By plugging in your current expenses and an estimate of your expenses once you retire, you can come up with a more realistic financial goal for retirement. You may find that you need to be a multimillionaire in order to retire with the lifestyle you want. Of course, simply being a millionaire or multimillionaire at retirement isn't everyone's goal. Most of us would like to experience the millionaire lifestyle sooner rather than later.
We want financial freedom so that our investment interest is enough to pay our living expenses. In that case, let's talk about how you can make that happen. Advertisement Becoming a Millionaire There's no one way to become a millionaire, but there are some basic, common-sense steps that you can take toward reaching your million-dollar goal.
Set your goals How soon do you want to be millionaire? In five years? In 10 years? By retirement? Whatever your timeframe, you need to have a written plan. Mapping out your road to millionaire status should include a carefully formed budget , as well as specific dollar amounts you're willing to contribute toward saving and investing. The more you'd like to save and invest, the more you'll need to rely on a budget that will manage and trim current expenses. Advertisement Determine your strategy Now is the time to determine your moneymaking path, too.
If you're going the entrepreneur route, you'll need more than just a good idea. The most successful business owners have networking, financial and strategic skills earned through experience and education -- or a mixture of both. A business plan is a first step to determining to mapping out your company goals. The Small Business Administration has a template you can download. We'll talk more about starting a business on a later page.
You could also consider gaining an education that will result in a lucrative career; a master's degree in business administration could lead to a CEO position with a million-dollar compensation package. Or you could aim for a career in medicine or law. Keep in mind, however, that this doesn't automatically mean you'll earn a million dollars. Family physicians, for example, earn far less than their counterparts who specialize in a particular field.
Set up an emergency fund You won't get very far on your road to becoming a millionaire if unexpected expenses get in the way. One of the first rules about managing your finances is to always have accessible cash in the event you're are laid off, injured or experience some other catastrophe that takes away your ability to earn a living.
Recommendations vary, but usually the amount of an emergency fund should equal three to six months of living expenses. But she does. Setting a budget should be the foundation of your bid to become a millionaire. Tracking your spending and making decisions about where your money goes is paramount to saving it.
And, while we're not going to pick on easy targets like your daily latte , it's true that cutting back on non-essential expenses can boost your savings. So, as you think about how much money you spend buying things on a whim, consider tracking your spending habits. There are a number of free Web sites that can categorize and chart your spending, such as Mint , or apps that allow you to record spending on the fly, such as Spending Tracker for iPhone and Expense Manager for Android.
Then you can use this information to set up a realistic budget. If you know you can't live on rice and beans alone, set aside money to splurge on a steak once in awhile. Advertisement Establishing a budget will allow you to do an essential task for a millionaire-in-training: Pay yourself first. This will ensure saving or investing is a priority, not an afterthought. If you have debt and who doesn't? Using a debt-payoff strategy known as the "snowball effect" can be effective because it has built-in rewards.
Start by paying off your smallest debt first. Once this debt is paid off, add the money you had been paying on it toward your next smallest debt -- and so on. This debt-reducing concept has the added benefit of debt-relief milestones, ones that appear on the horizon quickly.
This can be an ideal motivator [source: Smith ]. Start saving and investing early There is a universal truth: The earlier you start, the harder your money will work for you. In reality, that interest rate will fluctuate over time, but for our purposes, let's say it stays a constant 5 percent.
This is exactly why one of your first duties as a new employee should be taking advantage of your company's k especially if they will match your contribution. Invest as much as the law allows. If you are self-employed, set up an IRA and do the same. 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 Advertisement Starting a Business Are you an entrepreneur?
Are you willing to put in the time and effort to build your own business? More importantly, do you have a great idea for a business? The majority of self-made millionaires gained their financial freedom, not just from one great business idea, but from several businesses that produced income streams. Take Georgia kindergarten teacher Deanna Jump, for example. Jump relied on her income as a kindergarten teacher, along with her teacher-husband's income, yet struggled to support their family of five.
So she turned to another income stream -- one that made her a millionaire. Advertisement Jump began selling lesson plans to other educators on Teacherspayteachers. Jump attributed some of her success to her blog which alerted readers any time she had a new lesson plan [source: Winter ]. Often, the secret is to find an unfilled niche just as Jump did. If you're not sure what kind of business you might want to start, do some research, network , ask questions and take notes.
Look for needs that aren't being fulfilled. You may even design a product to meet a need, patent it and then license it to someone else to manufacture and sell. The most important thing is the idea -- and the willingness to take action on it. Keep in mind, though, your big pay-off doesn't always need to come from a new product or even a new business.
You might find a new way to use an old product, like using materials that are typically discarded in a new way. 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.
In the next section, we'll learn about other successful millionaires. Fractional Living If you simply can't wait to get a taste of the high life, consider fractional living. 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. By sharing the cost, they're able to use the items without footing the impossible costs of solely owning them [source: Boggan ]. Advertisement Millionaire Success Stories Here are two stories of ordinary people who became millionaires.
If it could happen to them, it could happen to you: Neil McCarthy Research chemist Neil McCarthy started investing in the stock market when he was 34, in the s. When stocks went down, he bought more. He contributed the maximum to both his IRA and his k and his employer matched percent. That's truly free money -- no risk.
Advertisement He avoided technology companies because it didn't make sense to him. He saw price-earnings ratios of to and "thought it was absolute nonsense. When he retired in , McCarthy took his retirement payout as a lump sum. But how do we use that money to boost our finances? You either have to save diligently, make a lot of money on a business deal or invest.
Creating real security requires saving a lot more than you think. It's also expensive to continue growing a business after it's successful. That's why I'd invest. Invest in what you know — and have a vision for it. You can even invest emotionally. With real estate, for example, I always pick somewhere I would live if everything went bad. Whatever approach you choose, pick something you love. I believe that if you love something, you'll be good at it.
Then search eBay's 'sold' listings to see what they're worth. If there's a large enough price difference, buy it and sell it on eBay for a profit. And you're probably right. Then comes the hard part. You have to save what you made. When I was in my 20s, I didn't go on vacation or buy fancy things. I saved my money instead. And by the time I was in my 30s, I had hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then I invested those hundreds of thousands — and they made millions.
You just have to be patient. But to me, that's like playing the lottery. Spend it on developing new skills, gaining knowledge and making powerful connections. When you invest in yourself, you can't lose. Choose a high-income skill that helps organizations bring in revenue, such as copywriting, marketing or sales.
You can learn them relatively quickly and they're transferable across many industries. Once you make enough money, you can turn your side hustle into a full-time job. Then, scale and invest your profits. That's how you build real wealth. If you're persistent and good at what you do, you'll get there. But it won't happen overnight, so take baby steps. It was shockingly easy.
HOW DOES GAS WORK FOR ETHEREUM
Wealthfront Review You can choose from one of many outstanding Robo advisors. Our personal favorite for beginning investors is Betterment , as it comes with no minimum deposit and has low fees. Options like Personal Capital are also excellent if you want to work with a human advisor and use a variety of other useful financial tools, like its net worth tracker. Treasury securities — are admittedly very low these days.
If you want to increase the income level on the fixed-income portion of your portfolio, you can add some private lending to the mix to improve your portfolio's overall yield. An easy way to do this is through peer-to-peer P2P lending. These are online platforms where borrowers come to take loans that are funded by participating investors.
Some P2P investors earn double-digit returns on their investments. You won't want to invest a large percentage of your portfolio in this type of lending. The loans you'll invest in do carry the risk of default. But a small position can really improve your fixed-income returns.
It can be done in one of two ways. Either you invest in a business that you will operate or act as a silent partner for an existing business. If you're going to invest in your own business, you can either start a business from the ground up or buy an existing business. Buying an existing business will typically require more capital, but it will be a lower risk than a startup since it's already established. Either way, make sure you're familiar with the business and feel confident you can make it a success.
The failure rate of new businesses is uncomfortably high. If the idea of starting your own business doesn't interest you, you can go the silent partner route. This is when you invest money in a successful, established business that's in need of capital for growth. In exchange for your investment, you'll get a share of ownership of the business. Instead, investors may buy into bigger real estate projects and own equity in the project as a whole.
This is a great way to get into real estate investing, without having to fork over a ton of cash. The idea is that individuals pool their money together to participate in larger real estate projects. The pooled money is used to fund the project and returns may be a set dollar amount, like a loan, or given a cut when the project is completed and producing income. Crowdfunding offers investors to buy into big real estate deals, without putting up a huge amount of capital.
With bonds, the investor will receive income via interest. Because they are insured by the government, returns are usually pretty limited, yielding around 3 percent. Investing a small amount of money in bonds is great for safe investing and diversifying your portfolio—but understand that the returns are going to be significantly lower than real estate, for instance.
ETFs provide portfolio diversification and help minimize risk. You can take advantage of growing markets in one sector and offset losses in other sectors. So instead of investing most or all of your money into one property, investors may buy stock in multiple real estate projects via ETFs. When you borrow money, you can receive far greater returns than you could achieve using your own capital. Never invest your money with someone who has not succeeded in that particular investment strategy over and over again.
While private lending and rental property can be highly lucrative, they can also become money-pits. For example, if you invest in high-crime zones, in decaying cities lacking job growth, or in property that has deferred maintenance issues. It is imperative that you get educated on any investment you wish to pursue, or get mentored by someone who has repeatedly done what you are trying to do — successfully.
What To Do Next? How To Start Investing that million dollars… At RealWealth we believe the best investments are those that help you you create real wealth , which define as having the money and the freedom you need to live life on YOUR terms. In our opinion, one of the very best ways to do this is by investing in real estate that produces positive monthly cash flow. To spot the best markets, we look for three factors: job growth, population growth and affordability.
When we find an exceptional market, we then find a team of highly experienced experts in the local area. These experts help us find properties, renovate them to like-new condition, place qualified tenants, and offer on-going property management. If you think investing in real estate is your best option, we can help by connecting you with Property Teams around the country that sell single-family and multi-family homes with property management in place.
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