How to Become a Millionaire by 30, Entrepreneur

Follow these ten steps to get -- and stay -- rich during the earliest stage of your career. 

How to Become a Millionaire by 30, Entrepreneur.com

Grant Cardone

International Sales Expert & $1.78B Real Estate Fund Manager

   

March 6, 2019 4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It's taboo to talk about getting rich and becoming a millionaire. And claiming that it can be accomplished by the age of 30 seems like a pipe dream.

It shouldn't be considered taboo, and it is doable. I dropped out of college at the age of 21, broke and in debt. I was a millionaire by the time I was 30.

Here are the 10 steps I took to become a millionaire. Follow them and by age 30, you will be one, too.

Follow the money.

You can't save your way to becoming a millionaire. The first stage is to concentrate on incrementally growing your revenue and then repeating that process. My monthly salary increased from $3,000 to $20,000 in nine years. Begin following the money, and you'll be forced to manage revenue and spot opportunities.

Don’t show off -- show up!

I didn't buy my first luxury watch or automobile until my businesses and assets were generating many consistent streams of revenue. When I became a millionaire, I was still driving a Toyota Camry. Be renowned for your work ethic rather than the things you purchase.

Save to invest, don’t save to save.

The only reason to save money is to put it into the stock market. Place your hard-earned cash in safe, sacrosanct (untouchable) accounts. Never, not even in an emergency, utilise these accounts. This will make you stick to step one, which is to raise your revenue. I am broke at least twice a year because I always invest my surpluses in ventures that I am unable to access.

Avoid debt that doesn’t increase your cash flow.

Make it a rule to never employ debt that does not generate income. I only took out a loan for a car because I thought it would help me earn more money. Debt is used by the wealthy to leverage their investments and increase cash flow. Poor people borrow money to acquire goods that make wealthy people wealthy.

Treat money like a jealous lover.

Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who loves it more!

Outwork your competition.

Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays -- and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person -- just make sure you outwork everyone.

Being poor makes no sense.

I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough to get by, and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow okay. Go to war with being broke! To quote General George S. Patton, “Success is how you bounce on the bottom.”

Get a millionaire mentor.

Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have studied millionaires to learn their mindset and principles and I duplicated what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.

Get your money to do the heavy lifting.

The golden goose for becoming a millionaire is investing. You should be able to earn more money from your investments than you do from your job. A $50,000 investment was necessary for the second business I launched. For the past ten years, that corporation has repaid me $50,000 every month. Real estate was my third investment. I began with $350,000, which represented a significant portion of my total worth at the time. I still own the property, and it continues to generate revenue for me. The only reason to take the other steps is to invest, and your money must work for you and do the heavy lifting.

Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million.

My single biggest financial blunder was failing to think big enough. I strongly advise you to go for more than a million dollars. There is no scarcity of money on our globe; rather, there is a scarcity of people who dream big enough.

These ten steps will make you wealthy if you follow them. Avoid persons who say that your financial goals are motivated by greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and if you've achieved your goals, be willing to help others achieve theirs as well.