Future Millionaire

I recently read Brandon’s post on how to become a millionaire.

He did it by age 30. Very impressive! I’m on track to do it by age 50. Slower, but still on target.

Every BiggerPockets podcast has the question “what sets apart successful real estate investors from those who fail or never get started”, or something along those lines. It can be phrased a lot of different ways, but think it usually boils down to action. Like Brandon says, action will always be the final key to success. Without it, you have nothing. No one is going to give you a million dollars, no matter how smart, talented, or lucky you are.

Daily action, weekly action, monthly action, yearly action. I chart out our personal and rental finances annually. Weekly I classify the receipts and get a pulse on how much we are spending. Monthly I check progress against the plan and Bruce and I discuss where we are off track. Less lattes, less money on food, less hidden cell charges… Annually I update our net worth, and watch it slowly climb. Little by little, every day.

The article says that everything you have, everything you believe, and everything you are is a result of the decisions and actions you’ve made previously. This applies to spending, to investing, to spiritual issues, to relationships, to so much in life.

And, finally, a little bit on the education piece. Brandon asks why wealth building isn’t a topic of conversations between teachers and students. Both of my teens, in their last month of senior year, had a teacher take them through the Dave Ramsey series. We sat them down and explained how we disagree with some of Dave’s uber-conservative views, but it started the kids thinking and asking questions, and that is a great starting point.