How did you become a millionaire

[sugaraddictwithapinchoffluff]

Go on, make me extremely jealous of how you became a millionaire, what it's really like and is it what it's cracked up to be? What sort of luxury do you indulge in that people like me can simple not afford ...

Take it away...

Inheritance (parents died young and had good life insurance policies), hard work (long hours, stressful jobs) and clever (lucky) investment.

Working for myself. Having a drive to pay off my mortgage by putting every spare penny across onto it and keeping a spreadsheet.

Working really hard. Sacrificing social life for a few years.

Not a millionaire but family member is. Lived frugally and invested savings into stock market and never panic sold, even during downturns.

Compound interest is apparently a hell of a drug

Inheritance - parents dying relatively young, both before they could enjoy retirement and both relatively healthy until close to the end. Parents separated many years ago and both had not remarried and had properties in London (bought, of course, before prices went crazy) inherited.

Good investments (some down to luck, some down to actually good decisions)

My own decently paid job which means that we can reinvest the money for the future and live off my salary.

What is has given us is financial security. Our lifestyle is basically the same as it's always been but not worried about saving from my salary so can afford a bit more on disposable income and know kids can go to uni without getting into debt and, eventually, we can help them get onto the house ladder and, eventualyl eventually, we can have a decent retirement.

But I would rather a thousand times I'd had my parents around for longer. Others may be jealous of our financial security, I'm jealous whenever I see my kids' friends enjoying time with their grandparents. That is worth more than any money in my opinion but not a choice that is in anyone's hands.

Agreed, I think that a lot of people who are technically millionaires just bought a house in a nice area of London in the 90s. Thats basically it.

The few other people I know who might be millionaires are all in tech

I also think its a bit depressing how many people on this thread answer for their husband. I appreciate that in case of divorce wives get half but still.

@1frenchfoodie no they have no idea. I don’t want to rely on them or take their money. We have a wonderful relationship. But I’ve caused the position I’m in, and they worked so hard for theirs. It’ll get easier as my children get older, I just need to get through this part, and I will! They struggled when I was this age. The difference is there’s two of them and there’s one of me. I’ll get there though :)

I found a lost Harrison watch and sold it at Sotheby’s for 6.2 million. It was in my garage. like the guy in fool and horses 🤣

My uncle took on my gran's shop, invested in a franchise, opened several shops under that name, then ultimately sold them to a much bigger company. He's been described as a multi-millionaire.

My one (multi) millionaire friend came up with a tech business idea in the 1980s, about 5 years after he left uni, then sold the business.
Came up with a second tech idea in his early 30s and set up that business, bringing in a lot over 10 years until a larger tech giant offered the same for less.
Came up with a third idea - tech and logistics based - which transformed the sector. Expanded the business exponentially until he sold it for over £20 million in his mid-50s.
Basically, he saw opportunities and tech solutions but also had a really good grasp on how to market them and build a business at a suitable pace.
Since selling the last business, he volunteers with a number of charities on helping them streamline and increase their funding streams.
No property sales or inheritances involved, no family background in any of this. He is just really good at what he does and - not at all incidentally- a really lovely, down-to-earth person.
Having known him since he was 19 (we are now 60), it still doesn't seem real that he is a multi millionaire. He is still exactly the person he was at uni.
Came up with a third

Ignore the last 'came up with a third'.

It’s is not true you can’t be a millionaire with a mortgage. We were also advised not to pay off our mortgage as interest rates are so low the money would be better in investments. We choose to pay it off as it was a life long dream. I know many rich people who have lots of very big mortgages on lots of properties and businesses, it’s risky but can pay off big time.
For us the goal is to eventually have enough in the bank/ property/ investments that neither of us has to work yet we still maintain the high income lifestyle we have. Buy to let is getting harder so investments or holiday let’s may be the way towards this.
Most people get quickly bored of the cars, fancy restaurants… and actually begin the realise the main thing enough money can bring is freedom not to work and enough money to buy experiences, holidays, peruse hobbiies…
Money cannot make you happy but freedom can improve your happiness.
My husband will continue to work hard and it hoping to retire well before 50. The balance is getting it all done quick enough that you haven’t missed out too much with your children and your health is still good enough you can enjoy the freedom.

@Scarby9 It sounds as though that guy would make a terrific business mentor to small business people.

@HollowTalk
He is still in touch with many of his ex-employees and does mentor and advise them.

Literally zero days off except weekends

¿Qué?

I'm 45 and a millionaire.

Parents paid university fees. No monetary input after that,
Moved countries to UK for better job opportunities.
Moved industries from pure science into a well paying tech job with bonuses.
Moved from South-East to Midlands as thought cost of living was silly down South.
Paid into work DC pensions from the start. Paid AVCs where possible.
No kids.
Taught myself about investing. Took advantage of low mortgage rates (1% cost ) to invest in shares (7% return).
Own house but in ess favoured part of Midlands so didn't really benefit from house price inflation.
Inheritance of 25K from my Nanna.

Once you have money invested it makes more money e.g. 100,000 making 7% a year gives you income of 7,000 on top of your salary. If you keep reinvesting it snowballs.

I have a few hobbies I spend big on. But I don't spend on designer anything. Very high street tastes in furniture and clothes. Don't eat out a lot/do takeaways/buy coffee.

Meant to add I now volunteer part-time and live off my investments.

To agree with PP. We were also advised not to pay our mortgage off at the current interest rates and we invest it for a much higher return than we’d save on paying off our mortgage.

Mortgages aren’t the worst debt in the world and can actually be used to create a lot of wealth. They provide long-term, cheap lending of large amounts of money that can be invested elsewhere.

We have the money in the bank to pay off our mortgage if we wanted to but in our late 20’s/early 30s it doesn’t make much sense currently.

We are just about millionaires in relatively easily available assets (house/mortgage excluded). No we don’t have £1 mil sat in a current account because that doesn’t make much financial sense.

@BlueberrySugar

To some posters that have said they worked hard etc basically you sound like you worked yourself into the ground. Can you look back and say you were truly happy?

Yes, you might have the money now but do you regret not living your life a little bit and being so grounded to your work?

I don't believe money can buy happiness. Sure, it can give you a comfortable lifestyle and no worries, debt free etc but that must wear off. I mean, maybe you feel happy in that moment but there are truly experiences in your life that money can't buy.

I'm extremely happy about it all and zero regrets. This is my passion, my life's work.

What do you mean by living your life a bit?

What are many people doing when they get home from work? Sitting around watching TV? Drinking at the pub?

Not paying your mortgage off makes sense if you don’t have adequate pension or investments elsewhere.

e.g. if you’re looking to save £1000 a month, much better to put that into an investment vehicle where projected returns could be 15% rather than pay a debt that’s costing you 2%.

But once you’re talking about having large cash reserves and investments/pensions there is no benefit to maintaining a debt which costs significant interest over the lifetime of the loan.

@RantyAunty

i love my job! It pays well, which is nice, but I'd do it and be just as committed if it paid less. It's my passion and I'm driven to do well because it's important for me to do so. Of course, you need some balance, especially having kids, as it's easy to get sucked in to working around the clock but zero regrets here.

That was for @BlueberrySugar

I just realised my questions could have offended people and I didn't mean it to come across that way.

When I think of people with a lot of money I just think a lot of hours at work and maybe some missed family events due to work etc. Obviously I know the importance in this varies for different families

I married an elderly man with a dicky ticker

@HobNobAddict

I married an elderly man with a dicky ticker

Did you marry him knowing this? Of course you don't have to answer but did you love him or was it purely about the money?