The American Dream is the possibility that you can start from absolutely nothing and through sheer will, determination, and hard work build your personal wealth to infinity. But is it really possible to start with zero and become a millionaire?
You can absolutely become a millionaire even though you stared with zero dollars. I have found that the magic formula to becoming a millionaire is to spend less than you earn and save and invest the rest. Over time, the magic of compounding will take hold and it is only a matter of time before you become a millionaire.
This blog post is going to be one of my most personal and opinionated but I feel it is necessary.
Someone sent me a link to a fellow FI/RE blogger website, 1500days.com. While reading through some of his articles I came across one where he asks other blogers to tell their stories and two of the questions he asks the writer to answer are: Why should we read your blog and why did you start your blog?
This got me to thinking about my readers and how little you really know about my journey. Yes I have an about me page but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. So I will try here to make you understand my journey which ties in to the title of the article.
My goal with this article is three-fold.
- To connect further with my audience and hopefully have you understand a little bit more why I do this.
- Second, and more importantly, you need to understand that, no matter how low you may feel at the moment, no matter how small your income, no matter your current savings level; Unless you are out of time, it IS possible for you to retire a millionaire.
- To clear up some misconceptions about what it takes to obtain wealth and prove that it can be done even for those who currently have zero.
We all start with zero
One of the reasons I started this blog is because once you realize your mistakes, you want to tell everyone in hopes that they don’t make the same mistakes. We all start with zero. Even those who inherit a fortune started with nothing.
There are currently an estimated 11 million millionaires in the United States. Only 3% of those 11 million inherited a million dollars or more. Yet our perception of millionaires is that they are all trust fund babies, athletes, actors, or CEO’s.
The truth of the matter is that the majority of millionaires are people who started with nothing but worked hard and then preserved and grew their wealth over time to become millionaires.
There is a huge misconception of where wealth comes from and I think as a result people just give up before they get started. I can speak from personal experience that the idea of one day becoming a millionaire seems impossible so we don’t even try.
The Truth: Why most people will never become millionaires
Consider this statistic: 20% of American adults have ZERO savings. ZERO!! Only 29% have an emergency fund of six months expenses. Does that sound like a population of citizens who think it will one day be possible to have a net worth of a million dollars or more.
Conversely nearly 60% of Americans have some form of streaming service such as Netflix. I’m sorry but if the percentage of a population spending their earnings on movies outweighs the percentage being financially responsible, that population has officially given up hop on ever achieving financial independence.
So if millionaires are made by saving portions of their income and growing it over time, and the majority of Americans are not saving their income and therefore not growing it, is it any wonder there are so few millionaires? How do you ever expect to save a million dollars if you cant even save a few months worth of expenses in an emergency fund?
The truth is that, if you live in America, you have the ability to become a millionaire. If you do not, it is probably because you are either lazy or lack the self control to become a millionaire.
Millionaire Me
I am going to be a millionaire. There is no question this will happen and it will happen very soon. The only question is how many times over. I did not inherit this money. I am not an athlete, a CEO, a celebrity, an actor, or even a Kardashian.
What I did was work and earn a modest income for many years. I spent less than the total of that income and I invested what was left and over time my savings grew. And grew, and grew and it continues to grow today and it will continue to grow into the future as long as I am committed to preserving my wealth.
I started with nothing. My parents both died when I was young and I have been homeless twice in my life. I know, boo hoo right. I am not trying to look for sympathy, but I want to impress upon you that we all have obstacles to overcome. But you can not use challenges as excuses. I did this for a long time and as a result I got a late start on achieving my financial independence.
If you are convinced failure is certain, you will certainly fail.
In my 20’s and even early 30’s I wasted alot of money. I used spending as an escape mechanism. Life was hard and working sucked so in those days and moments where I had time for me, I spent money doing things that only provided temporary happiness.
Because I was not educated on what was actually possible, I figured I would never have enough money to quit work so why not enjoy what little bit I had left over for me. Both my parents worked until they died and I figured I would suffer the same fate. Why bother trying.
I think, even though we all have different circumstances that get us their, most of us at some point will utter those words to ourselves either out loud or in our head. “Why bother trying.”
If you have convinced yourself that the certain outcome is failure, why try? I would not attempt to lift a car because I know I would fail. Why bother? I would love to play shortstop for the Yankees but that will never happen. I want to be a millionaire one day, No way man, get that thought out of your head and go get drunk instead.
It took me a long time to finally commit to sacrificing certain levels of spending in order to achieve financial independence. I am still not what you would call extreme when it comes to saving. I’m not a minimalist and I would not put myself in the category of Lean FI/RE.
I would say I have become committed to achieving financial independence while at the same time enjoying a moderate level of spending. I do not feel I need to sacrifice everything I enjoy in order to one day enjoy the freedom that comes along with never being obligated to an employer.
Summary of a millionaire’s journey
In a nutshell I grew up less than well to do we will call it. In my early adult years I had nothing. I accumulated some debt while engaging in irresponsible spending habits. Then through hard work and patience I controlled my spending, saved and invested a portion of my income, and over time built my wealth and continue to do so. I will soon be a millionaire and not long after that I will be financially independent and capable of making the choice if I am going to continue to work in my current job. All before the age of 50.
I know you will read other blogs out there where people accomplished Financial Independence by age 30 or even younger. I am not trying to impress anyone, I am simply telling my story. I think most of you can relate to this because I don’t think the majority of people have it all figured out and start this process at age 18.
Most of you are just like I was; floating around in your mid 20-30s without a clue just living life trying to get by. If you are like I was you have no clue what is possible. I wasn’t fortunate enough to find FI/RE in my 20s. And if I did I probably wasn’t mature enough to use the information to my benefit. Hopefully, when this information hits you, you are ready to take full advantage and set yourself on the right path to financial freedom.
One Final piece of advice
Never let anyone tell you you can not become a millionaire. If can be done. Even if you start with nothing, even if you think it is too late and even if you make a modest income. Set goals, stay focused and be patient and you can achieve it. It won’t always be easy but I bet, in the end, you realize it was easier then you ever dreamed.
Earl out
P.S. Check out my resources page to see some of the tools I used to help me out along the way. Most of them are also affiliates of mine and if you would like to help the site by using my link I will make a small commission.