How do most millionaires make their money? There are three ways most millionaires made their money. The first is they earned an above average income in the beginning of their career. The next is they saved 25% or more in their 20s and 30s through their 40s. The last way is to become an entrepreneur in their 50s and 60s. Do you fit any of these three scenarios? Or do you have another way of making your millions?
How do most millionaires make their money? The simple answer is they invest in the stock market. While this may not be a surprise to you, you might be interested to know how they invest their money in order to become millionaires.
Things millionaires do differently from everyone else
They’re frugal.
Frugality — a commitment to saving, spending less, and sticking to a budget — is one of the wealth factors that help millionaires build wealth, according to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, the director of research for the Affluent Market Institute and an author of “The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth,” for which she surveyed more than 600 millionaires in America.
Many of the millionaires Stanley Fallaw interviewed stressed the freedom that comes with spending below their means.
“Spending above your means, spending instead of saving for retirement, spending in anticipation of becoming wealthy makes you a slave to the paycheck, even with a stellar level of income,” she wrote.
They save a lot of their income.
Being frugal and living in an affordable home enables millionaires to save. They recognize that income isn’t enough — they have to save what they’re making.
John, who runs the personal-finance blog ESI Money and retired at 52 with a $3 million net worth, has interviewed 100 millionaires over the past few years and found that the median millionaire spent $90,000 a year while earning $250,000 in income — a 64% savings rate. Saving it, he said, allows for investment.
While this savings rate might be slightly off because of things like not counting taxes as spending, the main takeaway, he said, is that millionaires “save a large portion of their income.”
If you make $250,000 and spend $250,000, “you are no better off at the end of the year,” he wrote.
They take on a side hustle.
Many millionaires favor moonlighting, or taking on a side hustle, according to Stanley Fallaw, who said it’s a good way to explore options while remaining employed full time.
“Those who are able to create multiple opportunities to generate revenue, who can translate hobbies into income-producing activities, will be successful at becoming millionaires next door in the future,” she added.
John also found that millionaires develop multiple streams of income, enabling them to grow their net worth exponentially, he said.
They invest in low-cost index funds.
According to John, millionaires also tend to use the same simple investing strategy: investing in low-cost index funds.
“The high returns and low costs of stock index funds (I personally prefer Vanguard as do many millionaires) are the foundation that many a millionaire’s wealth is built upon,” he wrote.
Experts agree that investing in index funds is a winning strategy when playing the stock market for two reasons: They’re broadly diversified, eliminating the risk of picking individual stocks, and they’re low-cost. Even Warren Buffett champions the strategy.
They put more energy toward personal-growth activities.
Millionaires also spend more time focusing on personal growth. They spend roughly 5 1/2 hours a week reading for pleasure and nearly six hours a week exercising, while the average American spends two hours and 2 1/2 hours on those activities, according to Stanley Fallaw’s research.
“Successful individuals are keenly aware of how they spend their resources, including their emotional and cognitive resources,” Stanley Fallaw wrote.
Similarly, Thomas C. Corley, the author of “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life,” spent five years researching the daily habits of 177 self-made millionaires and found they devoted at least 30 minutes every day each to exercising and reading. Millionaires tend to read three types of books, he said: biographies of successful people, self-help or personal development, and history.
They think more.
Corley also found that self-made millionaires are thinkers. The rich tend to think in isolation, in the mornings, and for at least 15 minutes every day, he said.
“Thinking is key to their success,” he wrote. “They spent time every day brainstorming with themselves about numerous things.”
He said they asked questions such as “What can I do to make more money?” “Does my job make me happy?” “Am I exercising enough?” and “What other charities can I get involved in?”
They ask for feedback.
Millionaires seek feedback to help improve themselves, according to Corley.
“Fear of criticism is the reason we do not seek feedback from others,” he wrote. “But feedback is essential to learning what is working and what isn’t working. Feedback helps you understand if you are on the right track. Feedback criticism, good or bad, is a crucial element for learning and growth.”
It allows millionaires to change course and experiment with a new career or business, Corley said. “Feedback provides you with the information you will need in order to succeed in any venture.”
They prioritize four relationships.
But millionaires can’t build wealth without the help of others.
Chris Hogan, the author of “Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth — and How You Can Too,” studied 10,000 American millionaires — defined as those with a net worth of at least $1 million — for seven months and found they achieved their seven-figure status with four key relationships: a coach, a mentor, a cheerleader, and a friend.
Corley emphasized the importance of having a mentor in particular.
“Finding a mentor puts you on the fast track to wealth accumulation,” he wrote.
They’re more conscientious.
Most millionaires’ traits and habits tie into conscientiousness, which has a strong correlation to net worth, according to Stanley Fallaw.
“Many of the behavioral components that impact net worth, regardless of how old we are or our income levels, including frugality, planning, and responsibility, tie into this personality characteristic, and help us understand why it is so critical in the creation and maintenance of wealth over time,” she wrote.
Similarly, Jude Miller Burke studied 200 self-made millionaires for three years and found that they tended to be conscientious and displayed the trait at a higher level than less successful people.
What traits do millionaires have in common?
The Fidelity study results showed that even though millionaires have different ways of making money, they often share these traits:
- They set ambitious goals and act on them. Self-made millionaires put their ideas and dreams into action, whether that’s starting a business or achieving other professional or personal pursuits. This determination is a common driver among many who made their millions without an inheritance.
- They have mentors. Many self-made millionaires are quick to admit that they cannot possibly know how to do everything. They reach out to others who know the ins and outs of different types of saving and investing, tapping into the best minds on each subject for perspective and insight. That certainly pays off.
- They look for feedback. For a self-made millionaire, self-improvement never stops. Self-made millionaires look for critique and feedback in their ideas and business practices, ensuring that they can better identify blind spots and guarantee that their ventures will succeed.
- They are not afraid of failure. Millionaires understand the benefits of learning lessons through failure. However, the risks they take are thoroughly calculated and each scenario played out. Once they commit to something, they give their all.
- They understand the value of time. Time is money, and millionaires know this all too They quickly learn how to manage their time, and they know that there is no reason to trade time for money.
Money rules that helped me become a millionaire at 28
Stay focused in school
Slacking in school won’t get you anywhere. Your binge-watching habits will only hurt your GPA. There are tons of people who graduate in the top 1% of their class every year. Be one of them. You’re paying thousands of dollars for your education, so why not take advantage of it?
You can keep insisting that grades don’t matter, but it won’t change the job market competition. While some prestigious companies will tell you that “GPA isn’t the whole story,” it doesn’t mean they won’t ask for your transcript — because believe me, they will.
Graduating with a 3.78 GPA helped me land a job at Goldman Sachs. But it still wasn’t easy. I spent six months aggressively applying for jobs and went through 55 interviews before getting an offer.
Work hard and know your place
Working hard takes absolutely no skill. I promise that if you’re the first person in the office and the last to leave, you’ll get ahead. Pay your dues early and you can relax when you’re older. Will your social life suffer? A little bit, yes. But you’re young, remember? Your energy is limitless!
Early in my career, I got to work at 5:30 a.m. and left after 7:30 p.m. I learned a lot, got more done and gained the respect of my peers. And because my boss recognized my hard work ethics, I was able to save my job during the 2000 dot-com bubble burst.
Make property your best friend
Inflation is a beast. Make it a goal to own a primary residence as soon as you know where you want to live for the next five to 10 years. If you put a 20% down payment on a home and it goes 3% up per year, that’s a 15% return on your cash.
At 26, I used the lucky win I made from one stock investment and bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in San Francisco for $580,500. The mortgage has since been paid off and the property now generates a steady stream of income.
Conclusion
Are you wondering how most millionaires make their money? You’re not alone, and I’m here to show you. It is true. Most millionaires start with an average income of $150,000 per year and grow this into $1 million dollars by the age of 60, according to new research by the Spectrem Group. The annual survey found that entrepreneurs were behind 75% of millionaire households which translates into 2.4 million households of individuals who had net worths ranging from $1 million to $5 million.