How To Become A Millionaire By Age 30: Financial Upbringing
Growing up in a middle class household made me strong. My parents always drove beaters and frowned upon ordering anything other than water when we went out to eat. I knew my parents were not rich because their incomes were in the public domain as foreign service officers. As a result, I made a conscious choice in high school not to attend one of the two private colleges that had accepted me. Instead, I went to William & Mary, which cost $2,890 – $3,200 a year in tuition from 1995-1999. I needed to save money.
We were by no means poor. We just pulled up to parties in a paint-less 1976 Nissan Datsun alongside Audis, Mercedes, and BMWs for the four years we lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 1986-1990. It was very mortifying as a kid.
I knew nothing of expensive shoes because I had none. My wealthier friend gave me his old Air Jordans 4s that were two sizes too large. I couldn’t even afford a camera or a Nintendo game system. We led comfortable lives, but didn’t have more than we needed. I was always curious about my wealthier friends. Many of their parents were business owners. So one day I told my father I too wanted to be a businessman.
By the time I was 13 I was hooked on every single episode of “The Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous,” narrated by Robin Leech. A million dollar house and a $40,000 sports car. What a life! I thought to myself in the 8th grade. Might as well give it a go. That’s when I started really hitting the books.
Three Reasons Why The First Million Could Be The Easiest
When we first graduate from high school or college, we have a tremendous amount of energy to show what we can do after all our education. We’re hungry, motivated, and need to prove to others and to ourselves our worth. 60-90 hour work-weeks are no problem!
Unfortunately, so many of us piss away our youth. We buy new cars without following my 1/10th rule for car buying. Some of us get into expensive credit card debt. And a lot of us don’t to our elders and think the world owes us something. Forget it folks.
Nobody owes us anything. But we owe it to ourselves and to our parents who sacrificed all that time and money raising us to give life everything we’ve got.
Most of us won’t have children by the time we graduate from college. As a result, we can focus 100% of our efforts on generating wealth by developing our careers or our businesses.
Compare ourselves to middle aged adults with two children, a mortgage, and aging parents to take care of. We are like finicky Ferraris on a starting line ready to blow away our older model competitors.
I’m now a dad to two young children. As a result, I’ve got to wake up by 5 am every morning to write before my children get up. Otherwise, nothing would get done on Financial Samurai. By the time 1 pm roles around, I’m exhausted playing with my kids. Take advantage of your youth!
When we graduate with nothing, we have nothing to lose. Compare that with people with property, stocks, and other investments during economic downturns, and they have everything to lose.
With very little assets, we should be taking more risks. Now is the time to start a company, invest in that growth stock, take a new job opportunity, or move half way across the world on a hunch that good things might happen. If we don’t take risks while we are young, we certainly aren’t going to take them when we are old.
Keep Aggressively Saving And Investing
Years later, I’ve been increasing my net worth with a range of active and passive revenues. My family gives me a lot of encouragement to keep going. Going back to work while our kids are still little is the last thing my wife and I want to do. If you’ve been reading my blogs on how to properly invest for the future and prepare for retirement, you know that there is no secret to building wealth.
Building wealth requires discipline, patience, luck, an X Factor, savings, and the conviction that you deserve to be wealthy as well. When you eventually have enough, you can choose to either stop playing for enjoyment or retire.
In 2012, when I was 34 and officially out of the workforce, I made the decision to continue playing by making Financial Samurai the best personal finance blog I could. I concur when others say I’m lucky! So, since 2009, I’ve been writing three to four times per week in an effort to replicate my good fortune. After writing for Financial Samurai for more than 14 years, I think grit is a key to wealth and success. I firmly believe you will succeed if you can show consistent commitment to one thing for at least ten years. Too many people give up way too early or just as things start to go well. Remain devoted!
I would have been a millionaire by the age of 30 if I had launched this website in my early 20s. Please make the most of your youth if you are young.
More Thoughts On How To Become A Millionaire By 30
I firmly believe that the majority of individuals who are reading this post can amass a million dollars if they have the drive, do a decent job of planning, get the appropriate kind of advice, and have a little luck.
Some of you will dispute it, I’m sure, and others will laugh at how little $1 million is. But these are the recommendations I have for people who want to be millionaires by the time they’re 30 or at a pretty young age.
- Do not waste your time in high school or college because you will find it difficult to find a good job that pays well.
- Save until it hurts each month.
- Work hard and know your place.
- Stop making excuses.
- Consider both aggressive and conservative investment strategies.
- Property is one of your best friends over the long term.
- Pretend you are poorer than you are and show few signs of wealth.
- There are more ways than one to rub a furry koala.
- Office politics counts.
- Office politics counts.
- Diligently keep track of your progress.
- Regularly turn funny money into real assets.
- Consistently recognize your luck
- Invest for the long run
- Keep on reading and learning about money
