donations to your favorite charity and an early
retirement. These are the kinds of things people
think of when they hear the word “millionaire.”
It’s unlikely you’ll ever experience that. Sorry.
Unless, of course, you
can overcome the
following four roadblocks stopping you from
achieving millionaire status. Each roadblock
below also offers an “immediate action step” to
help you overcome the things holding you back.
Let’s get started.
1. You don’t understand how money works.
Money is not a complicated topic, but still, few
seem to really understand how it works. Do you?
Sure, you can blame the school system or your
parents, but the responsibility is still on you to
figure out how money is made, how it is held,
how it is invested and how it is preserved.
Millionaires understand that money is not
something that is discovered, won, or created by
chance.
As I stated in my previous column, 5 Powerful
Books That Changed the Direction of My Life
, wealth is not an accident, but an action . Building
wealth is the world’s largest game, and if you
want to win, you need to learn the rules. So start
studying.
Immediate action step: Start by reading several
great money books, such as:
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
But don’t just read, internalize the knowledge.
Debate it. Talk about it with your spouse,
grandma and mail carrier. Personal finance can
be learned, and by mastering it, you might
discover that wealth is much easier to build than
you previously thought.
2. You don’t value your education.
I get it: you are busy.
You have 25 hours of work to do every day and
there simply isn’t enough time to get it all done.
That’s the life of an entrepreneur, so something
needs to be sacrificed. Chances are, you are
sacrificing your continuing eduction, and it’s
severely hurting your chances of becoming a
millionaire. Wealthy people never stop learning,
despite the business in their life.
In a recent interview on The Tim Ferriss Show,
Noah Kagan says he takes time every morning to
read, as well as setting aside time every Tuesday
morning to simply learn.
When is the last time you scheduled “learning
time”? Do you just try to “fit it in” when
everything else is caught up?
Follow the advice of Kagan, Ferriss and other
incredibly successful entrepreneurs: never stop
learning, no matter how busy you are.
Immediate action step: Listen to the interview
with Noah Kagan on The Tim Ferriss Show
. Trust me -- it’ll get you far closer to millionaire
status than those TPS reports you were planning
on working on today.
3. You live to your means.
What are you doing with your extra money each
month?
I know, you probably don’t have any left over.
Your boss doesn’t pay you enough. Your
company hasn’t taken off yet. Or whatever other
excuse you have. But let’s face it: you are
spending too much money. I don’t care how
much you make -- it doesn’t matter. Everyone
lives to their means. You could make $2,000 per
month or $20,000 per month and you’ll still be
broke.
The millionaires I know have made a conscience
decision to live on less than they make. Instead
of upgrading their life every time they make more
money, they choose to put that extra cash to
work for them through various investments, such
as their business, stocks, real estate or other
assets, which I’ll talk about next.
Immediate action step: Pull out your bank
account statements for the past three months.
Figure out where every single dollar went,
organizing the entire list into categories. Then,
create a solid budget for your future.
4. You don’t collect assets.
A job will never make you rich. Neither will
saving all your cash in a coffee can. So how can
you build that wealth?
Start collecting assets.
An asset, as defined by Investopedia.com, is “a
resource with economic value that an individual,
corporation or country owns or controls with the
expectation that it will provide future benefit.”
Millionaires collect assets. It’s as simple as that.
Do you?
An asset could be a profitable business, a
growing stock portfolio or investing in the right
piece of real estate (not all real estate is a good
investment. It’s what you do with it that
matters.)
Your car is not an asset. That shiny new
electronic gadget on your arm is not an asset.
Your home might not even be an asset. These
are all liabilities that are robbing you of future
wealth.
Stop collecting these, and start collecting things
that will make you money in the long term.
Immediate action step: Make a detailed list of all
the assets in your life, as well as their current
value. Are you comfortable with this list? Then,
make a detailed plan to acquire more assets and
make a pact with yourself to NOT buy so many
liabilities.
Becoming a millionaire is not impossible. In fact,
it’s relatively easy when you have time on your
side and the knowledge to do so.
However, it does require overcoming hurdles,
which can be tough. If you want to achieve a
million dollars in net worth, or more, continue to
learn about the game of money, value your
education, live below your means and start
collecting assets.
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