Millionaires Reveal Their Secrets to Financial Success
And they have nothing to do with money...
One of my goals in writing about money and financial independence is to share with you my personal experiences.
Although I’m still years away from achieving financial independence, hopefully, the lessons I’ve learned so far can help some of you in your own journey.
I also like to hear about the experiences of people who are further along in life.
Recently, I stumbled upon the Money Guy’s resource titled “Inside the Life of a Money Guy Millionaire” which offers some perspective into the lives of millionaires and how they got there.
Out of all the secrets that millionaires revealed, these three stood out to me the most. Their advice was surprising, to say the least.
Secret #1
“Enjoy what you have — don’t focus on comparing to others. Focus on working on saving more this year than you did last year, and not compared to your neighbors and friends.”
Comparison is the thief of joy — this I have found to be true.
Comparing yourself with your friends or even people you don’t know will get you nowhere fast.
Life is not fair. Plain and simple.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, compare yourself to your previous self. Focus on self-improvement and following your own path.
Instead of being jealous of the things you don’t have, be grateful for the things you do have. What you might take for granted, others might envy.
If you find yourself feeling jealous of other people’s achievements, ask yourself if you would put in the work that they did to get there in the first place.
Someone’s fortunes might have come early for them, but yours could be right around the corner.
The more time and energy you spend comparing yourself, the less you have to spend on improving yourself.
Be grateful for the life you have and work towards the life you want. Or else you’ll look back one day and wonder what you could have done if you had just stopped comparing yourself to others.
Secret #2
“Be principle-driven, work hard every day, take care of yourself, build relationships, and let time take care of the $’s.”
This quote has five nuggets of wisdom in one, so let’s break it down.
“Be principle-driven”
Sticking to your principles requires commitment and perseverance. Commitment to fully invest yourself in living a certain way, and perseverance to continue to follow your principles even when faced with challenges.
Whether your principles are:
- Live within your means,
- Pay yourself first, or
- Save and invest regularly,
These are easier said than done if you’re not fully committed or you give up when it becomes tough.
“Work hard every day”
Consistency builds character, which leads to success.
Whether you’re starting a business, growing a side hustle, or dollar-cost-averaging monthly into the stock market, you have to be consistent before you start to see results.
Woody Allen once said,
“80% of success is showing up.”
Showing up and taking action will get you started on the path to success.
That could be registering your business, drafting that email newsletter, or funneling $100 a month into your brokerage account.
Just get started and your actions will snowball into something greater.
“Take care of yourself”
When I first found out about the FIRE movement, I went into hardcore frugal mode.
I was checking my net worth spreadsheet every day, checking my stock portfolio ten times a day, and overall just taking a dump on my mental and physical health.
I wasn’t seeing my friends because I wanted to save money.
I wasn’t exercising because I was consumed by social media.
Then I realized that if this is what my life is going to be like for the next 30 years just so I can quit my job 10 years earlier than normal, I would rather enjoy my life and stop stressing about money.
I wish I had realized sooner that financial independence is about living the life you want to live now and being able to sustain that lifestyle, regardless if you choose to work or not.
But if you don’t take care of yourself now, all the money in the world won’t bring back your health, and instead, you’ll have to spend it on medical bills and retirement homes.
“Build relationships”
I’ve noticed that in my early 20s, most of my friends were born out of convenience and being in the same location. I'm talking about university friends that I would see regularly in class, on campus, or just randomly on the street.
Fast forward to real life, most of them have moved on to different cities or out of the country. The friends that live close to me are still a drive away, and everyone’s just busier with life nowadays.
Although money seems to be the main focus of building wealth, I truly believe that investing time in building genuine relationships in my 20s and 30s will be worth more than any amount of money I could have in retirement.
After all, what’s the point of retiring if you have no one to spend your time with?
“Let time take care of the $’s”
Don’t try to rush things by gambling on the next 100x stock.
More than likely, you will lose and it will take even longer to climb out of that money hole. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Invest early and let the power of compound interest do its thing. The more time you have to wait, the less you have to worry about how your investments are doing.
Even if my account were to hit $1 million today, what would I do with my life?
Quit my job and travel?
Sure. Maybe that’ll be fun for a year or two. But what’s next?
The thing I find exciting about FIRE is the experiences that I’ll have along the way to financial independence.
We will get to retirement one day but don’t throw away your youth while you’re still full of life and energy.
Stop and smell the roses, as they say.
Secret #3
“It isn’t always about the money. It’s about having control and peace of mind through freedom of wealth.”
The true key to financial success and building wealth isn’t about money.
So many high-earning individuals still live paycheck to paycheck or stress about money due to lifestyle inflation and not having their finances under control.
They think if they just had more money, then all their problems would go away.
This way of thinking treats money as an end goal when really it’s just a tool. A tool that gets you options, peace of mind, and freedom.
Whether freedom to you is:
- continuing to work a 9-to-5 until you’re 65,
- taking a lower-stress, lower-paying job,
- quitting your job to pursue a business idea, or
- sipping Piña Coladas on the beach all day,
Having financial freedom gives you the option to do it. And when you have the luxury of making that decision, you’re in control of your own finances.
You’ll be able to sleep soundly at night knowing that you’re able to cover any unexpected expenses.
Most importantly, you’ll have peace of mind, which is priceless.
So whether you can achieve financial independence with $1 million or $10 million is up to you. But the number isn’t the goal; it’s what that money can buy you and that’s true freedom.
The surprising conclusion
The advice that these millionaires gave was eye-opening to me.
None of it had anything to do with what stocks to buy or how many rental properties you should have by the age of 30.
Instead, they talked about:
- Not comparing yourself to others
- Focusing on self-improvement
- Building the life you want
- Being patient
- Using money as a tool to buy freedom
This was the advice I needed to hear.
And after focusing so much of my time on running the numbers of when I can retire, I’d tell myself,
“Stop looking at your damn spreadsheet and start living life the way you want to.”