5 Steps to Becoming a Millionaire

Finance Articles | May 3, 2006

In the year 2002, there were 17.1 million Millionaires in the U.S. By 2013, the number of millionaires will triple due to inheritance. For the rest of you, becoming a millionaire is within reach if you apply a 5 step plan involving the following areas:

Health
Spending
Savings
Investing
Career

Health

Take care of yourself. If your health is no good, you are not going to enjoy the rewards of a solid financial plan. Eat right, exercise daily, and discipline yourself. The most successful investors are those people who have the best discipline to stay with the program.

Spending

It's true, a person will always live up to the amount of income they earn. If you make the money, you are apt to find a place to spend it. The key to successfully saving is to spend less than you make and to also spend more money in areas that will actually preserve wealth.

Savings

A disciplined approach to saving reaps rewards in the future. While saving early in your career, allocate a larger percentage of your savings to stocks. A 35 year old with $10,000 and saving $500 a month will become a millionaire by age 56 if the money invested returns 15% per annum. If the investment rate of return falls to 10% per annum, the millionaire age is moved to 63 years old.

Investing

Focus on an investment portfolio that minimizes your fees and maximizes your returns. If you are not sure about the types of investments, consider low cost index funds such as the S&P 500 or Russell 5000.

Career

No matter how much you position yourself, your career will dictate how quickly you reach the millionaire plateau. You have to move above and beyond your job description; Excel in your performance; Make yourself invaluable to the organization. Align your goals and focus on efforts that make you a valuable employee. You want those merit raises. They will add up.

Check out the Groco Millionaire Calculator to determine how much you need to put away to enter the millionaire class.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan L. Olsen, CPA, is the managing partner at Greenstein Rogoff Olsen & Co., a top Bay Area CPA firm with offices in Fremont and Palo Alto, CA. A specialist in income tax planning, he frequently lectures and writes articles on tax issues for professional organizations and community groups. He received a BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University and an MBA in Taxation from California State University at Hayward. His website has tax tools and accounting articles: http://www.groco.com