So you are a millionaire 1) you do not live in upscale neighbourhoods 2) Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you

spend. 3) Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning and most of all, self discipline. It is also seldom luck and intelligence. 4) Financially independent means you can maintain your lifestyle without even earning one months pay. 5) Usually, the wealthy man is a businessman who has lived in the same town for all of his adult life, he has married once and remains married. He is a compulsive saver and investor. He has made his money on his own and is first generation rich. 6) Affluent people typically follow a lifestyle conducive to accumulating money. 7) Seven factors to build wealth successfully: i) Live well below your means ii) Allocate time, money and energy efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth iii) Believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. iv) Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care. v) Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. vi) They are proficient in targeting market opportunities. vii) They chose the right occupation. 8) They dont look like millionaires, dont dress like them, dont eat like them, dont act like them 9) The majority of millionaires never spent one-tenth of $5000 for a watch.. 10)Only a minority drive a foreign motor vehicle, even less drive foreign luxury cars, only a minority ever lease their motor vehicles. 11)I dont own big hats, but I have a lot of cattle. 12)About 70% of us earn 80% or more of our household income. 13)About two thirds of us who are working are self employed. 75% of us consider ourselves as entrepreneurs. Most of the others are self employed professionals. 14)Many of the types of businesses we are in could be classified as dull-normal. 15)About half of our wives do not work outside the home. 16)Our households total annualised (realised) income is $131,000 (median), while our average income is $247,000. $1 mn or more are in top 5%. 17)We have an average household net worth of $3.7mn. Nearly 6% have a net worth of over $10mn. Median millionaire household has $1.6mn. 18)On average, our total annual realised income is less than 7% of our wealth. In other words, we live on less than 7% of our wealth. 19)97% of us are homeowners. Our homes are currently valued at $320,000 on average. About half of us have occupied the same home for more than 20 years. Thus, we have enjoyed significant increases in the values of our home.

20)About 80% of us are first generation affluent and most of us have never felt a disadvantage because we did not receive any inheritance. 21)Most of our wives are planners and meticulous budgeters. Most of us will tell you that our wives are a lot conservative with money than we are. 22)We have accumulated enough wealth to live without working for ten or more years. We save at least 15% of our earned income. 23)Only about 20% are not college graduates. Many of us hold advanced degrees. 24)Only 17% of us or our spouses ever attended private school, but 55% of our children are currently attending private school. 25)We spend heavily on education of our offspring because we believe it is very important. 26)About 2/3 of us work between 45 to 55 hours per week. 27)We are fastidious investors. On average, we invest 20% of our realised household income each year. Most of us invest at least 15%. 79% of us have at least one account with a brokerage company. But we make our own investment decisions. 28)We hold nearly 20% of our households wealth in transaction securities such as publicly traded stocks and mutual funds, but we rarely sell our equity investments. We hold even more in pension plans. On average, 21% of our households wealth is in our private businesses. 29)As a group, we feel that our daughters are financially handicapped in comparison to out sons. Men seem to make much more money even within the same occupational categories. That is why most of us would not hesitate to share some of our wealth with our daughters, Our sons, and men in general, have the deck of economic cards stacked in their favour. They should not need subsidies from their parents. 30)What would be the ideal occupation for our children? Millionaire numbers are growing much faster than the general population. Our kids should consider providing affluent people with some valuable service. Overall, our most trusted financial advisors are our accountants. Our attorneys are also very important. So we recommend accounting and law to our children. Tax advisors and estate planning experts will be in big demand over the next fifteen years. 31)I am a tightwad. 32)We define wealthy as people who get more pleasure from owning substantial amounts of appreciable assets than from displaying a high consumption lifestyle. 33)One way determine someone is wealthy or not is based on net worth. Net worth is defined as the current value of ones assets less liabs (excludes the principal in trust accounts). We define the threshold of being wealthy as having $1mn or more. Based on this, only 3.5% of the American household are considered wealthy. About 95% of millionaires in America have a net worth of between $1mn and $10mn. This level of wealth can be attained in one generation.

34)You can also define wealthy based on ones expected level of net worth. How wealthy should you be? A persons income and age are strong determinants of how much that person should be worth. In other words, the higher one s income, the higher ones net worth is expected to be (assuming one is working and not retired). Similarly, the longer one is generating income, the more likely one will accumulate more and more wealth. 35)Most ppl who become millionaires have confidence in their own abilities. They do not spend time worrying whether their parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy. Conversely, ppl of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non affluent. 36)The longer the time you are in a consumption based society, the less likely the group will produce a disproportionately high percentage of millionaires. 37)Self empoyment is a major correlate of wealth, although not necessarily. 38)Next generation is often less productive economically than the last. 39)First generation entrepreneurs: thrift, low status, discipline, low consumption, risk and very hard work. Self imposed lifestyle of scarcity. 40)Wealth is rarely gained through the lottery, with a home run, or in quiz show fashion. 41)Beware of instant gratification. 42)The most I ever spent for a suit was $399.