To enhance my wealth-building process, I’ve joined the Million Dollar Club. It’s a collection of bloggers that each have the goal to build wealth of $1 million.
Here is my “Millionaire List”, or my game plan for how that is going to be accomplished.
Know it.
Becoming a multi-millionaire is not a dream for me, it’s an eventual reality. I’ve already got serious asset-building momentum and I will grow it into the millions. Wealthy people for the most part haven’t ended up wealthy by accident. They had a goal and they worked towards it. By working, building additional dividend income streams, streamlining, saving, and wisely investing, I will continually produce a compounding rate of return and build it like a skyscraper.
The very first step in my 8 Steps to Build Wealth is Decide to Build Wealth. You have to know why you want to build wealth and that you are going to succeed for sure.
Live it.
I’m a pretty intense minimalist (hence the name of the site, Dividend “Monk”). I’m fairly anti-consumerism. I’m an electrical engineer, yet new electronic gadgets don’t impress me, and neither does your car. I’d rather buy things that are three years out of date, and I like empty space.
I am a minimalist because I admire the practicality and aesthetics of it. Life is complex and hurried, and few people are introspective. People live paycheck to paycheck, dig themselves into debt, all in order to buy that new smart phone so they can send texts every 30 seconds. It’s funny that people actually spend money to go camping– to live simpler for a short period of time. They take vacations like that from their life when they could be living that life all the time (albeit cleaner than in a tent, I’m not that intense). Instead, why not live simply at home and avoid most unnecessary material possessions? If you take a vacation to that type of lifestyle, why not bring your vacation home? That’s my path- simple living.
I’m someone who likes to make money, compound money, but has little interest in spending money on “things”. Experiences, sure. For a good cause, sure. For the occasional great purchase? Sure. But for random junk? No.
Build it.
Now the fun part. Once I make money, save money, and have a wealth-building mindset, I have to continually search for good investments to get good rates of return. That’s one reason I started this blog- it forces me to learn deeply about several companies each week so that I can present a pretty good investment idea weekly. Reading through annual reports, earnings statements, company news, historical performance, and considering qualitative business developments forces me to be a better investor each and every day.
My primary path to wealth through investing is to invest in long-term dividend growth stocks. This entails diligently finding well-run, profitable businesses that will be good investments for years or decades and that continually pay out dividends to shareholders. Each year I grow my passive income streams, and I continually reinvest the money into buying more stock.
Specifically,
-I will contribute enough to my retirement savings plan to receive full matching.
-I will continue to add savings into my taxable broker account every single month.
-I will keep a strong emergency fund.
-I will only spend money on things or experiences that I believe to have long-term value. (Experiences I’ll remember later, quality products that provide long-term use, and those sort of things.)
-I will practice my “ten” rule. Money compounded at a good rate of return can produce ten times the input after 35 years or so. Whenever I consider a purchase, I will add a zero to the end of the price and ask myself if this is valuable enough for my future self to pay this amount of money.
What is your millionaire list?
Think Dividends
Great article Matt… I fall into the minimalist camp too (I don’t like buying junk)… Being a millionaire is all about having the right mindset… In North America anyone can do it…
FinEngr
Welcome to the club! Great headings, especially liked the “Live it” segment.
So today B. Gross told investors to expect lower returns for the years to come. “instead of 8 to 10 percent…expect 4 to 6”. Looks like dividend strategies will become even more prevalent and “back in style”.
Matt
@Think Dividends
Thanks. I agree, North Americans and those in certain other parts of the world have plenty of opportunities open to them. As long as the essentials are there, like freedom and education, then people have the means to pursue their financial goals.
@FinEngr
While I never try to predict markets, I do indeed feel that long-term growth is likely to be somewhere around that range. I don’t intend to settle for that return, though. By pursuing attractively valued dividend stocks, looking at SMALL companies for a good part of my portfolio (reasonable room for growth, underfollowed), and looking for larger companies with significant international exposure, I hope to maintain good growth for the future.
J. Money
KNOW IT is key, yes!!! Well done sir, proud to have you on board :)
Jeff
Are you a Millionaire (in investiments, not assets like your house)? What was the purchase and reinvestement history on the dividend stocks? Thanks, Jeff