Thread: Describe what being a "Millionaire" feels like.

I have never had $1MM cash.

I was worth a little bit more than $1MM for some time, before my RE deals crashed big time.

Just like in the Cashflow board game, one deal put me there, although temporarily.

For a few years I was doing OK with RE deals. Basically, SFH that I would buy and sell, just like a few thousand of others during the RE boom.

At some point I realized I was not providing value and went for a different type of deal.

At that time, I worked out a deal that was very interesting.

It was a house sitting on a huge piece of land (well, huge for the area it was... 7.5 acres).

At the time builders were desperate for land.

And I got my hands on such property.

Secured the deal (cost me like $50K to get it under control).

Worked the paperwork to legally split it in 7 1-acre lots, or 14 .5-acre lots.

And then, at the same time, found a buyer.

The property was worth around $350K (it was an ugly house).

I negotiated a deal with the buyers, this building company that had a plan for a small residential community. They agreed to buy all lots for $1.4MM.

Contract was signed.

Financing was being arraigned.

The next morning, after signing the deal, it just hit me.

I had just made $1MM in one deal.

Wow.

I was shocked.

I smiled all day long. And it was the same for the next couple of weeks.

Suddenly, stress settled in. I was worried cause things were taking longer than expected.

However, in my mind, I felt a lot of excitement. And pride. I had reached a great goal.

The world was mine to have.

For 3 or 4 weeks, I was a paper millionaire.

The dream ended when the financing institution came down crashing. The lending market tightened and then simply disappeared, in a matter of what seemed like two days.

And there I was, with those $50K lost. No buyers in sight. And then all started to go wrong. Renters stopped paying rent and some damaged the properties.

Cash disappeared very quickly.

Lines of credits were closing very fast.

Before I knew it, I was insolvent.

The dream became a nightmare. I had put all my eggs in this basket, and thought I had it under control. Leverage, the same thing that had made me a paper millionaire, took me down very fast.

But how I felt then is another story and not the topic of this thread.

So yeah, it was cool, exciting and scary to think you are worth $1MM.

There were a lot of lessons learned, but I can tell you that:

I simply stop caring about prices for any restaurant

I started thinking a lot about how to replicate this 'success' to keep growing the business (I admit it, I was having a blast doing what I was doing)

I started to think how to help others, especially close family

I was scared... what if I lose everything? who will I be if I am poor? Will people still like me? (and you will find out, most won't )

That is all I can think of for now...

Thanks for posting this -- it is a very enlightening and informative read.

I do not have a million dollars right now/yet; in fact far from it but my thoughts are as though I was a millionaire and that makes me feel very rich.

For me a million dollars in the bank just means being able to do my dreams and visions, launch my entities and help people who have demonstrated they are worthy of my time and finances. It will feel like being on vacation, working on my entities, and never having to go back to work. That is what I am striving for -- I want to make the flip.

I am thrilled about where I am now because to give a thousand dollars to someone in need is no big deal today and just a little over a year ago I had nothing, much less to even begin to give one thousand bucks and as it turned out, it was all a plan.

You see, for me to get where I am now I had to trade (lose) all that I had and today (not literally) I will get that back and more.

I used to be impressed and dreamed of riches and fame. Today it is not a motivation.

I know what to do now and as long as I do it and keep doing what got me here I will get my dream -- guranteed!

In fact, I am trying my hardest to avoid the fame that is sure to come but as someone said earlier, if you strive for exellence then wealth will come if you don't quit -- so now I am happy shouting from the bushes because I have no desire to be recognized or be known but I know after a while I will not be able to hide anymore.

To sum it up, as I perceive it, (I may be wrong) one is ALREADY rich, millionaire or otherwise when they finally do see all those zeros behind the first digit.

My heart goes out to those who are not millionaires already in their mind set and spirit when it does come.

If nothing else, I am very thankful that I am rich in heart and spirit now, and as a result I can take this pitch... then I will hit it out of the park instead of being destroyed by it or worse, miss the chance to spank that ball to high heavens.

I will show you... watch and see soon.

Aha. I found an article entitled 10 things millionaires won't tell you, which explains a little why none described what it felt like to become one.

Frugal Tip Monday-10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

I just want to be brave and say something about what Millionaire Fastlane brought to light for me.

In chapter 20 when MJ discusses "the best passive income venue in existence" I had to stop reading for a few days to figure out what my number was for retirement. I am pleased to announce that that number is 6 million dollars. If I receive a 5% return that means I have $300,000 annually to live on. $25,000 per month , $5,769.23 per week and $824 per day to take care of my needs, without touching any of my principle.

I realize that 6 million is no walk in the park but I think it's reachable. But of course that's not where I would stop it would just be nice to know I could if I wanted too

Originally Posted by Yussef

Aha. I found an article entitled 10 things millionaires won't tell you, which explains a little why none described what it felt like to become one.

Frugal Tip Monday-10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

That article is junk.

At least the top 10 list is...the rebuttal at the bottom of the article is decent.

My favorite line is:
"Also, high-income earners pay Social Security tax only on their first $106,800 of income"

Are they kidding? This is now an example of 'the rich' avoiding taxes??? Do they understand that Social Security isn't meant to be a tax, but was created to provide security for you when you're of retirement age?

Social Security is a joke, and now it's being painted as some kind of tax loophole for the rich? Gimme a break!

Ok, sorry for the tangent. Back on topic.

I get the feeling a lot of the examples in that list apply more to the millionaire next door, as opposed to fastlane. Frugality is a next door millionaire type thing...not to be confused with living within ones means.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Hambone

That article is junk.

At least the top 10 list is...the rebuttal at the bottom of the article is decent.

My favorite line is:
"Also, high-income earners pay Social Security tax only on their first $106,800 of income"

Are they kidding? This is now an example of 'the rich' avoiding taxes??? Do they understand that Social Security isn't meant to be a tax, but was created to provide security for you when you're of retirement age?

Social Security is a joke, and now it's being painted as some kind of tax loophole for the rich? Gimme a break!

Ok, sorry for the tangent. Back on topic.

I get the feeling a lot of the examples in that list apply more to the millionaire next door, as opposed to fastlane. Frugality is a next door millionaire type thing...not to be confused with living within ones means.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I didn't agree with everything in it either but there were some points I did. I just wanted to see which ones were valid to the millionaires here.

Originally Posted by andviv

I have never had $1MM cash.

I was worth a little bit more than $1MM for some time, before my RE deals crashed big time.

Just like in the Cashflow board game, one deal put me there, although temporarily.

For a few years I was doing OK with RE deals. Basically, SFH that I would buy and sell, just like a few thousand of others during the RE boom.

At some point I realized I was not providing value and went for a different type of deal.

At that time, I worked out a deal that was very interesting.

It was a house sitting on a huge piece of land (well, huge for the area it was... 7.5 acres).

At the time builders were desperate for land.

And I got my hands on such property.

Secured the deal (cost me like $50K to get it under control).

Worked the paperwork to legally split it in 7 1-acre lots, or 14 .5-acre lots.

And then, at the same time, found a buyer.

The property was worth around $350K (it was an ugly house).

I negotiated a deal with the buyers, this building company that had a plan for a small residential community. They agreed to buy all lots for $1.4MM.

Contract was signed.

Financing was being arraigned.

The next morning, after signing the deal, it just hit me.

I had just made $1MM in one deal.

Wow.

I was shocked.

I smiled all day long. And it was the same for the next couple of weeks.

Suddenly, stress settled in. I was worried cause things were taking longer than expected.

However, in my mind, I felt a lot of excitement. And pride. I had reached a great goal.

The world was mine to have.

For 3 or 4 weeks, I was a paper millionaire.

The dream ended when the financing institution came down crashing. The lending market tightened and then simply disappeared, in a matter of what seemed like two days.

And there I was, with those $50K lost. No buyers in sight. And then all started to go wrong. Renters stopped paying rent and some damaged the properties.

Cash disappeared very quickly.

Lines of credits were closing very fast.

Before I knew it, I was insolvent.

The dream became a nightmare. I had put all my eggs in this basket, and thought I had it under control. Leverage, the same thing that had made me a paper millionaire, took me down very fast.

But how I felt then is another story and not the topic of this thread.

So yeah, it was cool, exciting and scary to think you are worth $1MM.

There were a lot of lessons learned, but I can tell you that:

I simply stop caring about prices for any restaurant

I started thinking a lot about how to replicate this 'success' to keep growing the business (I admit it, I was having a blast doing what I was doing)

I started to think how to help others, especially close family

I was scared... what if I lose everything? who will I be if I am poor? Will people still like me? (and you will find out, most won't )

That is all I can think of for now...

Wow. Thanks for your truth Andiv. I dabbled in real estate a little as well had a couple of deals where I walked away with 6 figures but let me tell you it was stressful keeping the deals together even with very strong buyers. My last deal almost fell apart because the buyer's underwriter (recommended by an inexperienced re broker) tried to change the LTV on them at the last minute so I had to pull some strings to call on a favor from a finance manager to close a 960k deal in 2 weeks. I don't like that kind of stress. But MJ asked a question on page 127 in his book about paper valuation and whether you are truly a millionaire if you have a company worth 60m but only have 10k in the bank. The answer was interesting.

I want to start off and say that I'm not a millionaire and I don't really plan on being one. But sometimes things don't go as planned. That number was never important to me.

However, I did have an oh shit moment. When I was driving my 360 back from LA, I did say to myself, Shit I own a Ferrari. Maybe that's the same feeling others get at $1M. Sometimes that still happens to me when I look at the center of my steering wheel while I drive it.

$1M is just a number. You hear this all the time but I'm going to say it again. If you are unhappy without $1M, you will still be unhappy with $1M. I was happy without the Ferrari and still happy with it. You take it away from me tomorrow and I'll be the same.

I think that if you just get to $1M, nothing in your life changes. I know that if you handed me a check for $1M today, I'd deposit it and nothing about my life would change, except that I may pay down some of my mortgages. It's not (as MJ says) a life changing amount. If you think it may drastically alter your life, then you may be on the path like the broke lottery winners you always hear about.

However, if you handed me a check for $10M, that's a different story. I would probably purchase an additional property and another car. My daily life would probably change in some way.

Question is how are you going to get the 5%? I been thinking about 3 to 8 million then putting in CD but the CD aren't even giving 3%.

Originally Posted by Yussef

Aha. I found an article entitled 10 things millionaires won't tell you, which explains a little why none described what it felt like to become one.

Frugal Tip Monday-10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

I just want to be brave and say something about what Millionaire Fastlane brought to light for me.

In chapter 20 when MJ discusses "the best passive income venue in existence" I had to stop reading for a few days to figure out what my number was for retirement. I am pleased to announce that that number is 6 million dollars. If I receive a 5% return that means I have $300,000 annually to live on. $25,000 per month , $5,769.23 per week and $824 per day to take care of my needs, without touching any of my principle.

I realize that 6 million is no walk in the park but I think it's reachable. But of course that's not where I would stop it would just be nice to know I could if I wanted too

Originally Posted by biophase

I want to start off and say that I'm not a millionaire and I don't really plan on being one. But sometimes things don't go as planned. That number was never important to me.

However, I did have an oh shit moment. When I was driving my 360 back from LA, I did say to myself, Shit I own a Ferrari. Maybe that's the same feeling others get at $1M. Sometimes that still happens to me when I look at the center of my steering wheel while I drive it.

$1M is just a number. You hear this all the time but I'm going to say it again. If you are unhappy without $1M, you will still be unhappy with $1M. I was happy without the Ferrari and still happy with it. You take it away from me tomorrow and I'll be the same.



I think that if you just get to $1M, nothing in your life changes. I know that if you handed me a check for $1M today, I'd deposit it and nothing about my life would change, except that I may pay down some of my mortgages. It's not (as MJ says) a life changing amount. If you think it may drastically alter your life, then you may be on the path like the broke lottery winners you always hear about.

However, if you handed me a check for $10M, that's a different story. I would probably purchase an additional property and another car. My daily life would probably change in some way.

That's some powerful feedback Bio. I am hearing the same thing more and more about the 1 million dollar figure so lets up the ante and say whatever million dollar figure represents wealth and made you feel like you had achieved something epic. I agree with the unhappiness theory as well, but also believe the reverse to be true, that if I am happy now I will still be happy with $1m in my account, I just think the two compliment one another very well.

Most of the time the only cure for unhappiness and depression are therapy and medication (I used to own a mental health agency) but I hear so many people equate money with unhappiness, and I know your not doing that, but a large part of society does. They give you examples of stars that have committed suicide, broken marriages, scandals yadda yadda yadda but for every example they can give of the wealthy I can give them 10 examples of the non wealthy going through similar or worse situations. You just don't hear about it because they aren't famous and the news didn't cover it every hour on the hour.

I truly believe that those that truly want to become wealthy must be careful not to sabotage their success. I agree with 100% of what you said if you believe that to be your truth, but you started your post with "I want to start off and say that I'm not a millionaire and I don't really plan on being one" and that concerned me. I had to read further to get a better understanding but I respect and appreciate your input.

One more thing, I agree $1m is just a number but you have to get to 1m before you get to 5m or 10m and so on. $1m is not my ultimate goal but it represents the hard fact to me that when I look at my bank statement; my efforts, thoughts, creativity, spent energy and mistakes have resulted in me accomplishing something that only 5% of other Americans have done. Save 1 million dollars and that means something to me.

Kudos on the Ferrari I went to the dealership 3 weeks ago to look at that yellow spider and I had to leave because I started drooling on it

Trying to get a friend to come on and share his story and feelings he has a pretty good story.

I realized I was a millionaire one day while driving in the car with my wife. I told her and her reply was something like oh that's nice.

Really to me there wasn't a difference between being a 500K or 800K or millionaire. Now being a multimillionaire was 'cool' to think of for a few minutes but that was about all.

I used to get all my clothes at Walmart and now get some at Target. I now tip 20 - 25% minimum. I buy $25 gift cert for the guys who do the lawn maintenance, I give a few thousand a month in products to USA troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I offer to pay for my nephews, nieces, sisters etc to come and visit. I splurged and got the injectors cleaned on my 2007 Honday Fit with 183,000 miles on it.

Besides those changes I don't think I have done much different.

183k on an 07 holy hell!!!


To answer the ops question... I have a rather large inheritance from my dad that I do not spend. It was larger than I first anticipated in my first ever post here. So it doesnt change anything except my willingness to take a few more risks knowing that if something really bad happened I could get myself out of the hole. I want to be my own man, not someone that lives dads money.

I do not consider myself rich because it wasnt my doing. My goal to be a liquid millionare by 25 is totally independent of his money. I dont feel any different than any other entrepreneur in the midst of startup frenzy trying to attack my business at all angles and make ends meet. Things are looking very promising though.

Just goes to show you what the slowlane can do. Probably the most funloving guy out there gets cancer at 50 and hangs on for 3 years. Made good money but penny pinched his entire life.

He had more potential, but grew up in a world of loyalty to companies and 401k crap. Miss him, its only been 2 years.

Originally Posted by Yussef

I agree with 100% of what you said if you believe that to be your truth, but you started your post with "I want to start off and say that I'm not a millionaire and I don't really plan on being one" and that concerned me. I had to read further to get a better understanding but I respect and appreciate your input.

What I basically mean is that if I end up with $1M in the bank, then that means that somewhere along the way I did not do all the things I fully wanted to do due to money. However, if I am able to do everything that I want to do and still end up with $1M in the bank, then I'm fine with it.

I'm not at that level, but my company probably has a value of quite a bit over $1m. More so if I land a deal I'm working on which is worth about $3.2 built out and sold.

Its just a number, I enjoy what I do. Heck, let me see I have $110kish cash on hand right now in the company check book.

IMHO having a mill in the bank is a waste of good money, you could be out doing deals with that money! I'd view it as a big problem, it would mean I'm not finding enough good deals.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

I realized I was a millionaire one day while driving in the car with my wife. I told her and her reply was something like oh that's nice.

Really to me there wasn't a difference between being a 500K or 800K or millionaire. Now being a multimillionaire was 'cool' to think of for a few minutes but that was about all.

I used to get all my clothes at Walmart and now get some at Target. I now tip 20 - 25% minimum. I buy $25 gift cert for the guys who do the lawn maintenance, I give a few thousand a month in products to USA troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I offer to pay for my nephews, nieces, sisters etc to come and visit. I splurged and got the injectors cleaned on my 2007 Honday Fit with 183,000 miles on it.

Besides those changes I don't think I have done much different.

Wow. That's funny P. But does the sense of security make life feel just a tad bit different than say when you had a couple of thousand in the bank?

Originally Posted by Kak

183k on an 07 holy hell!!!


To answer the ops question... I have a rather large inheritance from my dad that I do not spend. It was larger than I first anticipated in my first ever post here. So it doesnt change anything except my willingness to take a few more risks knowing that if something really bad happened I could get myself out of the hole. I want to be my own man, not someone that lives dads money.

I do not consider myself rich because it wasnt my doing. My goal to be a liquid millionare by 25 is totally independent of his money. I dont feel any different than any other entrepreneur in the midst of startup frenzy trying to attack my business at all angles and make ends meet. Things are looking very promising though.

Just goes to show you what the slowlane can do. Probably the most funloving guy out there gets cancer at 50 and hangs on for 3 years. Made good money but penny pinched his entire life.

He had more potential, but grew up in a world of loyalty to companies and 401k crap. Miss him, its only been 2 years.

Your awesome KAK I am sure dad was a great guy who obviously loved his son and whether you are totally independent of his money or not you are you and that by itself makes you your own man in my book, inheritance or not. Your dad planned ahead to give you a head start and you should wear that badge with pride. I wish my dad would've followed the same game plan instead I had to make a lot of big costly mistakes to finally find the right path late in my thirties. Do your thing.

Originally Posted by hatterasguy

I'm not at that level, but my company probably has a value of quite a bit over $1m. More so if I land a deal I'm working on which is worth about $3.2 built out and sold.

Its just a number, I enjoy what I do. Heck, let me see I have $110kish cash on hand right now in the company check book.

IMHO having a mill in the bank is a waste of good money, you could be out doing deals with that money! I'd view it as a big problem, it would mean I'm not finding enough good deals.

After reading your post I realized that I should have said "access to a million" un-borrowed or something to emphasize liquidity not money just sitting around idle. Funny thing is I have owned several pieces of property at once and I didn't feel wealthy at all. Not even close that may be due to the fact that I did not follow the 5x gross annual rent rule. I love commercial and multi family property though and someday would love to start a REIT consisting of Class A commercial with a group of other business owners. I used to really love the challenge of finding ways around the bank, it gave me a rush to know I put together a deal without personally having to go to the bank for anything. That is the part that I really enjoy.

Originally Posted by Yussef

Wow. That's funny P. But does the sense of security make life feel just a tad bit different than say when you had a couple of thousand in the bank?

oh yes indeed is certainly does.

I do not ever remember stressing over not having enough money to pay the bills. That means either I didn't stress, I have a short memory or I was an idiot lol

But what it has done for me is if I awake in the middle of the night and think about something I have to pay such as property taxes, or if the car breaks down you just think oh thank you God for letting me be so fortunate to have financial success and have plenty of money in the bank. And I roll back over and go to sleep.

So yes you are right it does feel so much more secure.