Millionaires... how?

racing_blue

If you (or your friend) have a net worth of over £1m: how and when did you (they) get there? I'm wondering about ways to skin the rabbit. Broad brush strokes would be OK. Thanks.

Net worth = however you define it.

CKhalvashi

In 99% of cases, you'll need luck and a lot of hard work.....

Thrugelmir

Hard work. Manage finances sensibly.

TheTracker

Work for yourself and invest in yourself, the return on risk is far better than the stock market. Understand risk. Manage spending. Manage saving.
Hard work is overrated - humble opinion.

nubbins

gearing, property, own company

Linton

Its not too difficult for a moderately well paid couple perhaps with employer contributing to pension. Investing £15K/year with a 5.5% return gets you £1M in 29 years. Start after university at say 22, retire at 51.

jimjames

Start small, start early. Investment long term pays off thanks to the magic of compounding.

ChesterDog

In my case, a lot of luck and a lot of very (very!) hard work.

My wife and I bought a struggling business for £30k (which was pretty much every penny we had) and sold it about twenty years later for £600k.

Neither of us likes shopping, spending or consumerism (well, except for cars..,) and by the time we sold the business we had built up £200k in savings, had no mortgage and had decent private pension funds.

The financial crisis set us back about £200k, which was a very nasty shock considering we had only just sold up, having decided we had enough to live on.

Good, diversified investments put us back on track.

We don't like borrowing. We did so to keep the business afloat at the start, and it very nearly finished us. So we avoided gearing, and don't borrow. We never even utilised business grants of any sort: our mindset is that we are responsible for ourselves and we will sink or swim by our own efforts.

We kept our staff happy and well-rewarded and our customers likewise. For many years, that left my wife and I with very little to show for our effort, but it focussed our minds on hanging onto money if and when it appeared.

So... luck, hard work, sound financial decisions, relative frugality, self-determination, and a clear focus on financial security and independence.

ChesterDog

...but if I was to go round again...

I wouldn't work so ridiculously hard.

I would try to make as much use as possible of investing early and leaving it to grow and compound.

jimjames

I think there are far more millionaires than you'd expect if you're not defining it as cash or liquid assets. If I include pension and house I'd be a millionaire but it doesn't feel like it and I still drive a £500 car although I do have substantial investments as well.

mike88

Many people in my road have retired here after making a fortune on selling their London properties. They sell their houses for a couple of million and buy here for £500000 and get a larger house into the bargain. Children will eventually inherit their parent's wealth. Being a millionaire these days is not such a big deal and I dare say quite a few of us on here could realise assets to in excess of that value when property, pensions, savings and shares are taken into account.