry someone smart enough to make a lot of money, but dumb enough to marry you in a month without a pre-nup (okay, so this one is far fetched).
So, now that you are perhaps a little more interested in being a millionaire by 60 than not being one at all, here are some “painless” (i.e. very painful) things you can do…
1. Go to the section of the bookstore with all the book titles about how to be a millionaire (there is “Be A Millionaire Tomorrow!” “Be A Millionaire in Five Easy Steps!” “How to Become a Millionaire in Two years!”), look at all the books that are there. Do not buy ANY of these books. Then take the hundred dollars you would have spent buying these books and open a bank account. Save this amount of money every week. Don’t ever buy books about how to be a millionaire because A. nobody who’s rich has ever bought a book like that, B. All of the information is free if you search on the internet, C. Anything that promises to make you rich in 5 easy steps is wrong. There is nothing easy about saving money over the long haul but you can do it.
2. Now that you have opened a bank account, and (hopefully) started an IRA (if your work doesn’t offer 401ks), make a list of how much money you spend in a typical month. Include everything from the essential (mortgage, groceries) to the non-essential (netflix, Starbucks coffee every morning, alcoholic drinks on the weeknights), I’m talking about EVERYthing you have spent a single penny on in the last month. Now take this list, and cut it. How much you cut will depend on how much is on it, but you should cut at least one third of it. I would recommend cutting at least five things off the non-essential list and at least one thing off the essential list. The reason is because, odds are, you put things that are non-essential on that list like a gym membership or credit card debt or stylish new clothes. When I say essential list, I actually mean ESSENTIAL list, basic food needs (nothing better than Ramon noodles should be listed here), free tap water (not bottled), a roof over your head, shoes if you don’t have them (and only if you don’t already own one pair), and that’s it.
3. Except the un-glamorous reality of being a millionaire. The biggest problem people have is not accepting the work it takes to become a millionaire or how slow it is. There is no American Idol contract, there is no shortcut, and there is a lot of sacrificing things you might want to spend money on (no concerts, no Friday nights out, no shopping, etc.). People think it’s all eating out and buying new stuff because that’s what TV shows them in people that have already become millionaires. The reality of getting there is eating in and buying used stuff whenever possible. You have to cut a thousand tiny things out of your budget and save money in a way that WILL get you branded as cheap by your friends. [Never, ever have debt unless it’s mortgage debt. That is the only acceptable form of debt unless you’re starting a small business or early in the stages of getting a law school degree.]
But that’s how it’s done. Millionaires are less than 1 percent of America for a reason: you have to avoid the same pitfalls everyone else makes. If you meet a gold digger asking you (a guy) to buy her drinks at a bar, run. If you meet friends that want you (a girl) to go shopping every other day, run. Save money, save money, save money, etc. Beat this shit into your head like a cult mantra, and if that doesn’t sound like something you want to do (it truly isn’t for most people) then that’s okay but don’t beat yourself up when you’re not part of the 99+ percent of the U.S. that won’t ever feel 7 figures. Actually wanting to be a millionaire at a certain, older age requires a ton of sacrifices most people just won’t want to make, and anything telling you it will be easy is wrong.