The Millionaire Guru

In a previous article, I explained that to become a Millionaire you would want to invest in one of three venues: The Stock Market, Real Estate, or owning your own business. I would like to give my personal experience in all three. This article will focus on the Stock Market, but please look up the articles on “Real Estate” and “Owning your own Business”.

I started investing in the stock market when I was twenty-one years old, back in 1983. At that time, I did not know a lot about the stock market and most people had no investments in the market. It was just about that time that pension plans started investing in the market and mutual funds started to be formed.

If I had known then what I know now about the stock market, I would have invested everything I could in the market. At age twenty-one, I was very conservative and young, and the stock market did not mean much to me. I would occasionally purchase some stock, but most of my money went into CD’s because I knew they were safe. At that time, CD’s were earning about 6%, which I thought was fantastic. Little did I know that the stock market over many years would average several points higher than my CD’s, and with the knowledge of “The Power of 72”, this would have made a significant difference.

I spoke with my first financial advisor in 1987, which convinced me to invest on a weekly basis with some stocks that had a great history of paying out conservative amounts of money and had the potential to grow. Being young and leaning towards the conservative side, I started investing and watched my money start to grow, but not enough to get hooked on investing in the market.

It was not until 1993 that I talked to another financial advisor who had called me from an inquiry I had made about investing on the TV. At first I did not want to be bothered, but the advisor convinced me to spend an hour with him so he could explain what “American Express Financial Advisors” could do for me. My wife and I agreed to meet with him and after an hour, he me not only convinced to invest with his firm, but also had me excited in doing so. He re-introduced to me the “Power of 72” with many examples and felt comfortable that with our age and salaries, we could become financially secure before our retirement. That was the starting point where I would track my investments and do financial statements quarterly to see how our assets have grown.

Since 1993, I’ve been with the same financial institution and have been very satisfied. I allow the professionals to make well-educated suggestions on where my money should be invested and how to make the best of these investments. Because my portfolio has grown to a substantial amount, my advisor now works on a commission of a percentage of my growth per year versus receiving money on buying and selling. This gives my broker an incentive to make as much as he can for his clients because that is what pays his salary.

The bottom line here is to use the stock market as one of your tools towards being a millionaire. What percentage is totally up to you and your comfort zone, but I strongly advise you to get a financial advisor that has your best interest at heart.

Wealth comes with time. Everyone thinks that putting a few dollars away each day will never amount to a large sum of money. “The Power of 72” articles shows that you can become wealthy by investing a small amount of money each day. The fact is that most of us have a problem putting a few dollars away each day. That is unless you have it automatically invested from either your paycheck or bank account.

Most people will find that money that they never see is never missed. If you have a retirement plan at work where you can automatically have a deduction taken from your pay check, by all means, do it. This way you will never see the money and it is automatically invested for you on a paycheck-by-paycheck basis. If you are investing it in a retirement plan, the money you contribute grows tax-free until you take distribution, which can save you thousands of dollars by delaying paying the taxes on your investments.

If your employee does not offer an automatic deduction for a retirement plan, you can start one on your own. Your bank or financial advisor would be happy to help you with setting up one of many IRA’s. Once set up, you can have a set amount of money to be taken out of your bank account each week and invested in an IRA.

With both employee IRA’s and also IRA’s you set up yourself, your money can grow tax deferred or tax free, depending on the IRA, up to the time you start to withdrawal your money. There are certain rules you must follow, but the most important on most IRA’s is that if you need the money before you reach the age of 59 ½ years of age, you could be penalized for an early withdrawal.

The best advise I can give for you, as a person who is going to save and gain wealth is to start saving today and have the monies automatically taken from your salary or bank account. This allows for an automatic savings and the money invested will never be missed. As time goes by, you will be watching your money grow and you will want to increase the amounts you invest. With time and a small amount of savings, you to can become a millionaire.

To become a Millionaire, where you actually earn the money as compared to winning the lottery or inheriting your parent’s estate, you have to be self disciplined and educated on how and where to invest. Investing in a saving account or even CD’s where the interest rates are low will not help you reach your goal unless you have a career where you are making a very good income.

The three most common avenues to follow in investing for your future are: Stocks, Real Estate, and owning your own business. These three options, over years of investing and re-investing will help you become a Millionaire. You may choose one, two, or all three avenues to help you reach you goals. I actually used all three to help me achieve my financial situation, but depending on your situation and how much time and effort you want to spend, you will find which of the three works best for you.

In today’s society, everyone is invested in the stock market. Whether it is in a pension plan, IRA, or individual accounts, most people have some interest in the Market. When I was young, only the rich invested in stocks. It was not until about the early 1980’s that the stock market gained in popularity. The stock market is the least time consuming of the three ways to invest for a great return.

Buying and selling real estate can be very rewarding because you are actually working with a tangible product. There are several ways you can invest in the real estate market. Some are as simple as buying stocks in companies that develop real estate, while others takes labor to refurbish properties for rent or resale in the future. With good investing, real estate can pay back a very substantial return on your investment.

If you ever had the desire to own and operate your own business, you may have what it takes to be a self-employed entrepreneur. Those who are successful with owning and operating their own business, can see the doors open to the Millionaire status faster than the other avenues, but there is also more risk and hard work involved. The failure rate for businesses are high, so you have to educate and investigate your idea before taking the plunge into your venture.

Investing for your future needs to be taking with caution, but you must also feel comfortable with the decisions you make. Before starting, look at all the options and educate yourself. This will help you decide on the path you will want to follow. Please read the articles on each option above. These articles will help you start the education process and may help you avoid mistakes or problems I have personally encountered.