Author: Parker Wagner

To become a millionaire you need to be making money, but not as much as you would think. This video explains how anyone making a normal amount of money can obtain the status of a millionaire. It is important to understand that a lot of millionaires have 7 steams of income, but you do not need that many. The following are ways that you can add a stream of income to your bank account.

Earned Income- Is the income that you get for working. Most people get this while working a day job. The great thing about earned income is it tends to be the lowest barrier of entry, that is why most people are able to make this money. Earned income also is the most stable for the majority of people. Work=money. If you ever want to get wealthy, this CANNOT be your only source of income unless you are making ludicrous amounts of money for your job as a corporate executive or professional athlete. Even then, people of these titles expand their sources of income because they know that they will not have their jobs forever.

Profit Income-This income comes from selling off items for a profit. A way that I get profit income is from selling items on Ebay and Facebook marketplace. An example of this was when I bought some Segways and sold them to people. This made me around 400 dollars and took almost 0 work, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Unless you really know how to hustle, I would only recommend this for people that want to make a couple extra bucks here and there.

Interest Income-This comes from putting money in a saving account. It won’t make you much, but it is better than just your typical checking account. Free money in an incredibly stable place? Sounds like a good plan to me.

Dividend Income-When you own stocks, some companies pay out what’s called dividends. These dividends can really add up if you have a lot of money invested.

Rental Income-My favorite because of what do for my job: help other people make this! If you own real estate and rent it out, you can really make a lot of money over the course of your lifetime. Rental income is very hard to live off however unless you really try and scale your business.

Capital Gains-The money you make when you sell off an appreciating asset. Real estate that you bought for 100k, held for 10 years and sold for 150k is a 50 thousand dollar capital gain. This is another reason that real estate is such an efficient way to make money.

Royalty Income-This is the passive income that one earns when they create something and it earns them money for a long time. Examples of this could be ad revenue on a blog or Youtube video or a digital course that someone sells. In my opinion this can be the most rewarding but most difficult stream of income to achieve. I have been working for 30 months on making royalty income but still have a long ways to go before I will start making money. I think it it important for the creator to enjoy what they are doing to become successful at this.

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts you will find that I love to talk about investing and investing strategies, but where did all of this start for me?

I think almost everyone has a point in their life where they figure out how life works and that parents need to work to care for their families. This realization came to me somewhere around the age of 6 when my dad told me that he helped people with investments. I had no idea what that mean and I think it sparked a subconscious curiosity inside of me for many years. It wasn’t until I was 15 years old I decided to figure out what investing was all about.

When I was 112 I was making money with my brothers mowing lawns, learning the concept of money. I am grateful that I was able to learn how to work early on in life. I loved the satisfaction of working and paying for my own expenses. Although I loved (and still do) working, the thought came to me, how do some people amass so much wealth that they don’t have to work anymore?

You see, I thought that you had to save up a ton of money to retire. I thought the only way someone can make a lot of money is to earn it all and save it. As we have learned from my past blog posts, investing your money can help you earn hundreds of thousands of more money throughout the course of your life.

At 15 I decided to open my first investment account. Although I was investing next to nothing, it was an incredible concept to learn that I could make money by doing nothing! The idea that my money could make money was fascinating to me and really got me thinking, if anyone can invest, why isn’t everyone investing?

I think that a lot of people just don’t understand how powerful investing is, and where to start. The rest of my teenage years I kept investing money little by little, but stopped paying attention to my investment account. Fast forward 6 years to age 21 and I found myself living alone while only making 10 dollars an hour. I didn’t have a car, laptop or even a phone. Thanks to my investment account I was able to purchase all three of these items with cash and without going into any debt. A year later I proposed to my fiance with a ring that I bought from my investment accounts. Thanks to the investments I made as a young kid, I was able to buy essentials while I was in college without going into debt.

Chances are if you’re reading this, you are not a teenager, but just because you didn’t invest 10 years ago doesn’t mean that you won’t be glad you invested now in the future. Make your future self proud and start investing today. Hopefully you won’t need to touch your investments 10 years from now and can continue to build your retirement account. But if there ever is a situation that would arise where you need money to cover your expenses, you will be covered.

The term millionaire is this goal that everyone thinks is only possible in their dreams. When you hear the term “millionaire” you assume that someone is so rich. I’m talking golden throne rich. At least I did when I heard the term “millionaire” growing up. As I have gotten older and understood how money works, I have realized that becoming a millionaire is not only something most people could attain, but it is something that most people SHOULD attain.

You see in my opinion becoming a millionaire is something anybody can do and in my opinion, you will need to do one of three things to become a millionaire, but first let me explain why everyone should become a millionaire. Did you know that for most people, they will need over a million dollars in their retirement account to retire comfortably? Well according to finance.yahoo.com, 64 percent of Americans will retire with less than $10,000 in their retirement account. Luckily we live in a great country that will (if it can) take care of these people, but anyone that knows basic economics knows that “money from the government” really means taxes. Yes, the money you and I pay in taxes goes towards helping other Americans retire. I don’t want to go into to much depth but that fact of the matter is: 1. Retiring a millionaire will benefit our economy because you will be contributing instead of taking. 2. Retiring a millionaire will provide you with a more comfortable retirement than the engorgement will ever grant you. Now that you know why it is so important that you become a millionaire, let’s talk about how you can achieve this great goal. In my opinion, you really only need to do one thing to become a millionaire, invest. I’m am not saying that is the only way you can save a million dollars, you could find buried treasure, win the lottery, start a successful company or be a trust fund baby. For most people, this isn’t the case so here’s what you need to do. Invest as much as you can as early in life as you can. Yep, that’s it. Ok, but how much should I invest? (this is where I am legally obligated to advise you to ask your CPA or attorney). If we were to assume a 7% return on investment for the length of my professional life (age 23-60) then we could reach $1,000,000 dollars quite easily. Because I am 23 and have 37 years to invest until I am 60, I don’t have to put that much money away every month to reach the million-dollar threshold. If I was starting with $0 I would need to invest $5,900 per year or $491.66 per month to reach $1,000,000. The crazy thing about this is that $5,900 dollars per year is only $218,300 dollars invested. If you do this, you will have made over $750,000 just by saving your money! Not bad right? So what does it take to become a millionaire? Good decisions, a little bit of luck and a whole lot of diligence! If it was easy, everybody would do it!

Real estate is a wonderful way that anyone can build wealth. What fascinates me about real estate is the face that it has always been a tool for wealth. Wars were fought of land for a reason since the beginning of time. Money=Land=Power. Land has always been around and always will be, you just need to make sure you are buying it in the right place.

There are a LOT of reasons one should invest in real estate. I could say that it will make you happier, or will help you with your goals, however, I want to get specific. Real estate will build you wealth. I want to explain 3 reasons why, and therefore, 3 reasons why you should acquire as much real estate as possible.

1. Equity.

We have all heard the term “equity” before right? Equity is ways that we own wealth, not necessarily in the form of liquid cash. Let me me explain. When you pay your rent, that money goes to your landlord who does who knows with it. Well when you pay a mortgage to own a home (and in turn real estate) you are building equity. A large chunk of your mortgage payment will got towards interest yes, but some of it goes into home ownership. After 30 years, the typical home owner will have an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity and the renter won’t from their rent payments alone.

2. Appreciation

Yes, while you will appreciate owning a home, this is not what I am referring to. Appreciate is another way home ownership can pay off. Homes go up in value over time. If you buy a house for 300 thousand dollars and it goes up in value 20 thousand dollars, you have made that money from appreciation. Now you won’t have that money in cash unless you sell the house, however you can always take out a loan on that appreciation and use the money to start a business, buy a car, or remodel your house. Appreciation is a tool that a lot of people use to build their net worth.

3. Cash Flow

When you own real estate you have the option to rent it to someone that typically doesn’t. In most scenarios you can rent out your real estate for more than your mortgage payment is. When this happens, you get cash flow. Cash flow is probably most people’s favorite reason to invest in real estate because is it physical cash that they can hold from doing almost no work! Yes it can take a lot of work to acquire multiple houses, but once you start getting cash flow from them it certainly pays off.

At the end of the day, real estate is a tool that can help normal people make money in multiple ways, it is not a get rich quick scheme, but it can be very effective. Before you spend your money on a new car, boat, or toy, consider saving the money to buy a house so you can learn for your self why real estate is the key to building wealth.

Retirement planning is something that every American should do. It can be exciting or very scary. Some people want to retire when they are 65 and some people will retire when they are 35. Whether you want to sooner or later, it is recommended that you should follow 5 steps to achieve early retirement.

1. Don’t get ahead of yourself.

When planning for retirement you need to make sure that you aren’t investing all of your money, but that you are saving a lot too. You need to “earn the right” to invest. This can be done by getting a solid job and saving before you invest. You want to be prepared for the dips in the housing and investment markets.

2. Increase how much you invest gradually.

Consider investing more money next time you get a raise instead of leveling up your lifestyle. As humans, we can suffer from what’s called lifestyle inflation. When you get a nicer house, car, or phone, it is always impossible for us to go back. Be careful about what you do with that extra money when you earn it. Live beneath your means so you can invest and save the difference. Although this is so simple, most Americans don’t do it.

3. Try a Robo-Advisor.

Investing can be complicated. When you get what’s called a “robo-advisor”. An example would be the Robinhood or Acorns apps. These tools make it easy for anyone to invest. Now of days we don’t have any excuses not to invest! It’s easy as watching a video or downloading an app and signing up with our online bank. Back before my generation, people have to go to a physical location to invest like the New York Stock Exchange. Back then investing was pretty much a privileged of the upper class. Now, investing can be for anyone no matter how poor you are. If you have a phone, a plan, and a little bit of extra money saved up, you can invest too!

4. You can Invest on your own.

Once you become comfortable investing, you will be able to invest on your own and learn more about the markets. Although there are a lot of people out there that will give you good advice (that you should listen to) it never hurts to be able to invest on your own. Having a basic knowledge of investments can go a long way when you are in the driver’s seat.

5. Don’t panic.

Want to know how to fail at investing? Panic. When markets dip, don’t ever sell, in fact you should be buying. You never lose investments until you sell. If the markets are low, don’t think of yourself as losing money, think of yourself as buying stocks at a discount.

When you invest you absolutely (in my opinion) have to be in it for the long game. If you think that you are going to get rich quick (some people have) then you are going to need a lot of luck or money that you can afford to lose. If you aren’t investing for the long haul then you are probably gambling.

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Do you want to make more money? I think the answer to this question is a simple yes. So far we have talked about the importance of budgeting and sticking to the necessities. That is an important first step and should absolutely NOT be ignored. But now we need to talk about step 2. You see, I’m not an expert, but I can say that I have been able to achieve step 2.

Step 2 is increasing your income. Yes we are only 2 paragraphs in this thing an I am here to tell you that we are going to talk about how you can increase your income, but before we get started, I need to talk about I was able to do it.

You see, about two and a half years ago I was a college student that had no idea what he was going to do with his life. I had a job making ten dollars an hour which at the time I thought was awesome. I continued this belief until I had to pay rent, buy food, buy a car, you know, adult stuff. Well, not only was I making 10 dollars an hour, but I was only working about 10 hours a week. If I didn’t make more money, I was going to run out of savings before I knew it!

I distinctly remember paying rent and being very nervous about how I was going to survive. I thought to myself that if I just had a couple thousand dollars in my bank account, than I would be just fine.

My at the time girl-friend would make fun of my because I would drive without the AC on in the summer. I knew that it reduced my gas mileage and wasn’t worth it for a poor lad like myself.

Amidst all of my frustration I remembered the advice a wise mentor once told me. “Set goals and daily plans to achieve those goals, and you will be able to triple your income”. Well long story short I was able to find another job that paid almost double what I was making, however it was a sales job that I despised, so after another 7 months I got another job that paid less but gave me potential. After 8 months I was able to finally make 3x what I was making only 2 years prior. The fact that I was able to do this all while going to school full time amazed me.

Moral of the story: Always be on the hunt to find something better. Whether its an opportunity to move up, a certification that will get you another job, or entering a new industry, opportunity awaits.

What are you waiting for?

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Whether we like it or not, money plays a large role in our life. It can decide where you live, what you eat, and what you do. I think that before someone can learn to make “enough” or save “enough” money, they need to learn the purpose of it in their life.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying “money isn’t everything unless you don’t have any of it.” This is something that I have found to be true. You see we live in a world where our economy essentially depends on us spending money. Every time we spend money, someone else makes it. This provides jobs and life for people all around the world. Because spending money is so important for our economy, we care constantly bombarded with messages saying “you won’t be happy unless you can buy this”. No matter the mile-stone, you will never make enough money for society.

You see, money is important, but it’s not the MOST important. Things like your faith, family, and friends take the throne in comparison to money.

So what’s my point?

If you didn’t have enough money make buy groceries would you work overtime? Or catch up with a loved on?

I would hope that as a responsible adult you would do what needs to be done to make sure there is a roof over your head and food in your belly.

But wait…didn’t we both just agree that family is more important than money?

Yes, if you don’t have enough money to take care of your needs, then you will never be able to put other things first.

I think everyone needs to have a healthy relationship with money. Everyone should learn about how they can leverage their money so they can not be stressed, contribute to society, and help others in need. We live in a culture that is very embarrassed or shy when it comes to money. I am not advocating that people should be TOO open about their finances but it wouldn’t hurt to have a healthy relationship with it.

I think that money is a vehicle to help us get what we want. I love my family more than anything in this entire world. My goal is to earn, save, and invest enough money so I can provide for family and have one of the greatest gifts of life: freedom. I want to be able to wake up one morning and travel somewhere with my loved ones. I want to sleep well at night knowing I can retire one day and relax. After all, isn’t that the American dream so many people come to this country to pursue?

I hope this blog can act as a road map for anyone looking to have a healthy relationship with their money. I hope that my advice can help you stop working for money, and get your money working for YOU.

Comment below what you think our relationship with money should be like!

Thanks for reading my blog today! Talk to you soon!