Top five tips from millionaires

Tuesday 6 December, 2011

By Helen Thomas - helen@consumerchoices.co.uk

Get a head start on making a million with top tips from the rich.

“This time next year, Rodders, we’ll be millionaires”.

Del Trotter had a grand plan - actually, a multitude of grand plans, all of which were supremely unsuccessful - but what about the rest of us - just how can Joe Public become a millionaire?

Obviously there are the tried and tested routes:

• Work in investment banking in the 1980s
• Win the lottery
• Cross your fingers that you have an extremely old relative who has secretly been hoarding cash under the mattress ready to pass on to their favourite great-niece/nephew
• Or, of course, by way of a good old-fashioned bank robbery.

Unfortunately these are all either now impossible, unlikely or foolish.

So here are the top tips, straight from those already rolling in millions, to point you in the right direction:

1. Make your passion your business - Two-thirds of US millionaires are self-employed. Running your own business successfully takes hard work and long hours - if you don’t love what you do, you’ll give up long before you start to make any money out of it.

According to research by Thomas J Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80% of millionaires said they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.

John Paul Getty, oil billionaire: “Build wealth as a by-product of your business success. If wealth is your only objective in business, you will probably fail.”

2. See opportunities where others see problems

Multimillionare Joe Sugarman: “The greatest success stories were created by people who recognised a problem and turned it into an opportunity.”

He might not have been a multimillionaire, but Albert Einstein, who was pretty clever by all accounts, said that “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.

3. Stop spending and live within your means

It’s simple - you can make a £million, but if you spend a £million and one you still won’t be a millionaire. Live frugally, build savings and reinvest your spare cash.

According to an article in the Independent, multimillionaire rapper Eminem was considering the purchase of a £9,000 watch during a shopping trip, but having checked the amount with his manager who told him to go ahead, he reportedly declined saying: “I don't want to run out of money; I want my daughter to be able to go to college.”

Cue Eminem’s very happy bank manager. And daughter.

4. Set your sights on where you are going and think big

Millionaires all have the unwavering self belief that their business will be a success.

They are unrelentingly focused on their goal - which, incidentally, isn’t usually the financial one - and always aim high.

In the words of Donald Trump: “I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.”

5. No guts, no glory

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, said: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk...in a world that is changing really quickly the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

So, there you have it. Go make your millions.