Since last year, the pages of the magazine have been discussing the rules for filling out and...
There are different ways to become the owner of a million-dollar fortune: winning the lottery, being born into a rich family, entering into a profitable marriage, and even taking a path that is openly illegal. If you do not rely on luck, hardworking ancestors or confrontation with the law, then a legitimate question arises: how did millionaires become millionaires? Where to look for the coveted wealth and how to rise above the average income level? As in any business, the path to becoming a millionaire has its own secrets, working techniques and rules.
Who can be considered an example on the path to a million?
Everyone knows such names as George Soros, Aristotle Onassis, Steven Jobs, Bill Gates, Walt Disney. What unites these rich people, how did they manage to make their first million? If you study the biographies of these celebrities, you will immediately notice that they rose from the very bottom, lived in extreme poverty, and suffered hardships. Some had to sleep on the floor for lack of a bed, while others, from a young age, grabbed at any opportunity to get money.
All these people are united by perseverance and perseverance in achieving goals, despite the fact that their talents are very different. When Disney drew his first pictures and endured beatings from his father, who considered drawing unnecessary stupidity, he probably saw a goal in front of him. Perhaps he did not dream of millions, but of doing exactly what he wanted in life. Persistence is one of the main qualities and the correct answer to the question of how millionaires became millionaires. They worked long and hard for this.
Ideal conditions for the emergence of millionaires
Surprisingly, it is often crisis situations that become a powerful incentive to discover new abilities. For a person who lives an ordinary normal life, the desire to become richer is not as acute as for someone who is in a difficult financial situation. For a middle-income person, dreams of money rarely go beyond vague fantasies, but a poor person thinks about how to become a millionaire, what needs to be done for this, what steps to take.
Perhaps the hopeless situation also plays a role, but the average person has something to lose. Thoughts about possible failure can paralyze the will and kill all useful endeavors. Does this mean that you cannot become a millionaire if you start with average income? Of course no. You just need to use the strategies of successful people, and then the result will not take long to arrive.
Where do the millions come from?
How to find a source of big money? If we look at the stories of famous rich people, we can identify several standard sources: the invention and sale of unique goods or services, skillful investment of finances. Moreover, the methods can successfully exist both individually and in different combinations. In analyzing the question of how millionaires became millionaires, it is important to see opportunities and calculate prospects.
However, it's not just about having a good source of wealth. According to analysts, a huge number of people have the opportunity to become a millionaire, but not all of them will achieve results. Why? They do not follow the rules that will help preserve and increase wealth.
Rich people's rules: how to become a millionaire
Nowadays it is very difficult to find a millionaire who spends his time idlely wasting money that magically rains down on him from heaven. According to journalists who occasionally interview wealthy celebrities, millionaires and billionaires continue to work and do so on average 55 hours a week. The first million you earn does not become your last; rather, it plays the role of a touchstone and gives you the opportunity to move on.
Many truly rich people lead a very modest lifestyle, do not wear huge diamonds and platinum watches, and use reliable but not luxurious cars. A large amount of money gives them freedom of choice, and they make it in favor of a full life, not limited by the role of a millionaire.
Money must work - this truth is never tired of being repeated by the rich all over the world. Of course, you can save a million by simply putting it in a stocking, but it will take much more time and effort, and it is possible that the idea will not be successful. Only by investing money, time and effort can you expect to receive big money.
Anyone can become a millionaire: money as a tool
If you are wondering how to make a million, it is worth getting rid of the habits inherent in poor people. Spontaneous and status purchases designed to create a rich appearance often nullify any efforts. This does not mean that you need to deny yourself everything, walk around in cast-offs and eat thin soup. However, throwing dust into your eyes for the opportunity to show off a new smartphone model or a prestigious brand of jeans can be the reason why you won’t reach a million.
Money is not only a goal, but also a good tool in capable hands. If money is invested in means to earn even more money, it is an investment in the future. The acquisition of a status trinket is a financial liability, in fact, funds thrown into a bottomless abyss.
The first step to a million
How to get the coveted million dollars? The answer is simple. It’s worth making your first million rubles first. This will allow you to achieve your goal much faster, and at the same time sharpen your skills and knowledge.
Do not immediately strive to acquire the material attributes of a rich person. Many wealthy people say that the period of happiness from owning a gold watch passes very quickly, and they are left with annoyance at their own weakness and stupidity. How did millionaires become millionaires? They abandoned the psychology of poor people who spend their money immediately, without regard to the future.
If you find it difficult to invest, invest in yourself - new knowledge and skills, advanced training, or perhaps acquiring a new profession. These are acquisitions that are almost impossible to take away from you. Remember to invest in your own health before serious chronic diseases manifest themselves. Send the money you earn to get new ones for you, invest in new successful projects. Even failure can turn out to be a useful experience and turn into a new opportunity, and then success will not be long in coming.
The path to the first million is different for everyone, but there are signs that unite the vast majority of rich people. Of course, no one can guarantee that in a few years your account will have six zeros, but if you have certain signs, then you are on the right track!
Sources of income
Thomas Corley, a famous writer, conducted a long-term study of millionaires who made their fortune on their own. And he came to a simple but logical conclusion that the rich do not rely on only one source of income. It is not right.
More than 65% of truly wealthy people have at least three sources of income that they created before their first million dollars earned. And we are talking about different sources, for example, someone rented out their property, and someone tried to invest their earnings.
Savings for investment
Investing is a way to help you become richer. But in fact, savings must have certain reasons. If a person denies himself something and puts money in a “glass jar,” then this approach will not bring results.
Saving is necessary in order to invest, because it brings additional income. Money must work.
In reality, how much a person saves and invests is often much more important than the amount of salary. On average, rich people spend 20% of their income in business. Their wealth is not measured by a certain amount they earn each year, but by how much they save and further invest.
High performance environment
It has been proven that a person is successful at approximately the same level as his environment. Steve Sebold, a millionaire who wrote the book How Rich People Think, argues that consciousness is contagious. And the influence of the people around you more successfully contributes to the expansion of potential and the growth of thinking.
“We become like the people who surround us, with whom we communicate. And that’s why winners always attract winners,” says Steve Sebold.
Decision and action
After studying the biographies of millionaires, the famous author Napoleon Hill concluded that they know how to choose correctly and make timely decisions. In his book, he wrote that every rich person, without exception, knows how to quickly make a decision, and it is almost always correct.
Specific Goals
If a person knows what he wants to achieve, why he needs material wealth, then it is easier to achieve his goal. As practice shows, most millionaires planned to become rich people, and they succeeded.
Think big
If a person sets himself up to a high level, strives for this goal, and is ready to accept any challenge of fate, then he is really on the right path. On the path to wealth and a multimillion-dollar fortune, you cannot think about “small goals”, since they will not bring the desired result.
Signs that prevent you from becoming a millionaire
We looked at the traits and signs of people who have a chance to become a truly rich person. And now, on the contrary, what slows people down and prevents them from achieving their goal:
- You work hard and a lot. But this is not enough, you need to learn how to invest your earnings, says consultant Rick Edelman.
- “I’d rather save money than work an extra day.” This phrase can be heard from any person. Many people really focus on saving money, but this will not make them any more. It is better to use them for additional income.
- Buying things you can't afford. It's no secret that many people try to buy status items and save for them for several months. It's better to be known for your successes than for the things you buy, says Grant Cardone, a man with several billion dollars in his accounts.
Many people are happy with their wages, but it shouldn’t be that way, says Steve Sebold. Receiving a salary is the slowest path to wealth, which may not end in a positive result.
- You rarely get out of your comfort zone. If you really want to become a successful and rich person, you will have to get used to uncertainty and discomfort. Rich people try to seek their own comfort in uncertainty.
- Lack of financial goals. The reason why many people cannot get rich lies within themselves - they simply do not know why they need it. Tip: write your goals on a piece of paper and move towards them. For example, buying a country house, a good car.
Unfortunately, many people believe that a multimillion-dollar fortune is a privilege that is given only to happy people. Self-doubt gives rise to doubts, and they, in turn, do not allow you to develop to your full potential. So ask yourself, why not me? And move towards your goal of becoming rich!
One day, two American economists Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko decided to conduct a study and find out everything about millionaires:
- how and where they live
- what do they eat
- how they dress
- where do they invest their money
In general, everything you can find out about them to understand why they became millionaires.
To collect such information, ask the millionaires themselves about everything. That's what they did: they set up meetings with millionaires and at these meetings they asked various questions.
For their first interview with millionaires, they rented a luxury apartment on the roof of a skyscraper in a prestigious area of New York, so that the decamillionaire respondents were in a familiar environment.
Two master chefs were hired to create a menu of appetizers with four types of pates and three types of caviar. A box of expensive Bordeaux from the 1970 vintage should have been in harmony with this gastronomic splendor. and a case of delicious Cabernet Sauvignon 1973.
In this environment, they awaited the arrival of decamillionaires, that is, people whose net worth is estimated at approximately $10 million or more.
The first to arrive was Mr. Badd, 69 years old, a first-generation millionaire (that is, he created his own capital, and did not inherit it), the owner of expensive real estate in New York and two businesses. You couldn't tell from his appearance that he was worth more (or much more) than $10 million - ordinary clothes, a shabby suit and coat.
Mr. Bud looked at him with bewilderment and replied:
“I only drink whiskey and two types of beer: Budweiser and free beer.”
Gradually all the other invited participants gathered.
The interview lasted two hours. Nine decamillionaires fidgeted in their chairs, sometimes glancing at the set table, but not a single one touched the drinks and collection wines. They were not averse to snacking, but they only ate dry pate crackers.
What did they do with the wines and appetizers? Did you really have to throw it away? No. Managers from neighboring offices and the authors themselves enjoyed the delicious products.
After this incident, the authors offered millionaires during interviews treats that were more in line with their habits: coffee, drinks, beer, whiskey, simple sandwiches. And, of course, they paid anywhere from $100 to $250 for the interview. Sometimes they offered other types of rewards instead of money, but not a single millionaire chose to take a large and expensive toy bear from them for his grandson.
From all of the above, you can understand:
Almost all millionaires have one very important feature - they devote a lot of time to planning their cash flows and analyzing their investments. By the way, this activity (sit in your office in the evening and analyze what happened to your capital during the week, which assets grew and which fell, which ones you have, etc.) is one of the most favorite among millionaires. It comes in second place after communication with family and friends.
Some people work hard all day long to get millions, while others are simply born lucky.
Here are 10 cases in which the simplest people, by a fortunate coincidence, became the owners of millions simply because they were in the right place at the right time.
Largest private shareholder of Coca-Cola
One day, an ordinary American resident named Tony Maron purchased a box of documents at a flea market for just $5. Among the mass of purchased waste paper, he discovered 1,625 securities of an oil company, which a little later merged with a third-party oil company, which in the near future also merged with Coca-Cola. This is how a sudden and very pleasant find gave its owner the rights to 1.8 million shares of a large corporation, totaling $130,000,000. Tony was recognized as the largest individual - the owner of Coca-Cola securities.
The largest treasure in American history
The largest discovery in American history was discovered in the late 1980s by engineer Tommy Thompson. The scientist worked on projects to develop systems for nuclear submarines and, since his student days, was very passionate about searching for sunken ships and ships. And he had a “blue” dream - to find the “Central America”, which sank in 1857. During the expedition, in the fall of 1988, his search was successful - the Tommy robot picked up a large gold bar, antique coins and a bell from the bottom. The cost of what was discovered was $150,000,000, and the gold bar found, weighing 36 kg, was recognized as the largest on earth and was soon purchased for $8,000,000.
Treasure Hunter's Reward
In 2013, in southern Australia, a local gold miner was lucky enough to stumble upon a gold nugget that weighed 5.5 kg. Experts estimated the value of the find at $315,000. The natural “treasure” was discovered in Ballarat, where, after such good news, a wave of other gold diggers poured in. Apparently, this place is really rich in precious metal deposits, because literally a year before, in 2012, a gold bar weighing 4 kg was discovered in the same city.
Treasure hidden in a lunch box
A funny story, but not with the same “rich” ending, happened to Bob Kitts and Amanda Rees from Cleveland in 2006. At that time, the couple organized renovations in their house and found two lunchboxes in the walls of their home. They contained rolls of newspapers from 1951, with neatly arranged banknotes. The find included 3 bundles: 1 bundle with $20 dollar bills, the 2nd was folded with $50 bills and the 3rd consisted of $100 bills. Among them, rare specimens were also discovered. The total amount of the treasure found was $23,000.Before the couple had time to get enough of this, a week later they discovered another “stash” from the previous owners - as a result, the house enriched its new owners in the amount of $45,000! But the end of this story happened only in 2017, when one of the newspapers published the story of the lucky ones and there were relatives of the former homeowner who wanted to get their share. It turns out that businessman Patrick Dune - who once owned this “rich” house - hid the money during the period of a major economic crisis. As a result, the court issued a verdict to divide the find between all participants in the process, so that everyone got several thousand dollars.
Action Comics Issue #1, $2 million
The very first issue of comics from this series is valued at $2,000,000 - this is the same issue from 1938 where people first met the hero Superman. One darling of fortune in Minnesota purchased an old house, in which, during renovation work, he discovered an expensive comic book. Initially, its appearance left much to be desired, and experts valued the find at $100,000, but after restoration its price rose to the required $2,000,000.
Duplicate US Declaration of Independence worth $2.4 million
In 1989, at one of the flea markets, a man bought a painting for only $4, but not at all because he liked what was behind the glass - the buyer liked the frame. Already at home, the lucky one took out the picture and saw on the back a duplicate of the document on independence, of which there are 25 units in total. By 1991, the cost of the historical document was $2,400,000, but by the 2000s the price of the find had multiplied to $8,100,000.
Ancient treasure on the farm
In the early 90s, a farmer from Britain conveniently lost his hammer somewhere in a field, and recruited his friend, who had a metal detector, to look for it. When the friends heard the characteristic sound from the device, they thought that they had found a loss, but the find turned out to be much better - it was a real treasure. The lucky ones reported this to the local authorities and the very next day a group of archaeologists arrived at the farm and recovered 24 kg of silver and 3.5 kg of gold antiques from the deposits. The find, naturally, became state property, but the friends were paid compensation - £3,000,000 - which they divided among themselves.
Wealth behind the wall
A resident of the American town of Windbera carried out a spring cleaning, with which he enriched himself by finding a suitcase of antique coins in his possession. The property with the treasure was empty for about 20 years, the former owners died, and when the new owners decided to clean up their mansion, they discovered a hole in one of the walls. Having broken the wall, they saw a suitcase in which the coins lay. Experts set the value of the find in the range of $100,000 – 200,000.
The only coin worth $2 million
Robert Lawrence's father worked at the American mint and left his son a lunch box with a collection of coins. After some time, Robert planned a move and decided to take the coins to an expert, who valued the property at $300. But among the numerous coins, there was one special one, which was made of aluminum. Only 10 units of similar coins were issued, but they were all liquidated because they were not accepted anywhere, even the machines refused to consider them real. However, one copy survived, for which it was valued at $2,000,000.
Faberge Egg
One day, an American resident at a souvenir fair purchased a golden egg for $14,000, with a plan to resell it in the future. But time passed, and no buyers were found. And then the owner of the souvenir decided to find out more information about his acquisition. It’s easy to imagine what his surprise was when he realized that he had the lost Faberge egg in his hands. Very little time passed, and he sold the souvenir to a private collector for $33,000,000.
How millionaires became millionaires is of interest to many people who would like to improve their financial situation. However, we must immediately stipulate that there is no single recipe for achieving this goal. At different times, using various means, famous and not so famous people became successful and wealthy. Let's look at a few stories of fairly quick enrichment achieved through one's own labor and ingenuity.
Foreign experience
How did millionaires become millionaires in Russia? Sometimes a profitable business began with an idea “seen” abroad. For example, Oleg Gerasimov, after traveling to New York, learned about the possibilities of dry cleaning of cars. Returning home with samples of the products, he was faced with the fact that they were not designed for cold climates. A recipe suitable for Russian frosts was invented, and the company he founded quickly received its first large profits.
How did millionaires become millionaires and still remain ordinary guys? This is the story of Alexander and Fedor, extreme sports enthusiasts who built the first platform for improving roller skating techniques back in the early 2000s. Then they received orders for planning and arrangement of sites from many cities, including European ones, and now they are engaged in their favorite sport, having the status of wealthy people.
It all started with jam
Many people in Western countries know how millionaires became millionaires in dollar terms. For example, American teenager Cameron Johnson started by selling vegetables to his neighbors, then successfully sold lottery tickets, wrapping paper, and resold toys at electronic auctions. From the profit he received, at the age of 12-13, he hired a programmer and founded a service for sending emails without disclosing the name of the sender, which gave him about 3 thousand dollars of net profit per month. He subsequently successfully sold all his companies, from which he earned millions before the age of 20.
The success stories of millionaires in England are remarkable in their simplicity. Famous here is F. Doherty, who earned his first million pounds before celebrating his twentieth birthday. This guy began making jam according to his grandmother’s recipes and selling it at the market, where he received recognition for the quality of his product. Then his culinary masterpieces began to be sold in supermarkets, and the technology he developed for making sugar-free jams allowed him to occupy a large niche in the sweets market. He started in the kitchen at the age of 14, and a couple of years later he was already looking for an investor for a large project and found one, having personally visited many companies.
He saved money on ice cream
Stories of millionaires are sometimes based on minimal investment and unique entrepreneurial acumen. The business community knows that at the age of 17, Vsevolod Strakh, literally saving on ice cream, founded a company that supplied USB products from China to Russia. This was in 2005, the service was in great demand. Today, the modest store has become a large hypermarket with billions in turnover. And a graduate of one of the universities in St. Petersburg, S. Kibalo, made his fortune on sweatshirts with the symbols of higher educational institutions in his and other cities.
