How to Become a Millionaire

A Self-Made Millionaire Spills ALL His Secrets on

How to Become a Millionaire!

Do you want to become a millionaire but you’re not there right now?

It’s not your fault that you haven’t reached your goal just yet.

There’s much that’s been written on personal finances and becoming rich. But only a small percentage of individuals in the U.S., 7.6% by recent estimates, are millionaires.

If all the advice that’s readily available worked, there should be a lot more millionaires.

But there aren’t.

And one of the main reasons is that too much of the written advice is one-size-fits all, completely ignoring the reader’s unique situation.

As A First Generation Millionaire, I’ve read over 100 books, listened to countless audio courses, and sorted though an endless number of tips and ideas on building wealth, in my quest to accumulate my first million.

Most of it didn’t work. Or, to be fair, most of it didn’t work for me.

In some cases, the author, who was a real millionaire, suggested things I was not in a position do to at the time. Launch a start up. Become a landlord. Speculate in penny stocks. Trade foreign currencies. Buy foreclosures.

I was a twentysomething with a full-time career, putting myself through college at night. With that commitment, I didn’t have much bandwidth, nor did I want to abandon my ten-year plan to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree while working full-time.

I was looking to learn from someone like me, who kept their day job, but somehow still built wealth and reached their financial goals.

When I was younger, I never found that mentor or author. But the book Millionaire Next Door gave me hope.

It made me realize that there were probably many in my community who figured out how to become a millionaire, and I reasoned at least some must have gotten there by keeping their day job.

The book convinced me I just didn’t recognize them because they tend to blend in. They didn’t want to be noticed. They were happy to keep their wealth accumulation secrets to themselves.

And now I get it, what’s the upside to going public?

Money is one of the last taboo discussion topics in our society. That has to change because, all too often, the truth about building wealth is being concealed from those who want it most.

After witnessing the destruction of the Great Recession, I decided it was time to tell the truth about what I learned on my millionaire journey. Not only successes, but also my many ugly mistakes.

When your financial future is on the line, there’s no better source of learning than real-life experience. Gaining the knowledge of how to become a millionaire cost me a bundle, financially and emotionally, so I feel compelled to share it.

Even if I help just one person, by sharing what I learned works and what doesn’t, my effort will be worthwhile.

Maybe that one person is you.

My success will be measured by helping you get to your goals more quickly. You can achieve this by applying what I’ve found works, and avoiding my disasters.

So where to start?

Certainly topics like budgeting and saving money, career success, smart investing, and financial planning — on your own or with the help of a financial planner — are worthy topics.  And in the coming months we’ll cover all of those and more.

But right now we should start at the beginning.

Let’s first tackle the idea of what I call ‘common wisdom’. It should be an oxymoron, because real wisdom isn’t all that common.

The recent financial lives of many were negatively impacted, in some cases outright destroyed, by the events that started in 2008.

Millions of houses lost, retirements wrecked, and financial dreams ripped away.

Why?

Many built their financial futures based on sound bites and common wisdom, using the reasoning that everyone else is doing it, so it must work.

Sometimes common wisdom does work. Until it doesn’t. And then the landing, as it was with the Great Recession, can be unexpected, swift, and hard.

Tens of millions of responsible wealth accumulators were left scratching their heads saying “But I followed the rules”!

They bought a house as big as they could afford or bigger.

They put all their money in stocks because that’s what they were told to do.

They took a home equity loan to improve their house because experts said they’d get their money back and more.

They stopped saving and contributing to their retirement plans because the immense wealth spike generated by their rising home value meant that old-fashion saving was no longer necessary.

And then the bottom mercilessly fell out.

So what’s a savvy wealth accumulator to do?

I believe a starting point is to learn from someone who is like you, who’s achieved the things you desire.

Maybe you don’t know someone who actually became a millionaire with an approach that you can relate to.

Millionaire Foundry could be your answer.

In the quest to figure out the solution to any difficult problem, it’s always wise to seek and gather knowledge before acting. In sorting through the options, the objective is to find the solution that meets your unique needs.

In life, as it is with finances, no two situations are exactly the same.

I believe the best perspective gives you a framework for you to build a solution that is uniquely perfect for your situation.

Not a sound bite that simply says do ‘this’ and it will all work out.

Or advice that ignores the reality of what works today may fail tomorrow.

And that’s where some hard work comes in. In building wealth, advice that says just do ‘this’ or ‘that’ can be tragically flawed because it blatantly ignores the specifics of your situation.

When it comes to your wealth journey, I’m convinced that the best financial plan for you is as unique as your DNA. There should be no one-size-fits-all solution for how to get rich.

One-size-fits-all rarely works with clothing, and it’s even less effective in personal finance.

The best guidance and resources should give you the tools that successfully set you on the path to self-discovery, where you can craft your best solution, using broad financial principles that have proven to be successful.

Of equal importance is for you to learn from others who are willing to openly share their mistakes.

In order to reach your goals, sometimes it’s even more important to avoid certain things than it is to take a specific action.

My many mistakes were a source of pain, as well as delay in reaching my goals, but also provided great learning. What if you could get the great learning without the pain and delay?

In learning from others, I think it’s also important to understand the source for their knowledge and successes.

When you can see the linkage between someone else’s life experience and a favorable result, you’ll immediately see the deep life lessons you already carry within you.

It’s likely you know a lot more than you even realize.

The problem is that many experts avoid talking about their mistakes. Maybe they are embarrassed. Maybe they think it dilutes their reputation as an expert.

Or perhaps it’s just too painful to share the bad stuff.

I believe that sharing mistakes is one of the most important gifts that can be offered to another person.

We all make mistakes, no one is exempt.

We humans often make many of the same mistakes as others, and experience the same feelings. It’s because of this thing called human nature.

It’s not that we made a mistake that matters.

It’s what we do in response, in order to force our mistake to pay us a return on investment exponentially higher than its cost. That’s resourceful.

The most important thing I’ve learned is that getting rich is simple… it just isn’t easy.

It’s just like dieting. When I hit my mid 30s it seemed like one day I just woke up with more stomach than I wanted. Being slender, it didn’t look good on me. I cut 30 pounds in 3 months.

I found the principles of taking the weight off were simple. Significantly cut my calories and increase my exercise. And it worked!

It was painful, but it gave me the result I sought… no more stomach overhang.

But making permanent and lasting change wasn’t easy. I had to avoid slipping back to the patterns of behavior that caused my problem in the first place.

What propelled me was the bright, shiny picture I held in my mind of keeping the pounds off for life.

The principles of building wealth, and how to become a millionaire, are simple but they aren’t easy.

Why?

They cut against our human nature.

Like the desire for instant gratification. The inability to see the future. Unexpected emergency expenses. The difficulty of managing this abstract thing called money, which has only been around for a short time of our human civilization.

So while many have the desire to figure out how to get rich, there are other needs, desire and obstacles that can derail us.

That’s why I said up front, if you haven’t reached your goals yet, it’s not your fault.

Between human nature, an overabundance of one-size-fits-all advice, and other things you need to get done in your life, building wealth is not easy.

So if you’re looking for the ‘get rich quick and easy’ pitch, then Millionaire Foundry is not for you.

Google Get Rich Quick as there are many sites that will be more entertaining and may provide the fleeting hope that a windfall of riches can be on their way shortly.

However, if you want to learn what works and what doesn’t, from someone who has done it, then we can help.

We can’t make it necessarily easy, but our mission is to make it easier, while telling the hard truth about building meaningful, lasting wealth.

And be prepared to do the hard work on your own behalf.

We’re here to help you bypass common wisdom and inspire you to think about building your wealth in new ways. We’re not here to pass out advice, tell you what to do, or offer one-minute fixes.

Your best financial plan will come from the person who has the most at stake in building personal wealth. You.

We can help show you what to emphasize and what to avoid. We’ll help you think about the idea of how to get rich perhaps in ways you haven’t thought about previously.

Most important, over time, we hope to provide you with a framework to build your ‘right’ wealth accumulation plan that’s so unique it fits you perfectly.

And when the fit is perfect, you’re far more likely to stick with it, all the way thorough to your very own Financial Independence Day.

I hope you’ll visit us regularly at Millionaire Foundry. Sign up to receive future articles the minute they’re available so you don’t miss out.

Come prepared to do some hard work. No guarantees on results, but I can assure you that you’ll look at wealth accumulation in a new way.

What do you have to lose? And you may gain a whole new and profitable perspective on building wealth.

Wealth is Freedom!

A First Generation Millionaire