How To Become A Millionaire | Brian Tracy (2024)

I think you’ll agree with me when I say that everybody wants to know how to become a millionaire.

Unfortunately, some people just don’t know where to start.

Well, imagine if you could learn how to grow your income in your own way, starting today, that will set you on the right path toward becoming a millionaire…

I’ve put together my very own tips and strategies to help you visualize the road ahead and set goals to make more money.

Below is my guide on how to become a millionaire.

The Millionaire Mindset

If you want to reach a net worth of $1 million, having the right mindset is everything.

Before we do anything else, I want to discuss how to lay a strong foundation with your mindset and habits. Everything else will build on top of this.

Patience

Believe me: Making a million dollars doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, theaverage age of millionaires is 57 years old, which shows that it can easily take three or four decades to build wealth.

Don’t let this discourage or deter you though! Instead, take this as a golden opportunity to start developing patience.

Practice mindfulness and gratitude at every step along the way. When you focus on being thankful for the goals you’ve reached, you’ll be content with your current situation while still keeping your ultimate goal (millionaire status) in mind.

Determination

Most millionaires are highly determined. Be more determined by eliminating distractions and fully pursuing your goal.

If your determination starts to slip, go back to the drawing board and remind yourself why you started and why you wanted to reach this goal in the first place.

Focus

Having a focused mindset is similar to determination, yet different. Focus is about single-mindedly pouring all of your energy toward one goal. Determination relates more to motivation and knowing that your specific goal is what you want to achieve.

Being focused naturally comes after your determination.

People who have a strong sense of focus will be able to accomplish more work in less time. Whether you’re making your millions by running a business, strategically investing, opening a high-yield savings account, or all of the above, you’ll get it done more effectively if you have the ability to focus on what you’re doing.

Flexibility

Not everything is going to go perfectly in the process of becoming a millionaire. In fact, you should expect to hit several bumps along the road.

That’s where flexibility comes in.

Be willing to pivot and do something different if needed, while remaining focused on your final goal. There isn’t just one road to becoming a millionaire. There are many strategies you can follow to boost your wealth. Know when to let go of control and choose a different path.

Growth

The final piece to having a millionaire mindset is growth.

When you have a growth-oriented mindset, you won’t settle for being an average millionaire. You won’t settle for the way things are right now.

Instead, you’ll be motivated to continue growing, doing whatever you have to do to reach your final goal.

How To Become A Millionaire in 9 Steps

Now that you know how to create a millionaire mindset, it’s time to learn how to become a millionaire. Here are nine steps I recommend that can help you get there.

Earn More Money

The most obvious answer to knowing how to become a millionaire is to startearning more money.

There are virtually endless routes you can take to boost your income. You can make more money by:

• Getting the education needed for a higher-paying job
• Setting up a source of passive income
• Building an investment portfolio
• Taking advantage of compound interest
• Getting a second job
• Starting a small business or side hustle
• Selling your home and downsizing
• Becoming a coach or tutor

We’ll discuss some of these tactics in more detail later. But for now, I want you to get in the habit of w

riting down every idea you can possibly think of that could help you make more money.

Sometimes, one idea that you have while you are driving along, sitting, reading, watching television, or in a conversation may be the insight that will lead you to the start of your fortune.

If your goal is to make more money, write down all of your ideas as to how you’ll achieve it.

The rule is, “Catch the idea and write it down.” If you don’t write it down fast, you’ll often lose it.

So my first tip to become a millionaire: Write down your ideas to earn money so you can act on them.

Set Goals

To be a millionaire, you need to be good at setting goals. Learning how to set attainable goals for your personal finances will help you secure your financial future.

When it comes to setting financial goals, the same general principles apply that are important for all goal-setting strategies.

First, I recommend setting long-term goals and then breaking those up into short-term goals. Of course, your primary long-term goal is to “become a millionaire.” But there are going to be many other steps along the way.

Identify milestones such as hitting a net worth of $100,000 or $500,000. Then break those mile markers up into even smaller goals that will ultimately help you get to your end goal.

Make sure these goals have a realistic timeline in light of your current income streams, savings accounts, and financial situation. You want to challenge yourself, but you don’t want them to be completely out of reach.

I also recommend taking regular “time-outs” to reflect on your goals and the obstacles that are holding you back from achieving them. During these times of relaxation, ideas will often pop into your mind that can save you hours, days, and sometimes years of hard work.

Start Investing

Investing is one of the most popular methods to become a millionaire, and for good reason: if you learn how to do it right, it will generate a great fortune.

The key is to start investing early. Take advantage of compound interest—when you earn interest on both the money you’ve saved and the interest you earn.

One way to invest your money is through retirement accounts, such as a 401(k), Roth IRA, or traditional IRA.

Other options are the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, or even real estate. If you feel unsure of where to start or what’s right for you, talk to a financial advisor to get help.

Use A Magic Wand

You can’t actually wave a magic wand and instantly become a millionaire. If it were that easy, everyone would do it. But you can use something I like to call the “magic wand technique” to visualize your future success.

Imagine you have a magic wand and you can wave it over your current situation or problem. As a result of waving this magic wand, all the obstacles between you and your financial goals are removed.

If your goal is to build a successful business in a particular field, try to project forward three to five years and imagine it’s become your reality.

What would it look like? How big would it be? What kind of people would you be working with? What kind of reputation would you have in the marketplace? What would be your level of sales and profitability? How would you be running this business?

So think, what could you start doing right now to make this future dream a reality?

Use visualization tactics like these to imagine that you’re already a millionaire. This will help further develop the millionaire mindset we talked about earlier. Remember, you become what you think about most of the time.

Live Below Your Means

Living below your means refers to spending less money than you earn every month. For instance, maybe you earn $8,000 per month, but your housing expenses and other necessary payments cost no more than $6,000.

This leaves you with $2,000 left over every month to save or invest. And with a little work to cut back on unnecessary expenses, you could get that number down even lower.

Living below your means is a helpful and effective method of saving money and building wealth. Maybe you could ask for a raise at work. But don’t spend the extra chunk of your paycheck on unnecessary things—save or invest it to help reach your goal of becoming a millionaire.

If you’re new to living below your means, budgeting and setting good financial goals will be essential strategies to help you.

You could also try adding another income stream or downsizing into a smaller home.

Think Like A Millionaire

I’m sharing several tactics in this article that have to do with your mind and your thoughts, and for good reason: This is incredibly important in your journey to become a millionaire.

Self-made millionaires have something in common. They have the habit of thinking in terms of financial independence most of the time. They’re focused on achieving their financial goals, and they think about it often.

This mindset naturally leads to discipline. Self-made millionaires reorganize their financial lives where needed to ensure they reach their goals.

Financial success does not happen by accident. It takes a very deliberate design. It takes thinking like a millionaire.

Practice “Mind-Storming”

Perhaps the most powerful method of stimulating creative thinking is called “mind-storming,” or the 20-idea method.

Many people have become wealthy, including me, using this idea. In fact, this technique alone could enable you to gain financial independence.

It’s simple. Take any problem or goal that you have and write it at the top of a sheet of paper in the form of a question. For example, if your goal is to double your income over the next 12 months, then you would write, “How can I double my income over the next 12 months?”

Then discipline yourself to write at least 20 answers to that question. You can write more than 20 answers if you like, but you must write at least 20. They don’t all need to be perfect, just get something on the page.

Mind-storming is an excellent way to continue moving forward if you’re feeling stuck on how to earn more income or advance your financial future.

Save Your Money

When it comes tosaving money, there are two keys that will help you become a millionaire more quickly. The first is to start early. And the second is to save for retirement.

Imagine if you were to save $100 per month from the time you started work at the young age of 20 until the time you retired at age 65. You invested that $100 per month in a mutual fund that yielded you an average of 10%. At this rate, you would be worth approximately $1,118,000 by the time you retired.

Chances are, your discipline to continue saving at any age, year in and year out would have such an effect on your character and your personality that you would end up earning far more than 10% per year.

But don’t be discouraged if you’re further along in life and haven’t started saving yet. There’s no time like the present to begin seriously investing and saving for your future.

Pay Off Your Debt

If you have any debt, pay it off as soon as possible so you can fully focus on working towards becoming a millionaire. There are multiple methods you can use to pay off debt.

These include…

• The avalanche method. Pay your most expensive debt first. Once it’s paid in full, move on to your other debts, going in order according to which ones are most expensive.
• The snowball method. Start with your smallest balance. After paying it, work up toward the next smallest balance. Keep going until all of your debts are paid.
• Pay your credit card bills more than once a month. This will help you ensure you don’t miss anything you owe.
• Get rid of debt more quickly by paying more than your minimum payment each month.
• See if you can refinance your debt and shorten the length of your loan. However, be aware that this may increase your monthly payments.
• Consolidate multiple debts, rolling them together into just one loan with a lower interest rate.

Finally, this should go without saying, but once you’ve paid off your debt, don’t accumulate any more. Live below your means and budget well. Any time you use a credit card, pay off the balance in full.

Take the Right Road

At some point, most people hit a crossroads in their financial life.

One road leads in the direction of earning, saving, and accumulating.

The other leads to earning, spending, and getting into debt.

It’s clear which road will ultimately end up with becoming a millionaire. But the second road sure looks like fun a lot of the time.

Don’t fall prey to temptation! The second road is much easier. But it will not help you reach your goal. And, there’s good news: You can pivot and choose the right road at any time. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, just where you’re going.

All self-made millionaires take responsibility for their financial life and take the first road. If you want to be a millionaire, you’ll need to do the same.

Be Disciplined

Commit to the process and stick with it. Becoming a millionaire won’t happen overnight.

As you set up a stream of passive income, funnel money into your retirement account, and pay off high-interest debt, the most important thing is to remain disciplined.

Sometimes, becoming more disciplined is a matter of identifying harmful habits and replacing them with new ones. Maybe you’re trying to start a business to earn more money, but you’re used to spending your weekends goofing off with friends.

Introduce new behaviors, such as scheduling blocks of time to work on your product, on Saturdays and Sundays. Sticking to these new habits will help you improve your discipline as you work toward becoming a millionaire.

Once you learn how to set financial goals and stay disciplined enough to achieve them, you won’t have to stop at a million dollars. You’ll be capable of earning your second and third million as well.

Making the first million is very hard. But the second million is almost inevitable. And that’s good news for you.

Once you become the type of person who can become a millionaire, that’s something you will never lose.

How to Become A Millionaire Fast

Looking to speed up the process? Here are some additional tips to help you reach that magic $1M mark as quickly as possible.

Save More Than 20%

Many experts recommend saving 20% of your income. But you can always save more if you’re able. The more money you save, the faster your savings account will reach one million dollars.

If you’re hoping to become a millionaire by a certain age, you can do the math to work out the monthly savings you’d need to tuck away each month to get there in time. If you can’t save that much right now, however, don’t worry! Whatever you can save will benefit you in the future. The important thing is simply to stock away as much of your own money as you can.

Advance Your Career

Consider investing in yourself through continuing education in your career field that will give you the skills and expertise needed to get a raise or a whole new job.

Depending on your industry, your job title, and your current level of education, this might look like a formal MBA program, a certification, or simply brushing up on your soft skills in the workplace.

Then you’ll be equipped with what you need to angle for a higher-paying job.

You can also consider starting your own business, as two-thirds of millionaires are self-employed. Think about your skills and experiences up to this point—both in the workplace, and simply in life.

Your own expertise and personal experiences can guide you as you decide what kind of business to start—either as a side hustle in addition to your job or simply as your new job.

Work With A Professional

A financial advisor can help you see what changes you might need to make in your financial life to become a millionaire more quickly. Depending on your needs and preferences, you could choose to work with:

• Investment advisors
• Certified financial planners
• Financial consultants
• Financial coaches
• investment managers
• Wealth advisors

Each of these professionals has a slightly different specialty that will allow them to hone in on your situation and provide specific advice for your financial planning needs.

Whether you’re feeling confused about investing, retirement, saving, or something else, a financial advisor can help you reach millionaire status more quickly. Look for a financial planner in your area that fits your budget. If you don’t live in a big city and can’t find any prospects close to you, you may also be able to find someone who will conduct remote sessions via phone or video.

Is Being A Millionaire Worth It?

By this point, it’s clear that becoming a millionaire is a lot of hard work. You may have to change your entire lifestyle. And you may be wondering if all this work is really worth it.

I want to tell you that the answer is yes.

When you become a millionaire, you’ll feel less stressed and worried about your financial future. You’ll have the time and freedom to pursue the things that matter most to you. And you’ll be able to buy anything you want or go wherever you want–in addition to helping people who need it.

The benefits of living as a millionaire are 100% worth every moment of hard work you put in to get there. Plus, the process of achieving such an enormous, impressive goal will foster your growth as a person.

If you can put in the hard work necessary to become a millionaire, you can do anything.

Take Action

By following the steps I’ve outlined in this blog post, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a millionaire. It’s hard work, but you can do it. I believe in you!

Remember, one of the most important pillars in your journey is setting good financial goals. If you want to learn how to set better goals, I encourage you to check out my 14-Step Goal-Setting Guide. This free resource includes powerful tips and keys to success that will help you achieve any goal you could imagine.

Download here and learn how to set the right kind of goals to help you become a millionaire–faster than you ever thought possible.

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin and Youtube.