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So you are a millionaire

1) you do not live in upscale neighbourhoods2) Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.3)

Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance,planning and most of all, self discipline. It is also seldom luck and intelligence.

4) Financially independent means you can maintain your lifestyle without evenearning one months pay.

5) Usually, the wealthy man is a businessman who has lived in the same town forall of his adult life, he has married once and remains married. He is a

compulsive saver and investor. He has made his money on his own and is first

generation rich.

6) Affluent people typically follow a lifestyle conducive to accumulating money.7) Seven factors to build wealth successfully:

i) Live well below your meansii) Allocate time, money and energy efficiently, in ways conducive to

building wealth

iii) Believe that financial independence is more important than displayinghigh social status.

iv) Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.v) Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.vi) They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.vii) They chose the right occupation.

8)

They don

t look like millionaires, don

t dress like them, don

t eat like them,dont act like them

9) The majority of millionaires never spent one-tenth of $5000 for a watch..10)Only a minority drive a foreign motor vehicle, even less drive foreign luxury

cars, only a minority ever lease their motor vehicles.

11)I dont own big hats, but I have a lot of cattle.12)About 70% of us earn 80% or more of our household income.13)About two thirds of us who are working are self employed. 75% of us

consider ourselves as entrepreneurs. Most of the others are self employed

professionals.

14)Many of the types of businesses we are in could be classified as dull-normal.15)About half of our wives do not work outside the home.16)Our households total annualised (realised) income is $131,000 (median),

while our average income is $247,000. $1 mn or more are in top 5%.

17)We have an average household net worth of $3.7mn. Nearly 6% have a networth of over $10mn. Median millionaire household has $1.6mn.

18)On average, our total annual realised income is less than 7% of our wealth. Inother words, we live on less than 7% of our wealth.

19)97% of us are homeowners. Our homes are currently valued at $320,000 onaverage. About half of us have occupied the same home for more than 20

years. Thus, we have enjoyed significant increases in the values of our home.

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20)About 80% of us are first generation affluent and most of us have never felt adisadvantage because we did not receive any inheritance.

21)Most of our wives are planners and meticulous budgeters. Most of us will tellyou that our wives are a lot conservative with money than we are.

22)We have accumulated enough wealth to live without working for ten or moreyears. We save at least 15% of our earned income.

23)Only about 20% are not college graduates. Many of us hold advanced degrees.24)Only 17% of us or our spouses ever attended private school, but 55% of our

children are currently attending private school.

25)We spend heavily on education of our offspring because we believe it is veryimportant.

26)About 2/3 of us work between 45 to 55 hours per week.27)We are fastidious investors. On average, we invest 20% of our realised

household income each year. Most of us invest at least 15%. 79% of us have at

least one account with a brokerage company. But we make our owninvestment decisions.

28)We hold nearly 20% of our households wealth in transaction securities suchas publicly traded stocks and mutual funds, but we rarely sell our equity

investments. We hold even more in pension plans. On average, 21% of our

households wealth is in our private businesses.

29)As a group, we feel that our daughters are financially handicapped incomparison to out sons. Men seem to make much more money even within

the same occupational categories. That is why most of us would not hesitate

to share some of our wealth with our daughters, Our sons, and men in general,

have the deck of economic cards stacked in their favour. They should not need

subsidies from their parents.

30)What would be the ideal occupation for our children? Millionaire numbersare growing much faster than the general population. Our kids should

consider providing affluent people with some valuable service. Overall, our

most trusted financial advisors are our accountants. Our attorneys are also

very important. So we recommend accounting and law to our children. Tax

advisors and estate planning experts will be in big demand over the next

fifteen years.

31)I am a tightwad.32)We define wealthy as people who get more pleasure from owning substantial

amounts of appreciable assets than from displaying a high consumption

lifestyle.

33)One way determine someone is wealthy or not is based on net worth. Networth is defined as the current value of ones assets less liabs (excludes the

principal in trust accounts). We define the threshold of being wealthy as

having $1mn or more. Based on this, only 3.5% of the American household

are considered wealthy. About 95% of millionaires in America have a net

worth of between $1mn and $10mn. This level of wealth can be attained in

one generation.

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34)You can also define wealthy based on ones expected level of net worth. Howwealthy should you be? A persons income and age are strong determinants of

how much that person should be worth. In other words, the higher one s

income, the higher ones net worth is expected to be (assuming one is

working and not retired). Similarly, the longer one is generating income, themore likely one will accumulate more and more wealth.

35)Most ppl who become millionaires have confidence in their own abilities.They do not spend time worrying whether their parents were wealthy. They

do not believe that one must be born wealthy. Conversely, ppl of modest

backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy produce millionaires are

predetermined to remain non affluent.

36)The longer the time you are in a consumption based society, the less likely thegroup will produce a disproportionately high percentage of millionaires.

37)Self empoyment is a major correlate of wealth, although not necessarily.38)Next generation is often less productive economically than the last.39)First generation entrepreneurs: thrift, low status, discipline, low

consumption, risk and very hard work. Self imposed lifestyle of scarcity.

40)Wealth is rarely gained through the lottery, with a home run, or in quiz showfashion.

41)Beware of instant gratification.42)The most I ever spent for a suit was $399.