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...

My aunt and uncle are millionaires. He built and runs a well known niche company. He's worked hard for it and don't begrudge them their lifestyle. Although their new beautiful mansion which they built from scratch does make me slightly envious when I am of the renting generation who will never get on the property ladder

My DB got a 7 figure sum after an accident at work. He can’t work now so the bulk was loss of earnings for 25 years. He was able to get his local authority pension early as well. He paid off the last £5k of his mortgage on his 2 up 2 down terrace which he still lives in. He buys £60k cars, goes on lots of holidays and doesn’t worry about paying his bills.
He has never married and doesn’t have kids, both are a big saving lol.

@PegasusReturns

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.

Actually it is quite common for the super rich to take 100% interest mortgages, usually from private banks! The Financial Times just wrote an article this past week about the whole topic which was really interesting. Basically, they earn a lot more in interest by keeping the funds invested than they would lose by paying something like 1% interest on an interest only mortgage. The inheritance tax laws of certain countries like the US and France also mean that the mortgaged portion of a home is not liable for inheritance tax, so they can basically hold and pass on assets and enjoy the benefits of capital gains on those things without having the tax liability of full ownership.

Unless there is a pretty dire change in circumstances mine will be through inheritance.

DH joined an unknown startup couple of years ago, got a small share of the company. He has been instrumental in building the company and the share is now worth several tens of millions. The value on paper will continue to increase as the company value grows.
We have cashed in several millions to live in a bigger house (unfortunately doesn’t get you as much as you would think where we are in London), and just to diversify in risks - couple hundred k in savings, mutual funds etc. kids in private school.
Day to day life isn’t much different, but we no longer worry about money and I’m able to pursue interests and a satisfying career that doesn’t have much financial reward.
Feel like we have won the lottery or something. Still doesn’t feel real.

We are still youngish (under 40s) so lots to explore in life. I have ambitions to set up a charity. DH still really enjoys building the company and work long-ish hours, but when it’s no longer fun then he might change things up and pursue/pivot career.

We didn’t have huge amount of money growing up but both won the genetic lotteries of being quite intelligent, driven and attractive looking. Both sides of parents were middle class, valued education and we both went to top universities. In a way to achieve this level of wealth at this age was huge amount of luck, both in terms of where we were born and in terms of career choices.

this ti e next we 'll be mwill you naires

My parents did, literally rags to riches story. Hard work & grit setting up their own business. Literally no one works as hard as they do, people think they work til the see how much they do.

I grew up in poverty but had no idea as they shielded me from it, things started going well when I was about 15 or 16. I remember we were able to afford going on holiday & it was amazing 😍 they live a relatively simple life. They are incredibly generous to me & siblings. Truly They are amazing and deserve every success they have

I think most/all? of my acquaintances who work in the City are short? on their mortgage and have been for decades as they have always had more attractive returns than the cost of their mortgage.

I know a few.

All have gained a good inheritance. All have businesses. 1 inherited family business and then were left a lot by parents.
2 lived abroad in 1970s and then came home for 1980 boom time, made a packet. Both of these people did well in their companies, are in their 70s and bought good houses that are over 1 mill and invested when they could, inherited a bit, no kids.
1 is a property developer that took risks and invested. He's been very cautious and works hard (in his 60s won't retire, is a workaholic, worth over 10 mill but invested everything and lost it all few times).

My dsis isnt a millionaire but is well off. High earning couple, both with own houses (5 bed detached X 2) that they sold and bought big. Only 1 child and they invest carefully. Husband works away, owns company and brings in good bonuses. They have rental properties. They sacrifice a lot and push themselves very hard.

Good friend married a very high earner in the city.

I'm not well off but I inherited over 100k from a parent and will have another 3-400k coming our way from other parents estates. I'd rather have them here and not get anything! We have an income of £90k between us and don't live in an expensive area. We buy and have bought nothing on credit (except our mortgage). If we don't have the money in the bank we don't spend it. When our friends were putting things on credit and buying new cards on monthly payments we didn't. We worked and saved.

We invest 80% of anything we have that's extra, don't touch it and will use it to help out our DC.

We don't buy cars over 14k, we live in a standard, but nice, home and we're over paying on our mortgage to clear it in the next few years. We work very hard and we've never been on a holiday for more than 2k in 15 years. Our holidays are kept to under £1500 a year. We don't splash out often. We need a new kitchen, it will be nice but won't be expensive.

Oh and we bought our first house for £40k, sold it for £120k. We bought our current house for £170k, it's now worth over £300k. We've been extremely lucky and not found ourselves in a situation that financially we couldn't get out of with serious belt tightening and damn hard work.

Same here , though my husband is my biggest treasure - worth more than all the diamonds he showers me with (lots ). He was struggling with a divorce / Brexit hitting his business hard but I have his back, hold his hand and keep him healthy / happy / focused and 5 years later after making ££££millions he’s decided he can’t do without me and proposed so we got married this summer 🙌 with a huge fabulous wedding

@vocksinsocks

Hey, hope this doesnt come across.as rude but im genuinely interested in the statement "renting generation that will never get on the ladder" ? Im curious as im 30 and bought a flat for 61k few years back so a 6k deposit (saved up slowly over years), £250 month mortgage and i believe people can get on the ladder.if they start really small... like i said sorry if this is offensive some wayand im not being goady, i literally am curious..is it cos we live in different areas or maybe its due to taking out finances.. obviously u dont have to answer but basically what im saying is... never say never.. im sure u can do it one day?

Another I’m not but my parents are. We started off in a little 3 bed that they remortgaged twice to buy a business that my dad has worked almost 24 hours a day for 20 years to get to where it is now.

They’re about to sell it for 10s of millions.

So all I can say is work your fucking arse off every day, and also have a good business mind. Because I work hard but very, very far from being a millionaire

This thread's a step up from the £100,000 salary one...

My father's a millionnaire. He was a bit broke when he was in his late forties, and bought a run down enterprise which he and his wife worked their arses off turning around and making it a going concern. They were there from 8am to 9pm every single day.

After about four years they had enough to buy another enterprise with more scope, but again it was run down (and therefore cheap). So they sold the first and again worked their arses off to make it a success. They'd paid the loan off within five years, did absolutely everything themselves, including plumbing, building etc.

I think they ran the second one for about 20 years, then sold it for over £1M.

He then bought a plot of land and built a house which he sold, he then bought a couple of other properties, did them up and sold them.

I think one reason he ended up a millionnaire is because he had the skills to do everything himself when he was increasing the value of the enterprises he took on, so he very rarely had to pay tradespeople, and that saved a lot of money over the years. He's also a miserly cunt!

[quote Newbabynewhouse]@vocksinsocks

Hey, hope this doesnt come across.as rude but im genuinely interested in the statement "renting generation that will never get on the ladder" ? Im curious as im 30 and bought a flat for 61k few years back so a 6k deposit (saved up slowly over years), £250 month mortgage and i believe people can get on the ladder.if they start really small... like i said sorry if this is offensive some wayand im not being goady, i literally am curious..is it cos we live in different areas or maybe its due to taking out finances.. obviously u dont have to answer but basically what im saying is... never say never.. im sure u can do it one day?[/quote]
In most cases I imagine it’s because they live in a part of the country where the cheapest flats are £200k+ and not £60k. Perhaps they’re single and one average income won’t get a mortgage of that level. Perhaps they had kids first because spending ten plus years saving a deposit would have meant it was too late to have kids and then once kids came along the cost of living and childcare made saving for a large enough house impossible.

Really it’s not that hard to imagine is it?! Yes most people could buy a £60k flat eventually. But there are only small pockets of the country where those flats exist and they don’t suit the needs of households consisting of more than one person or a couple.

I'm an email millionairess: I've got so much long lost family who have died and left me a small fortune, according to many individuals from various parts of the world 🤣

Earth life nope! I've got an inheritance to come which will pay off what I owe and leave me some for some treats and a bit of savings for my later years. I am exceedingly grateful for this.

I'm have though what money can't buy. After a life of trauma, years of various impute and a 12 step program I found the inner peace, inner happiness and inner serenity that had always alluded me.

That money cannot buy.

property then buying and doing up

Millionaire, with most or all of the wealth tied up in a property, isn’t nearly as unusual as a few years ago, just due to property prices.

Lots of people in their 60s or older who bought property in London, on fairly standard salaries, and who perhaps moved up the ladder once or twice can easily be sitting in £1m houses, which might be something g terraced ir a semi that doesn’t seems very special.

There are far more like that, than have £1m in the bank.

If you look at wealth as being property plus pension pot, even more have over £1m by the time they are 40s or 50s.

Liquid, disposable and accessible £1m will be far fewer.

@TrufflesAndToast

Well no its not hard to imagine..but i was telling the poster to never say never to gettting on the ladder... it does seem like your reply is a bit... off? That's why i said maybe we are in different parts of the country...also, this tiny one bed flat habited, me my partner and our baby for a while..so again il say it can be done.. we're now 30 and have sold it to buy a house so were going up the ladder. It was literally said as inspiration

Good post, lots of replies, people love to boast.

Oh and i bought it myself on one wage (living wage in the uk)

DH earned substantial bonuses in the city.

We do not live extravagantly though we own 2 homes including one in central London.

In a book called "Stage Blood" I read something I have never forgotten about the actor Christopher Plummer who became very wealthy from appearing in the film "The Sound of Music". The author, Michael Blakemore says of him, "I felt a wave of sympathy for this fine actor as I sometimes have for other men who become extremely rich without being particularly interested in money."

I have often felt this is true of us. We are not actually interested in luxurious living as such. We use it to help our DCs now that they are at the stage of buying properties of their own

Both DH and I live frugally. We have very well paid jobs so every penny saved is invested. We own multiple houses we rent out and have considerable savings. I have received sizeable inheritance from two members of my family which have been invested too. On paper we may be very comfortable but we still drive a 15 year old banged up car, shop in Lidl and generally avoid spending. The exception being holidays. We treat ourselves three maybe four times a year to some amazing long haul adventures. I am also due to come into my trust fund soon. My parents set it up for me to receive it in mid life so that I would have to work before coming into it.

It's as simple as- right people at the right time.

I kidnapped them.

I'm not a millionaire (sadly) but of the two I know, one inherited £100,000 on his 18th birthday (30 years ago) and set up a business and bought property. The other had a regular income from his deceased father's pension and used it to set up a software company in the early 1990s and then sold it to an American corporation.

It’s incredible how many of these stories begin ‘we live very frugally, we don’t spend on fancy cars and we never buy anything. Oh, and our parents gave us shitloads of cash’