How To Be A Millionaire By Retirement

Retire with a beautiful view. Photo credit: Unsplash. Thank you Alexandre Chambon @goodspleen

Updated December 16, 2024. Many of us dream of a beautiful house that is in a fantastic location, awesome vacations, and millions of dollars in the bank. Many people would like to become millionaires, but few know the steps it takes to reach this goal. Most self-made millionaires got there through hard work, disciplined saving habits, and investing wisely. If you want know how to be a millionaire by retirement, you are about to find out how to do it.

Most people would like to eventually retire and know that they have enough money to live comfortably in their retirement years. If you have already achieved the milestone of having accumulated $1 million dollars, congratulations! I invite you to continue reading this blog as a way to increase your wealth by focusing on developing multiple streams of income.

How Much Money For A Similar Lifestyle?

The big question that so many people have been asking is: how much money is needed to have the same lifestyle in retirement? If you try to research by looking online or talking to a retirement expert you will find that the answers vary widely.

Basically, this question of becoming a millionaire by retirement can be divided into two sub-categories. One: how much money is enough for retirement? Two: how to be a millionaire by retirement?

How Much Money Is Enough For Retirement

The 4% Rule

The widely accepted financial rule of 4% states that your savings should last for at least 30 years without exhausting their portfolio.

Many experts say that your retirement income should be around 80% of your pre-retirement salary. Suppose you make $100,000 a year at retirement. In this example, you would need at least $80,000 to have a comfortable lifestyle after you leave the workforce.

Of course, the $80,000 amount annually can be adjusted depending on your other sources of income, like Social Security, pensions, and other part-time employment. To have the $80,000 necessary, you would need a nest egg of about $2 million dollars. To calculate this using the 4% rule, simply take $80,000 and divide by 0.04. Also, keep in mind that this strategy assumes a 5% return on your investments.

If you are like many adults, you have probably thought of taking an early retirement at some time in your life. If you are thinking about an early retirement, is it possible to retire on $500,000? Let’s do the math. Using the widely accepted financial rule of 4%, the $500,000 will allow you to access $20,000 for 30 years.

If you have saved and invested your money wisely, the $500,000 would last you 30 years, assuming a 4% withdrawal strategy, for $20,000 a year. Say you live to be 85 years old if you are in good health. If you wait until age 55 this strategy could work.

Key Takeaways

  • If you retire on less than $1 million it could affect your quality of life.
  • Retiring abroad in a country outside the US in a country in South America may be more affordable in the long-term.
  • Retiring before you reach 55 years will hinder you from your prime earning years that could potentially increase your Social Security benefits.

Ways To Become A Millionaire By Retirement

Would you like to retire and have the lifestyle that you already have, but you don’t have enough money to make it happen? In my opinion, $20,000 or even $40,000 is really not enough money to live on comfortably even if you live in a South America country. For instance, our family has been living for more than eight years in Colombia, South America, and the value of $20k to $40k is more or less equivalent to $80 to $100k in where we used to live in Charlotte, NC. The $80k to $100k in Charlotte, NC will pay your bills, but many people won’t have the vacation lifestyle that many are dreaming of. 

Who wants to have financial stress in retirement? As we all know, people are living longer in the last century than they ever did before and we need to plan for this to happen as well. If you want to have more sources of income, I have researched some of the best ways that you can increase your cash and have the kind of retirement that we all dream of.

Money Rules To Help You Reach $1 Million

If you are motivated, then follow these rules of how to be a millionaire by retirement:

  1. Become financially savvy. Learn as much as you can about money. Read websites and books about saving money, investing, generating multiple streams of income. Every piece of information will help to guide on your quest to become a millionaire.
  2. Live like you are poorer than you are. Be careful and frugal about things you buy on a daily basis. Be humble and don’t show off to your friends or on social media. Live in a modest house. Make your meals at home. That way when you do go out to a restaurant you can really enjoy it and also do so on a modest budget.
  3. Build an emergency fund. Start by saving a month’s worth of expenses. Then build toward having three to six months. Just be conscious and do not use this money for vacations. This fund can only be used for emergencies.
  4. Manage your debt. The less debt you have the quicker you’ll be able save and not have to pay off credit cards and other monthly debt bills. If you have credit cards, many of these have high interest rates. Pay off these credit cards as rapidly as possible. Certain kinds of debt like a home mortgage are necessary and can help you move ahead long-term. The key is to find a house that fits within through budget. 
  5. Save daily. Each week contribute to a savings account or a 401(k) account. Try to save at least 20% of your after tax income each year.

Extra Rules To Really Increase Wealth

  1. Invest in real estate. Make inflation your friend, not your enemy. Research areas that you are strongly interested in retiring to. My family moved to Colombia, South America. The big cities of Medellin and Bogota are beautiful and they are an outstanding places to retire. You will find that the prices are, by US standards, very reasonable and I could go far as to say cheap if you live in a major city in the US. For example, if the value of a property goes up 3% in a year due to inflation, that’s a 15% ROI. In addition, if you are from the US, take advantage of the ways you can avoid US taxes.
  2. Consider utilizing a conservative approach to value investing. If you think of the value stock market investors today, most likely you will think of Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and Charlie Munger, vice chairman, are value investors that only invest in a handful of the best value stocks. Take an in-depth look at what many consider to be the best passive income investment stock: Berkshire Hathaway B shares (BRK.B). Warren Buffett and his team and his successors have purchased and are continuously investing in the best value stocks so that you don’t have to. On top of that, Berkshire Hathaway has an incredible record for the last 55 years of 20.3% annual compound interest!  (link)
  3. Earn more money. First try to maximize the money that you make in your day job. For instance, ask for a pay increase, work overtime, or consider switching jobs and finding a more lucrative position. Look for side hustles that you can do. This could be anything from driving for Uber or Lyft to selling things online.

Increase Your Wealth

If you are the type of person who realizes that just because you reach a certain age you really don’t want to retire. Maybe you have seen other people retire and watched them lose all their energy. If you are one of these people, chances are you said to yourself, I don’t ever want that to happen to me.

If this is the case, then probably you have an entrepreneurial spirit. Rather than watch your retirement wealth decrease, you see the opposite. You want to increase your wealth in retirement. At Financial Goodness, we are the same way. We are entrepreneurs at heart.

Owning your own business means that you directly reap the benefits of all the hard work that you have put in. When you work for someone else, working harder does not necessarily mean more money in your pocket. As a business owner, you also build equity in your business. You are calling the shots. Basically, you can work on the things that are important and add more to the bottom line and ignore everything else.

Finally, I would like to share with you the millionaire behaviors that are directly from The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco. The ideas for starting a business that are listed below are the thoughts and behaviors that you need to have to achieve the millionaire mindset.

Ideas For Starting Your Our Business

  • Agency business models: flat-fee retainers to projects, performance-based pricing, and hybrids
  • Appliance Repair
  • Blogger
  • Coach
  • Computer Training
  • Consultant
  • Desktop Publisher
  • Digital marketing
  • E-commerce or online seller
  • Editorial Services
  • Electronics Repair
  • Financial Planner
  • Freelance Graphic Designer
  • Home Inspector
  • Import / Export Specialist
  • Interior Decorator
  • Marketing Copywriter
  • Personal Concierge
  • Personal Trainer
  • Photographer
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Solar Energy Consultant
  • Website Developer
  • YouTube video maker

Updated December 3, 2023:

The good news is this: after the COVID-19 coronavirus, the U.S. estimates that people working for themselves will increase to around 40%. What even better is that many of these ideas you can do from the comfort your computer in your home!

The Bottom Line For Success

Many of the steps to becoming a millionaire are not overly difficult. However, they do take hard work, discipline, time, and perseverance. But, it’s the emotional side that prevents many people from reaching the millionaire mark. Perhaps the most important two factors are time and perseverance. Without these two, new ideas and new businesses will struggle and possibly fail.

Make the decision to focus on your goal of how to be a millionaire by retirement and write down your plan of action. With your plan of action of the key steps you will have the confidence needed because you know exactly how to be a millionaire by retirement.

Then put in the work and you will be surprised at how your net worth grows over time from your multiple streams of income. Through the hard work, discipline, and through your preseverance you will be grateful at the end result you and your family have achieved.


Last Updated on December 16, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

George Alexander Roy III and our team are experts in helping you to seek wealth through investing and tips on how to succeed. Join us at FinancialGoodness.com to increase your knowledge and skills through education in the areas of personal finance; real estate; investments; digital marketing; comparison of the best states to form LLC’s and comporations; and the best AI app for increasing your fluency in English.

George has been an owner of a residential real estate investment business that focuses on wholesaling, fix & flip, and long-term buy-and-hold property strategies with a consistent increase of annual revenues. Undoubtedly, the tax laws in the United States and Colombia, South America offer some very favorable tax incentives for owning real estate.

Consequently, as an entrepreneur, researcher, writer, and speaker I have sought the truth in everything I do, no matter how difficult. Hopefully this value and service will help each person achieve their financial freedom sooner.

Generate More Wealth in the Next Two Years

Generate More Wealth. Photo credit: Unsplash. Thank you @morganhousel

Updated December 16, 2024. If you are worried about the world economy, you are not alone. We have watched as businesses and workers have struggled with the new regulations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I believe that the U.S. will generate more wealth in the next two years under President Joe Biden than in the previous decades combined.

As many know, we have just added more US debt to the economy than the debt of World War I and II together. With President Biden, you may be asking me why I would make such a bold statement on the future of the US and the world. For the most part, I believe that many factors are setting up nicely for you to generate more wealth in the next two years. Let’s take a look at those factors.

Biden Signs Stimulus

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. As he signed he said that the bill and the IRS will begin sending out payments as soon as the next day – Friday, March 12, 2021. 

All the markets in 2021 are going up. The Russell 2000 holds relative strength and is leading the indexes higher. Look at the other indexes in the stock market and in real estate. They are increasing rapidly because of inflation. But don’t be scared of rates yet. For this reason, I believe that this environment should be very favorable for stocks and other risk assets.

Rates Are Just Part of the Picture

If we examine the recent decline in the major indexes, we can see that the timing appears to coincide with a sharp increase in interest rates.

U.S. 10 Year Treasury. Photo credit: CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y?qfsearchterm=

Updated September 18, 2024. Finally, the Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate by a hefty half percentage point Wednesday, moving ahead with its first rate cut in four years and cheering markets that expected an emphatic move amid a softening jobs picture.

Updated June 22, 2022. On Wednesday, June 15, 2022 the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75%. This is the largest move the Fed has made since 1994. In the projections released after the meeting, the Fed expects to further raise interest rates to roughly 3.4% by the end of this year.

Watch Out For Volatility

However, numerous sources say it will not last. Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman Charlie Munger said on February 25, 2021, that the speculation in stocks will end badly. Furthermore, Morgan Stanley 2021 stock market outlook predicts that the market will see a lot more volatility in the second year of a new bull market that could be extremely unpleasant along the way.

US Printing Presses Doing Overtime

The US is constantly printing dollars with no end point target. In my opinion, ride it out for two years if possible. But be aware as long as the US money presses keep printing money everything will most likely rise. Likewise, if you feel you are missing out on a bull market and you want to get in, be careful and look at the technical analysis for each stock you invest in. Just remember that the market is most likely in a bubble in the long term it could be very unsustainable.

Everything I have just written above is true. But I understand your concerns if you are sceptical. If you pay attention to the news, they focus on negativity. Why do they focus on negativity? One simple reason: because it sells. 

Entrepreneurs: Rocket Up

However, in my opinion, people in the world, particularly in the US, these entrepreneurs and businessmen are just getting started. These people are launching new businesses, inventing new technologies, solving real world problems, and creating cutting-edge medicines. Previous generations would be astonished at our life in the 21st century.

I would argue that middle class Americans today are far better off than the wealthiest people from 100 years ago. For example, the middle class today have air conditioning, the internet, and medical care available every day. Travel is available if needed. As a result, I would say that the innovations the world has gone in the last 100 years have been breathtaking, to say the least. To clarify, I believe individuals will generate more wealth in the next two years. So let’s learn what people are doing so that you can increase your wealth as well.

Big Increases In Life Expectancy

The increase in life expectancy is amazing. More than one billion people have been lifted out of poverty. Take a look at the chart below of the increase in life expectancy that has happened in the past 150 years.

The increase in life expectancy has created the one thing that man cannot control and that is time. The addition of more time in a person’s life will have a dramatic effect. As a consequence, life expectancy will continue to increase the work output for individuals and for businesses. As a direct result, these individuals will see the opportunity that is presenting itself and generate more wealth in the next two years.

I believe the key here is time. If we increase the precious amount of time we have on Earth by twenty years to thirty years or more the results will be amazing. I say this because time has always been a limiting factor to bring things to fruition with businesses and technology. Please take a look at the chart below. Do you agree?

World Life Expectancy. Source: Riley, Clio Infra 2015, and UN Population Division 2019. Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#/media/File:Life_expectancy_by_world_region,_from_1770_to_2018.svg

Launching New Businesses

I believe that the U.S. will generate more wealth in the next two years. Let’s take a closer look at this exciting arena of launching new businesses, inventing new technologies, solving real world problems, and creating cutting-edge medicines.

Chart of Number of Business Establishments Less Than 1 Year Old in the U.S.:

Number of Business Establishments Less Than 1 Year Old in the U.S. 1994-2020. Photo credit: https://www.statista.com/statistics/235494/new-entrepreneurial-businesses-in-the-us/

Look at the number of new businesses happening now. In March 2020, there were 804,398 new businesses that were less than 1 year old. This is an increase from the March 2019 figure of 770,609.

Small Business Survival Rate

50% of small businesses survive 5 years or more, while only 25% make it to 15 years or more. 20% of new US businesses fail within their first two years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 45% fail during the first five years. 29% of small businesses failed because they ran out of money, while 17% failed due to a lack of sound business model and poor product offering.

In general, the small business success rate depends on a number of factors. One of the most important factors is to be passionate about your business. Then set goals and plan ahead. But always keep your mind open to new ideas.

The most essential plan of action is to do these three things very rigorously: budget carefully, be disciplined, and focus on the needs of your customers. By realizing this awesome opportunity to generate wealth and doing these necessary steps, you increase the chances of taking your startup business and growing it into a $1 million+ company.

Technology And Innovations

We all know about the astounding growth of technology companies. Elon Musk is perhaps one of the great innovators of all time. In the last year, from 2020 to 2021, Tesla stock has risen more than seven times. Intuitive Surgical is another one. In 2004 Intuitive was $6 a share. Now it is more $700 a share in 2021. If you bought these stocks they are awesome gains to have in your portfolio.

But the secret is to find these technology companies when they are just getting started. If you look at the real builders meaning the innovators, the entrepreneurs you will find that innovation is accelerating faster every day. For example, when the microprocessor first came out in 1971 it could hold about 2,000 transistors. However, now in 2021, the microprocessor can have more than 39 billion!

Prediction: U.S. Will Generate Great Wealth

I believe that the U.S. will generate more wealth in the next two years under President Joe Biden than in the previous decades combined. If you are not sure where to look, I highly suggest real estate. Billionaire Andrew Carnegie famously said that 90% of millionaires got their wealth by investing in real estate.

Also, if you haven’t read my blog on the How To Be A Millionaire By Retirement (and possibly work from home) check it out.

James 1:5 NLT

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.


Last Updated on December 16, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

George Alexander Roy III and our team are experts in helping you to seek wealth through investing and tips on how to succeed. Join us at FinancialGoodness.com to increase your knowledge and skills through education in the areas of personal finance; real estate; investments; digital marketing; comparison of the best states to form LLC’s and comporations; and the best AI app for increasing your fluency in English.

George has been an owner of a residential real estate investment business that focuses on wholesaling, fix & flip, and long-term buy-and-hold property strategies with a consistent increase of annual revenues. Undoubtedly, the tax laws in the United States and Colombia, South America offer some very favorable tax incentives for owning real estate.

Consequently, as an entrepreneur, researcher, writer, and speaker I have sought the truth in everything I do, no matter how difficult. Hopefully this value and service will help each person achieve their financial freedom sooner.