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...

I know a few....most of them inherited. The one stand out self made multi millionaire did it by hard work and good luck....the career he had back then made loads of money, but would not make the same money at this time. So for him it was being born at the right time, to start working in this sector at the right time to make millions...but of course also smart enough etc. But if he was born 10 years later, he would not have made the same amount.

We're not millionaires but we have invested well in our property. We bought our first house 20 years ago, sold it for more than double what we paid (on that wave - lucky we bought then!), a d bought centrally in the best location in our area, sat on it fir 12 years then did a house renovation and extension. Our property is now worth 5x what we paid for it 15 years ago. There no way in hell we could afford the mortgage if we bought it now without capital.

Property investment funded by inheritance.
Bitcoin
Private number plate
Pension contributions to the maximum (personal and employers contributing)
Careful investing into ISA
Hard work & blood, swear and tears into family owned tech company to ensure retirement can happen in 5 years.

Old money. Generations of us have been filthy fucking rich for, like, forever

A variety of things. I'm not counting property, because it's not available cash. (We have three houses; we live in one, and the other two are lived in by family members who will never be able to get mortgages because they don't work.)
We have our own business - we work in a niche area, where there is lots of demand and not much supply. We live on our wages.

We took a lump sum out of our savings a few years ago and have traded the money in crypto and shares.
My partner is developing another business (technology based).
I'm writing a series of books.
I've started up some drop-shipping businesses.

What do we spend it on? Normal stuff. The mortgages. Food at Lidl. Our 15-year old car. Clothes from supermarkets and charity shops. The children go to local schools, not private. We don't have a cleaner. We have nice holidays, but not the Maldives. It gives us the freedom to not worry too much about buying takeaways.

In theory I could buy a super expensive handbag, but why would I? It probably wouldn't be washable like my Kipling one. I'd rather have the security of knowing that we can look after ourselves, our children, and the wider family if anything went wrong. So having a million doesn't mean that we are spending a million. Most of the time I just forget it's there and make sure we can balance the books with our wages. We never discuss money with anyone, and none of our friends have a clue.

Quite frankly, I married my boyfriend. DH is an incredibly successful and sought-after professional with his own business. I do work too but in a relatively low paid but emotionally rewarding field. I'm also the main carer for our DD and currently expecting our second child.

Our lifestyle is actually quite middle class, except that we're completely debt free. We own a couple of properties and the business outright. Our cars (not top of the range but reasonably nice) are finance free. Our family home is a big 5 bedroom detached house in a leafy market town in a nice part of the country (not SE), and we have a lovely cleaner who does a big weekly clean. We can afford any number of holidays, home improvements etc. We just spent £6000 on some new furniture. At the same time we do most of our food shopping at Aldi and don't buy designer items very often. DDs clothes are from Next or Sainsburys.

DH became a multimillionaire by working his booty off at university to get his professional qualifications and has been working extremely hard in his field for nearly 20 years. He grew up on a council estate and had a pretty awful childhood. He runs a business so has to do a lot of work from home.

I would say the best thing about being in this position is knowing that we can give our children a very secure and safe childhood. They will get live in a very comfortable home, travel the world, and access different activities. We'll pay their university fees and help them to get on the property ladder.

Property! Gosh, I was never tempted by corporate pension schemes and ALWAYS opted out! Instead invested my money in property, starting from a mere £140k little penthouse back in 2002 Plaistow moving on to (what's now is) £1,250,000 apartment in Whitechapel (bought for £225k) and a grand Grade II* listed £850k mansion in Kent. And I always have to remind myself that as an "imigrant" I came to this country with juist $200 in my pockets!

I should probably mention, when I was much younger I lived with a partner whose business was in a lot of trouble. Much of my desire to save and live within my means comes from the fear of those years, when we frequently had bailiffs knocking the doors down with a sledgehammer.

We haven't inherited anything, but we have been lucky that we went to university when it was cheaper to do so.

@scruffysally The old jokes are the best...

Have been with the same company for 20+ years and consistently saved over 50% of my net income every year and invested it (mainly in shares) instead of spending it on pointless material cr*p like cars/tech/clothes etc..

DH owns a construction business that he built up from scratch. It’s meant a lot of hours over the years but we agreed on that from the start and it’s paid off.
We own several rental properties now too.

Is it everything it’s cracked up to be? Yes. We have a very happy and stress free life. One of our DC has a disability and he has weekly private therapies that we can afford for as long as he needs them. He has made more progress than was ever expected and I put it down to the resources we can provide him.
We never have to worry about anything.
DC want a day out - we do it.
Want to go abroad? Anywhere? We book it.
Something breaks, we can immediately replace it.
We have helped both sets of parents by paying off their small mortgages.
DC have the best of everything and have experienced things and places most haven’t and that some never will.

[quote my8thMNusername]@Kisskiss one of those people is my techy brother who tried to get me into it years ago! I've made about 6k so far... kicking myself [/quote]
I’ve made zero! Too scared 😂.
Especially now that people are buying sailor moon and dog-e coins lol

Asset prices (shares, property, you name it) worldwide are now so high that these opportunities won't come again in the same way

yep

Like many pp we are probably paper millionaires, just like everyone else in our London street where very unremarkable houses owned by 50-somethings like us are now selling for over £2 million. Unless a new generation has the wherewithal to buy it from us at that price, and we find somewhere we're happy to live for considerably less, we're not really millionaires.

I do have a relative who has been a 'proper' self-made millionaire since the 1980s, having come from a very deprived background and with almost no education, having left school at 15. He did it by setting up his own business and being utterly ruthless and unscrupulous in his business dealings, even with his own family. I actually think he's got some sort of personality disorder. He's a megalomaniac and a very unpleasant individual to be around, but has all the trappings (designer clothes and cars, multiple houses and housekeepers, helicopters, 'country estate' and pursuits etc)

Mostly with Freetrade - I posted a link just after my first post, where you can get a free share when you invest as little as £1. I have an ISA and pension with them so I won’t have a big tax bill. I also have an account with Interactive brokers because it gives me access to out of hours market but it’s a bit more complicated to set up and they don’t have ISA’s or pensions. I also have an account with eToro where the money stays in dollars each time I sell and each franchise I buy is listed separately which I like, there aren’t any charges but they don’t offer an ISA, so I will move that money across to my ISA in April next year.

I saved money from an early age, as hated the thought of debt.
I made some good property developing choices in my youth. I made a good amount.
I inherited a fortune from relatives who were enterprising.
I invested wisely.
I didn't marry without a pre-nuptial agreement. I wouldn't marry again.
I learned skills and trades to do many property jobs myself, rather than paying someone else.

It is hard work, and with interest rates being dire then you can lose the lot with stupid mistakes. You struggle to determine who are your real friends are, and there is a danger of suffocating genuine friends with gifts and so on. I get a fair bit of Kanye West gold diggers. My boyfriend proposed and I refused as I am not risking that. I might have agreed if the money wasn't at risk (I am not mean, I feel guilty about it previously belonging to relatives who worked hard). I drive an 8 year old car, live in a house requiring much work and shop in poundland. I look for bargains, and always get 3 quotes for every building job.

That should say tranche not franchise and can’t find a way to edit it!

@Pumperthepumper

I found a lost Harrison watch and sold it at Sotheby’s for 6.2 million. It was in my garage.

Now that is a story I would like to hear more about

@CatRatSplat Came on to say - painting and hacking That new 'scenario' is slow going!

OP asked "What sort of luxury do you indulge in that people like me can simple not afford ..." so pp is just sharing that information.

My daughter knows a jack on the sims to get over 3 million simolians and I also had 7 billion on coinmaster but I spent it 😢

This is a really dull thread 🙄

Please can I ask a stupid question - how did people learn financial literacy and how to invest? Is there a good book to read about the basics?! Cheers

I think this is an interesting thread! They say money can’t buy happiness but if I could access private healthcare and dental care I would be so much happier for me and my family. Money can definitely buy time and reduced stress and problems.
My parents are millionaires on paper, between property and my mum’s business, and they are fairly well off day to day too. My in laws are not millionaires but they have a LOT more disposable income, and have many more holidays and shopping sprees than my parents. The personalities involved are so different and my parents are from very poor working class backgrounds; it has taken them years to learn they can spend money just because they might enjoy it!
I know someone who won the lottery, she and her boyfriend live a very comfortable life now and seem happy but are also a little insufferable as they can’t hold a conversation that’s not about property or cars… and obviously they now struggle to relate to the more day to day things we all talk about. It gets dull for them as well as us
after a time!