Meet the Automatic Millionaires
David Bach The Automatic Millionaire has a very nice article over at his Yahoo column on a couple who have over 2 million in assets yet have never made more than $40,000.00 each. It just goes to show you that it’s not how much money you make but how much money you keep. Here is the link to the article and the 4 secrets to their success.
1. Looks Can Be Deceiving — You don’t have to look rich to be rich. There was nothing fancy about the McIntyres. Jim wore an 18-year-old Timex and they were happy to drive their Ford Taurus.
The same day they came to my office, I had a man come in who was driving a new Porsche, wearing a gold Rolex, living in a million dollar home with an $800,000 mortgage. He had less than $100,000 in savings and $75,000 in credit card debt. On the outside he looked rich and successful, but he was far from it.
The McIntyres weren’t trying to impress anybody. They focused on putting their money to work for them, rather than having it on display.
2. Set Priorities — Early in their marriage their parents told them they had a choice: Work all their lives and live paycheck to paycheck like most people or learn to make their money work for them and really enjoy their lives.
How would they do that? Simple. Every time they earned a dollar, they would pay themselves first. Before any bill was paid, they socked away money for retirement, their home, investing, and more.
3. Sweat the Small Stuff — The McIntyres saw their friends splurge on decorating their apartments and eating out every day, but they didn’t follow the crowd. They watched spending, even on the “small stuff.”
They both stopped smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and the money saved helped fund their house down payment. They called it the “Cigarette Factor.” Today, I call it the “Latte Factor.”
4. Cash Only — Their parents taught them never to buy on credit — no matter how big the purchase. The one exception: A home. Even then the McIntyres paid their mortgage every two weeks instead of monthly. In addition, they would regularly throw in extra money and wound up paying off their home in their 30s. With the freed up money they bought another house, following the same pay early system. If they did use a credit card, they paid the balance off the same month.
Read the the entire article here.
Regards
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Great tips and very helpful, as always! But, could you go into more detail about paying yourself first? I never understand why and how this is beneficial? Any resources you could point me into?
Russel,
This article at the About.com network explains Why you should pay yourself first.
http://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/personalfinance1/a/051701a.htm
Regards
This post remind me of a commercial. Do you remember one where there is a guy riding one of those lawn mowers, and he said he has a huge house, three cars, kids go to great schools, great accessories in his garage, etc… and he is “up to his eyes in debt.” He says he’s so happy, and ask for us to save him.
You probably don’t remember it however I thought it was a good laugh. It is a sad reality that many people are in tremendous debt; I hope I never go down that road. Just one thing, imagine how rich creditors and credit card companies are. One word, “wow.”
Alexander,
I do remember the commercial. Thought it’s funny the sad part is I know people just like that. They drive an SUV, have a huge house, all the toys you could imagine. But they would be hard pressed to take a day off without pay, as they need every penny to pay their debt every month.
I used to be like that, but I have learned my lesson.
Regards