Best way for a normal person to become a multimillionaire?

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Seb Low wrote:

Have thrifty parents that bought a single family home for 50k back in 1955, 40 years later that same home is worth 375k, parents made great investments and never touched the money and you be an only child.........you will inherit a lot of cash from parents and if you want to throw in the fact you had a sucessful uncle that never married and leaves a portion of his estate.....worked for me.....I made 80k next year/wife close to 70k and will retire by 40 (5 years from now)a multi-millionaire.....ready to travel the world....

That's great, but let's not get carried away with the housing investment. 50k in 1955 was 419k CPI-adjusted in 2012, and the housing market has in general out-performed inflation, so in real terms the value of the house has depreciated.

Assuming that "normal" means that you don't have rich parents or have an incredible talent that a good profession could use. The only decent way is to win the lottery and then make smart investments. The only other ways, as was said before, involve very questionable ethics and might land you in jail.

Just going to be honest wrote:

Taking professional sports and acting out of the equation.

What is the best way for a "normal" person to increase their net worth to over 100 million?

If obtaining money was your 'One' goal in life how would you, personally go about it?

*As others have said, 100MM is a lot.

*Do you think that for you there is no other pathway to peace and happiness? Not trying to discourage you from trying, just perhaps suggesting you may be missing out by being nothing but a dreamer.

If my goal were 1-10M, I would go corporate law for like 10 years, then move into the legal team at a big investment bank. I figure it would be easier to turn 10 into 100 but the truth is 100 is so out there I think you need to inherit it or be extremely gifted as a manager or investor, or have a brilliant idea. I don't have any brilliant ideas.

So true....had a friend that hit up grnadma when he was in his 20's afetr college. Invested in NIKE and Hyde(Saucony) when they went public in the 80's. I don't think he has worked much in 20 years. you also need to set up a trust so yu don't pay taxes.

I know of a guy that made over a 100 million from nothing by simply adding colored dyes to things. It all started with spraying weeds in soybean fields. This guy created a dye to put in herbicide so when a farmer sprayed a weed the farmer could see that he had sprayed it. This dye is now used to color bulch and every PGA golf course on the Tour. He was a college student when he came up with the idea.

I run advertising on Google and there are a ton of ways to make money online. I have several clients who run websites grossing well over a million a year doing very simple things. One guy owns about 12 coupon sites where you print coupons out. The internet has the lowest barrier to entry to make money but you have to know what youre doing.

Facebook is having their IPO next week. Marry one of their employees, your an instant multi-millionaire!

I am, work with, and know a lot of these people. Here are my thoughts:

1. Super-rich people typically start their own business and it becomes successful. This takes competence, luck, and a good idea.

2. Most other really rich people are involved in finance, typically hedge funds or private equity. But banking and regular investment management can also be a pathway. Being successful here takes competence and luck, but not necessarily any brilliant ideas. Best way to get started is a top-tier business school, but there are so many people who want to do this and only a small fraction will be successful.

3. Being a CEO or other C-suite member of a large and successful company can lead you there. IMO this requires extreme luck, competence, and some factors beyond your control. For example, you are more likely to become the CEO of a company like this if you are a tall male. If you are a short woman you are more or less screwed.

4. You could become a doctor or dentist or something like this and just be frugal for a number of years. If you are pulling in $500k and saving a third or more, you will get there eventually. This is probably the only pathway that does not require much luck, but still requires a lot of competence.

5. Marry it.

I'm sure there are more ways (someone mentioned high priced attorney). Anyway, the theme here is you need some combination of competence and luck. More of one means you need less of the other. Here is my example:

- Engineering degree from an average large state university. I was 3rd in my class. (competence)

- MBA from a very top business school. I was first in my class. (competence)

- Went to work for a large investment management company as an intern (luck to get the job since interviewing is quite random IMO). Performed well in the internship and got a full-time offer (competence). At the end of my summer a member of a very successful team quit suddenly and I went after his role (luck/timing). That team subsequently grew the assets it managed by a large amount, which was partly luck/timing with the asset class and also skill on the part of the portfolio manager I worked for (luck on my part).

- Said portfolio manager got a promotion as a result of his good work, which opened the door for me to takeover some of his responsibilities (more luck).

- I have performed at a very high level, making a lot of money for our clients and have consequently seen my compensation grow significantly (competence).

By definition, a normal person can't become a multimillionaire. You must start abnormal or be lucky.

ScottEvil wrote:

If my goal were 1-10M, I would go corporate law for like 10 years, then move into the legal team at a big investment bank.

There are a lot of easier ways to make money than going into law.

That's pretty sweet, Jimmy. I had no idea a gas station could be that profitable. What's the margin/gallon? How many customers do you serve in an average day?

yes: be lucky, ruthless & sociopathic

Hi there Messrs. Gates, Jobs, Chandler, Rockefeller, Kennedy, Bulger etc

law abiding people don't get rich

Unless you inherit the money, you have to have some amount of talent, or be extremely lucky. Assuming you are smart (not a genius but able to squeeze in to an ivy league caliber school) and have reasonable social skills, the highest probability path to $100mm is finance. The least risky way in finance would be corporate finance investment banking--if you devote yourself entirely to the firm, there is a good chance you'll keep moving up, until you make $2-$3mm a year. If you are really good at your job, you could make $5mm or more, although, numerically, few people do. If you make $2-$3mm for 20+ years and invest it reasonable well, you have a decent shot of having $100mm by the time you die. Also in finance, you could move into private equity or a hedge fund, but you generally need to be smarter for that, and there is more risk. However, you can often make more, earlier.

Other ways of doing it obviously, but most require significant luck, and the average person who takes that path doesn't do very well (eg. working for a tech startup)

Don't have kids, be cheap, and hoard and invest your money.

Humanity will drive itself to extinction within 50-75 years so just start drinking.

Wait for the coming hyperinflation. $100M will be middle class.

Stay away from women...