If you are researching how to become a millionaire in 10 years, you’ve landed on the right page. Here are some steps you can take to become a millionaire in the next few years.

1. Pick the Exact Number
2. Pick the Exact Timeframe
3. Invest in Yourself
4. Build a Financial Foundation
5. Automate as Much as You Can
6. Pay Off Bad Debt
7. Learn About Compound Interest
8. Pick One Asset Class
9. Keep Your Day Job
10. Start a Business

Keep in mind, the above list is not exhaustive, and everyone’s situation is unique. People have different talents. Some can be good at one thing and others not so much. However, talent without work is pretty much useless.

So, my goal with this post is to be able to get you to start thinking in the right direction. If there’s something specific you can always ask in the comments.

First of all, I just want to say that I’m quite excited for you. People who want to be millionaires (or billionaires) are part of my clan. It makes me happy and grateful to be able to write this article and share with you some of the exact steps you can take on your journey to becoming a millionaire.

There is no single road to becoming a millionaire. Everyone’s path is different with experiences and opportunities that are unique. But there are a few characteristics that differentiate the ones who end up becoming wealthy from the ones who don’t.

Having said that, wealth is not a zero-sum game. Nobody has to lose for you to win. It’s just the opposite. Wealth creation is a positive-sum game and a team sport. People get wealthy working together.

There’s a lot of advice on the internet that tells people to save their money, lower their expenses, move into a cheaper apartment, don’t buy lattes, and cut expenses to the point where you’re just not happy. I don’t fully agree with that.

I think it’s a great idea to know where you’re at in your current situation, but it’s also important to know where you’re going. If you have a plan and you’re actively working towards it, go ahead and buy yourself a latte if that’s going to make you happier in your day.

The happier you are, the more wins you’re going to have, and the more wins you have the closer you’re going to get to your goal of becoming a millionaire.

Mindset plays an important role in the journey to becoming a millionaire. How you view yourself, and whether or not you truly believe you can achieve these goals will play a deciding factor in whether or not you manage to accomplish your goals. This is why it is important to get your mindset right before you start strategizing.

Becoming a millionaire in 10 years or less is something you can definitely accomplish. You just need to nail some of the specifics, and you will need to create a plan and follow it diligently. It’s almost like you need to get married to the idea and the plan you create.

Stay relentlessly focused on the big vision, but you can be flexible on the details. Don’t allow anything to come in the way. In this post, you will learn a few different strategies you can implement to become a millionaire in the next ten years or less.

In the US, there are around 22 million millionaires. There were more than 3,000,000 millionaires created in the US in 2020 during the pandemic. The first step to becoming a millionaire is to decide that you want to become a millionaire. If you have made up your mind to become a millionaire and you are committed to your mission, congratulations.

Becoming a millionaire means that you will need to have a net worth of $1,000,000.00 or more in total assets. You can do this in a few different ways. Laying down a solid foundation is the first step in your journey to becoming a millionaire.

The Foundation

If you were building a custom home for yourself and your family, you would probably spend a considerable amount of time thinking through the work you would need to get done to ensure you build a strong foundation.

You would most likely discuss your project with engineers, architects, and general contractors to get their opinion and expert advice. Similarly, before you embark on this journey of becoming a millionaire, you need to lay the groundwork first.

The Exact Number

You ought to think of the exact number you want to achieve. You cannot just say you want to be a millionaire. That’s too vague of a number, and it’s confusing for your brain. You need to settle on an exact number.

How many millions do you want? Do you want $1,233,000.00? or $3,450,000.00? or maybe you want $7,390,000.00? Be specific. You need to have an exact goal because once you have established the number, you will need to create a very specific plan to be able to achieve that number.

The Exact Timeframe

You also need to figure out how much time you want to give yourself to accomplish your exact number. You should be able to say something like “I want to have a net worth of $4,500,000.00 in exactly 60 months from now.”

Once you have nailed down a specific number and timeframe, you need to write it down and keep a copy of it on your desk, nightstand, refrigerator, bathroom mirror, and anywhere you will be able to see it during your day.

You should make it a habit to write it down every day in the morning and before you go to bed at night. This will help program your mind, so your brain can make small adjustments and course-correct throughout the day.

When you write down your goals in the morning and before you go to bed, make sure you write them down in the present continuous tense. For example, you will write “I have a net worth of $4,500,000.00” or “I am a millionaire. I am proud of myself for accomplishing my goal of $4,500,000.00”.

Doing this will condition your mind to act like a millionaire, and your brain will course-correct even when there are distractions throughout the day.

Invest In Yourself

You are your best investment. Therefore, invest in yourself. If you think you need to spend the money on something that will make you a better person and help you reach your goals faster, do it.

Don’t ever hesitate to spend money on books, knowledge, conferences, workshops, gym memberships, or anything that will make you better, smarter, happier, or healthier. You need to take care of yourself on this journey, so keep investing in yourself.

Your Financial Foundation

There is so much to learn when it comes to building long-term wealth, protecting it, and keeping it. There is infinite knowledge, viewpoints, and perspectives on this topic. If you have made up your mind to become a millionaire, I would suggest starting to read books on this topic.

When you read a book, be sure to take notes and make a list of the ideas and strategies that stand out to you. Write them down and add a bit about how you can use them in your current financial situation. This will help you create a strong understanding of your current financial situation and it will help you find immense clarity in terms of where you’re going with your financial goals.

To accomplish your goal of becoming a millionaire, it is important to constantly be thinking of ways in which you can increase your income. However, I think some jobs can be a waste of your time. It just depends on what it is you want to accomplish in terms of your long-term goals, and your appetite for the amount of wealth you want to create.

If your goal is to invest a certain amount of money in the stock market, and that’s all you want to do because you are sure that that number when invested in the stock market will give you financial independence, then maybe doing odd jobs here and there might not seem like such a bad idea.

I recently scheduled an appointment online to have some yard work done on my property. The guy who showed up started talking to me about investing, and we talked for about 20 minutes. He told me that he does landscaping and yard work, but he tries to invest a big chunk of everything he makes into the stock market because he’s trying to hit a certain goal. Once he hits that goal, he’s going to be financially free and he won’t need to work another day in his life.

I think that’s a pretty solid strategy, but it’s not the best strategy for me. I like the idea of investing a chunk of what you make in the stock market, but I don’t like the idea of not working another day in my life.

The other problem with trading your time for money, and then putting that money in the stock market is that after you’ve hit your goal, you will still need to trade your time for money if you need an income or if you feel bored with the thought of retirement.

The strategy that works better is a strategy where you create a wealth machine, and whether you work or not, the machine brings in monthly income which you can then take and invest in other cash-generating machines. The income generated from these cash-flowing assets takes care of you, your family, and there is an abundance of it.

That is the ideal scenario. The problem is you cannot achieve that by trading your time for dollars. The reason I make this point is that it’s important for you to plan with the end in mind, so you are prepared for surprises along the way.

With that in mind, let’s say you want to become a millionaire in 10 years, and you want to do it by investing your money in the S&P Index, below is a chart you can use to figure out a strategy that works.

Let’s say you are 26 years old, you make $80,000 per year from your day job, and you have a side hustle walking dogs. If you start with $10,000 in the S&P Index and contribute around $400 per week for 20 years, you will have approximately $1,227,100 when you’re 46 years old.

Let’s say you are 35 years old, you make $120,000 per year from your day job, and you have a side hustle doing pressure washing. If you start with $20,000 in the S&P Index and contribute around $580 per week for 15 years, you will have approximately $1,032,952 when you’re 50 years old.

Let’s say you are 24 years old, you make $295,000 per year from your day job working as a software engineer, and you have a side hustle doing programming work as a contractor. If you start with $30,000 in the S&P Index and contribute around $2900 per week for just 5 years, you will have approximately $1,024,659 when you’re 29 years old. This is probably a pretty aggressive goal for most people, but it’s achievable.

Automate as Much as You Can

It is important to do your research on the best bank accounts and investment accounts that work for you and automate your accounts to move money into your investment accounts the moment any income hits your main bank account. You need to be diligent about the process and think through exactly how much and how often you want to move money into your investment accounts, emergency accounts, etc.

Pay Off Bad Debt

All debt is not bad debt. Personal debt can be bad debt as well as student loans. Think about it this way — if the debt does not make you money, then the debt is bad. If the debt does not increase your net worth over time, then the debt is bad. If the debt, does not allow you to use leverage to acquire cash-flowing assets then it is bad debt. Just remember, all debt is not bad debt.
If you have federal student loans, pay them off asap. If you have balances on credit cards with high-interest rates, pay them off asap. Get in control of the bad debt you have, otherwise, it will control you. There is no hurry, but you need to give yourself a realistic deadline and make sure you get everything in order by the deadline. For example, give yourself a week or two to get all your debt organized. Stick to the deadline. Maybe tell all your friends or family about it and have someone hold you accountable.

Learn About Compound Interest

This is pretty easy, to be honest. Compound interest is simply when you start earning interest on the money you have saved plus the interest you have earned on that money saved. For example, if you have $30,000 invested in the S&P 500 and you make 8% interest in the first year — that would mean you made $2400 in interest. Now, if you did not touch the money and just let it grow, the next year you will make interest on $32,400.00 instead of just $30,000.00. You can increase the amount of money you make by simply adding to the principal balance, increasing the compounding frequency, or investing the money into an asset that generates higher interest rates. There are several books you can read on this topic. If you want to dive deep, I would suggest going to Amazon and typing in “compound interest” and reading the top 20 books on the topic that have more than 200 reviews.

Pick One Asset Class

This is an important one. The asset class you pick will determine how quickly you become a millionaire, how much taxes you pay, and how much wealth you build in the long term. So, pick the asset class you want to invest in and stick to it until you have achieved your initial goal of becoming a millionaire. At some point, you will need to (or want to) invest in depreciating assets to be able to write off more money. But you can speak to your accountant or attorney about this once you need to solve that problem. That’s a good problem to have.

Keep Your Day Job

As much as I didn’t want to put this one on this list, I have to add it because I have seen that having a day job can be a good thing for many people. There are many benefits to having a day job, and not everyone wants to take the time or put in the work to get rid of their day job completely. I get it, having a day job adds structure to your day and the way things are designed, it’s just easier to keep that day job. There are benefits to keeping your day job, but there are also big disadvantages. At the very least, you should keep your day job but also start a side business. Here is a list of side businesses you can start.

Start a Side Business

There are many advantages of starting a side business. You can get a bunch of tax write-offs, you can increase your income, and you never know — maybe your side businesses end up becoming even more profitable than your day job. If you’ve made up your mind to become a millionaire in the next 5, 10, 15, or 20 years then it’s just a good idea to start a side business that generates decent profits right off the bat. This will give you the confidence and experience to pursue bigger ventures and help you along your path to becoming a millionaire.

Conclusion

Becoming a millionaire in 5, 10, 15, or 20 years is achievable. You can do it. Everyone has a different path, and you need to be the architect of your fortune. There is no one size fits all method out there, but there are principles you can adopt that will help you on your path to becoming a millionaire. Congratulations on taking the initial step.