How to to make a million?

[INeedChocolateToday]

I'm sick of working non stop, extra hours, long hours , never seeing my husband who works super hard too.

I want to spend more time with my children, get off the treadmill of modern life.

Any ideas? Lottery winnings have still yet to roll in .....

It’s a lot harder these days, property is so expensive that it’s harder to get on the ladder even with a good job & I doubt what you buy today will experience anything like the growth in prices seen over the last decade in the SE.

Property development/BTL is harder as lending is tighter & tax hikes.

Even a traditional good career such as a doctor or barrister will have less disposable income then the past.

I’m also convinced we are going to see future tax rises whether it comes from inheritance or income as the country needs £££

Become a blogger/vlogger?

I keep hearing about how much the likes of Zoella are making.

DH bought his first flat in Hackney, East London for £70k. This was in the late 90s and he was a junior trader for a Suisse Bank. We went to NYC for a couple of years and when we returned to London, bought a tiny 2-bed flat near Sloane Square for about 200k. Sold it two years later for about £350k and moved to West London (zone 2) where we bought a 4- bed house for £600k. Sold that in 2007 for £1m, bought a larger house in the same area for £1.4. That house is now worth £3.5m ten years later. We let it out for 9k per month and bought another house for £5.5m which we've been living in for a couple of years. Also let out a one-bed flat which we bought for £600k two years ago. We have 2 other small properties abroad. So we made a lot on London property inflation since the late 90s, though it seems to be stagnating now.

DH did receive some city bonuses which financed all the moves, but hated working for someone else and left banking in about 2003 to start up his own business which has financed the houses, the school fees and our lifestyle, but it's been totally consuming at times - he rarely switches off. He was also involved as a non-exec director to another company which sold some years ago for billions, of which he received £25 million. He has reinvested all this money. He is a non-exec director for at least four other companies. He has a significant portfolio on the City Index and other investments - very complicated set-up tbh. He is probably a workaholic and the money makes no difference to this kind of person. Many of his friends are if a very similar mindset. Some have lost their marriages or have alcohol problems, autistic tendencies or mental health issues. All of them had reasonably "normal" backgrounds, as far as I can tell. Some public school, but not all by any means. DH is the son of a refugee.

Definitely a change in expectations

I used to live with a hedge fund exh who earned the big money but spent it to keep up with the other hedge fund types too.
Looked on the surface like we were living the high life.

Now, I'm with someone who suits me far better, is artistic and creative and more concerned about family and memories than stuff.

We have a lovely house but it is far cheaper than what I used to have and it means we feel better off as a result.

I HATE this “I’m well off because I work hard” attitude. Plenty of people work fucking hard in minimum wage jobs and still struggle to make ends meet.

No one has said that people in NMW jobs DON'T work hard, the OP asked how those who are well off had made their money, so people are giving honest answers - yes some were lucky and married into or were born into money but not everyone

People are well off because they’re lucky - either lucky to have a skill/talent that, when they harness it, can make them lots of money or lucky because of circumstances.

That's a very narrow minded view of the world. Yes, some people are lucky and possibly haven't had to work hard for their money.

But I'm not lucky, nor was I born into or married into money (most of my family still live on the same council estate largely living off the state).

I worked fucking hard all my life starting in school, it's the biggest reason I've never done a NMW job and now own my own company.

I worked my arse off to get good grades while my friends were messing about thinking it didn't matter.

I got a full time job at 18 and studied around it to get qualified in my chosen field, while my friends spent the next 4 years at uni getting pissed, partying and racking up debt.

I spent 15 years honing and developing my skills, getting good at what I do, building up a network to get myself in a position to start my own company and get clients based on the reputation I'd built for myself.

But to do this I spent the time from my DS was 3 until he was 8 working away from home and doing 60, 70, 80 hour weeks.

Any of that sound like I was lucky and didn't have to work hard?

My tongue in cheek post said "Marry an NHS consultant", not be one. Apparently this husband earns another £70k a year from private practice on top of his NHS salary and works 9 to 5 so in a pretty undemanding specialty by the sound of things.

Didn't Sir Richard Branson say that the easiest way to get a million dollars was to start with 2?

Retrain and get a job in front office services. Spend 10 or 20 years climbing your way to the top. Become an expat and start coining it in on an extortionate tax free salary in Dubai.

That should say front office financial services

Get reincarnated as someone with rich parents.

The only people I know who have tons of money are from privileged backgrounds. Sad but true.

@Torple
That said, I know of three millionaires within my kind of outer circle. One has no GCSEs but writes children’s books for a living (therefore exploiting a talent).

This has given me hope. I have always wanted to write a children’s book but thought there is no money in it, as I have heard book royalties are low. How well known is this author ( In other words do you need to be famous to be rich in the book industry?) and what age group are their books? I want to write picture books.