I have a few friends in my same age group who are certifiably worth over a million dollars.
Some are millionaires on paper only (you know, real estate equity, business valuations, etc.), and some actually have deposits in various financial institutions that total a million dollars or more.
With but one exception, none of the millionaires I know actually set out with the goal of becoming a millionaire.
The majority of them just did things early in life that led them to millionairedom - all of them bought their first homes in their twenties (and most of them actually still live in those first homes), all of them have avoided job-hopping, all of them have had steady personal relationships with minimal disruption, and very importantly, all of them have been lucky enough to not have fallen victim to debilitating addictions or illnesses - and all of them have grown old gracefully.
None of the people I know in my age group who are not millionaires did any of those things or were that lucky (including me). Causation? I don't know, but certainly those factors can't be overlooked.
I always had the idea that being a millionaire was something special, but to a person, each and every one of the millionaires I know has told me being a millionaire doesn't feel special at all.
Maybe that's due to inflation, or maybe that's due to the slow, gradual nature of the accumulation (no one I know has won the lottery or suddenly became a millionaire in some other fashion).
All I am sure of is that if you told me twenty years ago that the majority of my friends (or any of my family members) would one day be millionaires, I would have laughed in your face.
As it is, one morning last week I sat down to breakfast at a small, average/semi-nice restaurant with five of my friends and I was the only one who could not claim millionaire status.
Kinda weirded me out.
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