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...

on ebay not not hobby!

@Amberflames

No inheritance here. And I don’t count our property.

We’ve both had successful careers that have paid us well into 6 figures and we’ve saved/invested a lot of it. We paid our mortgage off a few years back and decided to stay where we are debt free rather than move so a decent salary and no mortgage means we have a lot spare at the end of the month.

Same here. No inheritance or help (financial or practical) whatsoever from family, I went to uni on a grant but worked in a supermarket to pay my rent. Have always worked, since the age of 13. Have saved everything I can. STEM degree.

NC for this as it’s a bit of a privacy invader isn’t it. Am regular poster tho.

Started a business that really took off after 3 years of graft and lockdown making it v topical. Remortgaged my first flat and reinvested in property and crowdfunding. On paper worth around £3m now. One parent was also recently very generous so we used that help to reduce our home mortgage to a very modest %. We also don’t live extravagantly. We do have a cleaneronce a fortnight , part time nursery help as no family about and good for ds. Drive old and non fancy cars and do home swapping for hols as well as our own home abroad.

My ex-husband and I are each worth about 1M. Mosty, it's tied up in our homes and pensions. Both of us were not gifted large sums but were financially supported by our parents to go to University where we studied subjects leading directly to well-paid jobs, which we still do. We were lucky to not pay tuition fees or graduate with debts. Got on the housing ladder in our 20s and moved several times. Lived through home improvements in all houses. Never got loans apart from mortgages, and overpaid those whenever we could by living within our means. No brand-new cars, long-haul holidays, designer clothes etc and no drugs. Minimal booze and partying/dining out. All very sensible and modest.

The biggest financial error we made was getting divorced.

Having the right amount of parental support in young adulthood makes a lot of difference, I have observed. Too much help makes people lazy, but a bit of help to get educated and get on the housing ladder, along with sensible attitudes towards earning and spending has a "compond interest" effect on your finances over several decades.

I still look for bargins in the supermarket and buy almost all my clothes in the sales or from charity shops. But I never worry about not being able to pay my essential bills. That is luxury.

I became a millionaire when I flew to Vietnam in 2017.

Sadly I lost my millions when I flew back 2 weeks later.

1 million Vietnamese Dong (yes their currency is Dong teehee) = £33 ish.

@Anybridget7

I married a geek

I'm guessing he didn't make his wedge train spotting or playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Met dh when he was a labourer on a building site, he’s not from the UK, he grew up in abject poverty on a scale not seen in this country. Think no running water in house, not enough food, no shoes, 8 siblings, parents working all day in factories / farming (communism).

He was ambitious and intelligent and wanted to set up his own company. I was working in a profession after finishing a post-grad degree. Quite a few friends/family/colleagues thought I was mad to marry him. We set up a company. Invested all our savings and borrowed from credit cards and loans. I worked in my industry and paid all our rent/bills for 5 years while also doing all the paperwork for the company in the evenings, he worked long hours, 7 days a week for no money as reinvested it all back into the company. Were renting a tiny 1 bed flat when 1st dc was born, renting a two bed when second dc born. I left profession and carried on working for our company as more flexible with kids. By this point, 7 years after starting company, we had a few employees and more work but still couldn’t afford to buy a house. We were mid 30s.

Gradually built business up, set up more businesses in similar areas, finally bought our 1st house when we were late 30s.

It’s now 16 years since we started first company, we have 100+ employees, own offices and lots of company assets. Pre-Covid companies were valued at £30m+, covid was hard personally, had no income for over a year as we prioritised keeping businesses from collapsing.

Have had a few nice holidays in the past and dc are moving to independent school but don’t spend tons, don’t want kids growing up not knowing the value of money. Dh drives a sports car. People in this area laugh at him, they tell me to my face how ‘ridiculous’ it is, they think he’s come from money, or he’s a drug dealer. But he grew up in a house with no running water, no fridge, no oven, no washing machine, not enough food to go around, his mum made him school shoes from old inner tyres. He’s built his mum a house, has employed loads of his relatives, he’s changed his family’s lives enormously. If he wants to drive a sports car I think he’s earned it.

@PicsInRed

Most honest answers will involve inheritance ...including those with successful businesses which will have taken seed money and existing school and industry connections in order to be successful.

True social mobility is limited with few exceptions, lottery wins being one.

I just don’t think that’s true. Most people I know in our town are millionaires. They mainly had a state school education and relatively average background. DH grew up in a council flat in the NE..

I know quite a few multi-millionaires. Most have made their money through either creating a business and selling it on or inheriting a business, making it really successful and selling it on. I agree that money mostly makes money. In nearly all cases they were given a helping hand from someone who had a load of money and turned that into something worth a lot more.

Well.
Started work in 1980. With a bit of help with deposit bought first flat for 32k in SW London.
Worked v v hard in the City for the next 14 years and was earning £100k by 1986.
Bought first house in SW London in 1986.
Met DH 89/married him 1991
Bought family house on the equivalent of a development site in 1992 - High risk.
DH is a workaholic with a niche practice career went stellar about 2001/2.
Stopped working 1995 after ds1 and to support DH.
Bought house in France in 2003? Over years developed the site and have gites that pay our expenses.
DH has worked and worked and worked. I went back to work in 2003.
We are 60(ish). Investments are worth more than the properties.
Some of it's luck, some of it's hard work, much of it is judgement.

Flying back to the UK first thing tomorrow.

To the people saying they’re properly millionaires. I don’t think OP means buying a house 30 years ago in London then it going up in value x 10. Your house might be worth a million but you don’t have it to spend unless you sell your house and live in a tent.

@DumplingsAndStew

Am just following the thread for Xenia's response

Snap!

I sell fake handbags to millionaires.

@TableFlowerss it depends. You can sell a 2m house & buy a 800k one, no need for a tent. Plus if you bought a long time ago you probably paid it off years ago so income that would serve a mortgage has gone into other investments.

What are people investing in? My Dad us elderly with probably more than he should have in his bank account (nothing like a million) , but it's hardly the time for risk is it?! He doesn't spend either, despite my encouragement to treat himself.

@AbstractEim Definitely he deserves it, the people who laugh are probably just jealous! It's so nice to hear about success for people who have really worked hard and lovely how it has helped his whole family too.

Not there yet but will be. (probably by 32?)

I chose my career for money rather than for passion/interest.
I started several businesses young and worked on them at the same time as my job, often meaning 14 hour days 7 days a week.
I don't spend much and invest all profit back into the businesses.

However, a huge chunk of luck including:
Being naturally clever
Being born in a western country with access to education and healthcare.

The plan is to secure my ship (nest egg savings, small mortgage) and then start charities instead of businesses.

Property..... did up our first house, remortgaged, re bought etc etc. We have about 30 now, snd a couple of mill equity probably. I don’t think we could do it now, but we did also work very hard and never took holidays etc.

We also have a letting agency.

I still do my ironing and cleaning, but 2 children go to private school, private health, luxury gym membership, holiday seaside home in Devon (we also Airbnb it). We shop in Lidl , but buy what we want.
I don’t own a single designer anything.

But we never have to worry about the heating or money in general.

My husband and I still have a ferocious work ethic, regulary getting up at 4am to get a start on the day.

I’ve been very skint before, and it’s nice not to be now.

@CaptainFussyPants

My parents are millionaires. They worked their arses off, saved sensibly, then invested brilliantly. They’ve now sold the holiday homes and live comfortably having retired in their 50s. They were both lucky and hard working so I don’t deny they totally deserve it. I’m a broke single parent working part time and living off my universal credits. They help me as soon as I ask, but I’m so guilty and ashamed that I don’t ask often :(

Never be ashamed! Your parents will want to help you, take the help.

@HeyGirlHeyBoy

What are people investing in? My Dad us elderly with probably more than he should have in his bank account (nothing like a million) , but it's hardly the time for risk is it?! He doesn't spend either, despite my encouragement to treat himself.

Very elderly is the time for risk - you spend less , need less and can be more adventurous with your cash . You let your financial person decide what to invest in.

One of my bingo cards is ticked off 🤣

Invested in a business and sold it.
DH works in Switzerland.
Invested in biotech.

The more you have, the more you make (assuming you invest well and don't withdraw funds...) you benefit from the compounding effect. So if I had built up a pot of £1m investments and got a return of say 6per cent a year, and left that return in the 'pot', keep multiplying by 1.06 pa and by my possibly ropey calculations, within just five years that'd grow to £1.3m. The rich just get richer (as long as they don't up their spending).

Look up the FIRE approach to finances.

The only one I know got there by ripping off his family and doing dodgy business deals. His DW had a good job, although not as well paid as they made out. They spent money like it was water. I have no idea how they live their lives now, but the little glimpse I had in to that world was not nice. Rich, entitled people who only judged one another by their appearance, possessions and wealth. Not a shred of integrity between them. Extreme case, maybe, but money definitely doesn’t make you happy.

@CatRatSplat
At 3 mill myself and just moved to old new Henford on Bagley 🤣