Wednesday, February 4, 2009

What Does it Take to be a Millionaire?

By Samantha Asher

Are you a millionaire? A millionaire is not necessarily someone who has a million dollars in the bank. The million dollars is calculated by your net worth. Your net worth is calculated by subtracting your liabilities from your assets.

To find your net worth, start by adding up all the assets you own including cash, what you have in checking and savings accounts, investments including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, your home, and any other real estate. Next, subtract all your debts including what you still owe on your mortgage, credit card debt, auto loans, personal loans, student loans, etc.

Now do you have a million dollars? Probably not. If you have a negative net worth, you are in an even worse situation. You are also probably somewhat jealous of those who are millionaires. You picture them as people who are doctors, lawyers, and CEOs that make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. They have multimillion dollar houses, they fly first class several times a year to expensive vacation destinations. They drive fancy cars and go to all the fancy expensive restaurants everyday.

Sure, these people probably are millionaires, but many people that make over $100,000 a year aren't theses people. It's not how much money they make that makes them millionaires. You can be a millionaire and feel financially secure without living this lavish lifestyle AND you don't have to make $100,000 a year.

If you have the right drive, discipline, common sense, and creativity, you can become a millionaire. You have to have the discipline to save the money. If you can save $2,000 a year for just over 40 years, and earn a 10% return average in the stock market, you will be a millionaire. With the right discipline, you could do this. As your salary increases, you could save more and become a millionaire even faster.

Of course, the more money you make, the more money you'll be ever to save. It could take you as few as a couple years to as many as 50 years to make a million dollars. You could save from your salary religiously and make it in 40 years, or you could bring out your creativity and speed up the process. Be creative and find a way to make money on the side or start a side business. Create multiple streams of income.

You need to have drive to get to your million. You could be disciplined for 5 years and have $200,000, but if you lose your drive and spend it all, you have to start over. You really need to want a million dollars in order to get it.

Use your common sense. Will you ever get a raise by doing just enough at work? Will you be able to save a million dollars if you only save $10 a month? Use your common sense, set up a plan, stick with it, and reap the rewards.

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