The #1 trait of a millionarie is....? by LesGee

The #1 trait of a millionarie is....? by LesGee

If you understand this you too can have more money than you know what to do with.
It’s a two part answer.

Just one man’s bias opinion obviously. So why am I qualified to even write on the subject?
Done about 1000 tax returns and got to see lots of people’s finances.
Done about 200 mortgage loans by referrals only. I do not work for the general public hence my clientele allows me to work closely with them in a more financial planning mode. I get to see these people over many years. My average client I have refied about 5 times.
Real estate ACTIVE investor for 5 yrs.
Real estate PASSIVE investor for 5 yrs.

I recently been hearing people write,
“I have little money but want to get into real estate.”
“Can no money down investing work?”
“I have $2000 in credit card debt, should I pay off the debt first or
invest?”
“Should I get an equity line to invest?”

Yes, these are interesting topics however there is a more important fundamental issue that should not be overlooked. I can answer these questions but WHAT FOR? So they can make more money and still have no money later on? You see I know lots of people making 6 figures and still are broke. Off the top of my head I know of a couple that make $150,000/yr and are about $50,000 in credit card debt. So they make more money….letting them buy bigger toys. Big deal is all I can say.

My friend use to have a successful financial planning practice. He had one client deciding on bankruptcy yet he was making $1,000,000/yr as a successful doctor. He was spending over that each yr. They were startled they had to stop the practice of wearing clothes only once, buying the newest car, belonging to 3 country clubs. To them this was very necessary. What would the Jones think?

It is appalling, yet crystal clear when I see my close friends making good money, yet constantly buying toys! Digital camera, big screen TVs, cellular phones, video camera, and vacations…. I know they are going to be broke when they need the money later in life. Nobody continues to make the same. Things change. Two incomes before one. Medical problems, having kids, parents need help, … They just don’t have the mindset of a millionaire and live like a spoiled child “in the moment.”

I personally never made more than $30,000/yr in a job. (My last job was over a decade ago) Remember making $15,000 my first year out of college while my peers were making $30,000+. It didn’t matter, because I know that the number one trait of success is…..SAVING. That first yr by the way I save $7500. Every cent was watch closely down to buying soda at the vending machine. This changed to buying in bulk to bring it in. Then it changed to drinking water.

So the number one trait of making it I fully believe is SAVING! If you don’t learn to live below your means, then you are doomed to just have bigger toys, until your income goes down, and you lose it all. It is human nature to live at or above your current standard of living. So the income goes down, the person continues to live how they live as the savings is eroded. Now what?

Who knows how long before you can no longer make what you make? Be it medical problems for you or your love ones. Be it maternity for your wife. Be it downsizing or just feed up with your work. So from day one I use to say, do I want to be doing this when I’m 70 yrs old? If not, I’d better be saving like the dickens.

Now the second part of the equation. Learning to INVEST. Now with seed money, I can learn to invest and have those little employees of mine, called “CASH” work 24/7. They don’t complain and they continue to make money day in and day out. They make more money then I ever did. Man they are good workers.

Does a good successful farmer continue to eat his entire crop each year? That’s what most Americans do with their money. If you have a good year, save the darn stuff. Then learn to invest.

Think of storing for a 7-yr drought.

MOST millionaires I know make it by SAVING and basic boring INVESTING. Read the book, “The millionaire next door” and “The millionaire mind”. Also Robert Kiyosaki says the same thing. You can be a millionaire by simply saving and investing. Being an “E” or and “S” and learning to “I”.

Also read “the richest man in Babylon”. Human nature is such that Expenses = Income. Unless you learn to control the urge to splurge, you are doomed to a lousy retirement.

Yes, there are the exception of winning the lottery, but those folks will be broke in 5 yrs. Also what about the successful businessman. All I can say is I’m a statistician by education. I play the odds. And most of the folks I see that make it learn to SAVE.

Real estate investing is just one vehicle that helps the INVESTING side of the equation. But if you got no SAVINGS, so what if you can turn $50,000 in 1 month. You’ll just spend it on x or y. If you haven’t learn how to SAVE, then you are doomed to fail in financial terms. Truth be known I would be a millionaire if I continued to earn $30,000/yr since I had the mindset of a Millionaire Mind. Even as a 7-grade kid living in San Francisco, I would run home and beat the bus to save 5
cents. And it was healthier. So what if it was a mile each day.

Now the biggest argument I hear about savings is “you only live once”. I want to have fun. Who knows if I will live that long? My counter is if you hold off for say 5 yrs, while you save you can enjoy the riches most already had and are still paying for and who says you don’t have fun with little? Who is more blessed, the spoiled rich child OR the humble poor one.

You know it is like a spoiled child. Give a 2-yr. old candy and soda whenever they want and they become a miserable spoiled child. It’s the same with us. The more you “parent the child within”, a wonderful thing one hopefully discovers. The true blessing of doing without! Of being humble in nature and blessed in gratitude. Please begin to parent your own selfish child within, then learn to invest, and I’m not talking the stock market. Okay, I’m bias toward real estate.

Les

_____________________________

Real estate investing is 95% emotional and 5% technical.
Work on the emotional if you want to get into real estate investing.

Original Post: http://forum.richdad.com/forums/tm.asp?m=274015&mpage=1&p=&tmode=1&smode=1&key=

Disclaimer: These are the opinions of Les Gee and utilizing these teachings are solely at your discretion and risk.