Is There An Easy Way To Becoming A Millionaire?

A long time ago a friend of my Dad's used to joke, "The easy way to make a million is to start with two."  Obviously my Dad and his friend were never truly "wealthy".  They spent everything they made and a little more.

Growing up we moved about every four years.  My Dad would have spent so much money on non perfuming assets (sometimes called liabilities or just wasted money) that he would need to sell the house and use the cash to pay the bills.  Back then you could keep cashing out and maintain a relatively nice looking lifestyle.  It eventually caught up with him and my parents divorced.

With money management lessons from my Dad, I entered into the same downward spiral of spending.  I did however gain a very healthy respect for the real estate market.  That is why I am an investor and a Realtor today among my other pursuits in life.

When I first entered the work world, it felt like people all around me were living better making the same money or less than I was and I couldn't figure it out.  I just kept spending trying to keep up.  The irony here is that spending was only helping me to fall further behind.  

I was one of those "Rich Idiots" that Robert Shemin talks about in his book.  Or as they say in Texas, I was "All hat, no cattle."

Eventually, I got lucky and was introduced to better method while going to school at San Jose State.  My marketing professor wrote a formula on the board, and said "If anyone wants to be a millionaire, stay after class and I'll explain this formula."

After class Dr. Laurie spent an hour with the 10 of us that bothered to stay.  He explained Warren Buffet's genius in simple terms.  Basically his formula was to invest $200 a month into a high yield dividend stock through a Dividend Reinvestment Program or DRiP.  This way you avoided the brokerage fees that ate your profits.  The dividends would buy more stock.  After 20 years at $200 per month, he said we would be millionaires.

His favorites at the time were Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Johnston and Johston.  I still have stock in all three.

The bad news is, this lesson didn't sink in for another three or four years.  Don't wait, when it comes to investing, time truly is money.

Once I did start investing, I also subscribed to the Stansberry Investment Newsletter.  This past year I cancelled my subscription because I hadn't needed to make any changes to my portfolio in nearly 4 years.  Last week a friend handed me one of Porter Stansberry's "Special Reports".  These are usually pretty spot on.

When I opened it up I laughed out loud.  It was exactly the information that Dr. Laurie had passed on to us 25 years ago.  Stansbury used Coca-Cola (Which I do invest in using their DRiP plan).  Coke has raised the dividend an average of 9% each year for the past 20 years.  And the stock has continued to grow in value along the way.  Just $6700 invested one time 20 years ago in a DRP would be worth over $45,000 and it would be adding $1700 in stock this year all by itself.  

In contrast, if you invested in a high yield CD of 5% at the time, you would have about $23,000.  

The lesson I missed from my friends was simple.  They started buying income producing assets early on, so even though it looked like we made the same money at the same job, they had sacrificed a little bit that I didn't notice and it grew.  They would spend some and re-invest some.  It didn't take long before they were making way more money than I was even though we worked at the same place in the same jobs and at the same pay.

These days, my two favorite investments are real estate and dividend stocks.  I only buy winners, and don't speculate on anything.  Well ok, once when Netflix took it's big nosedive, but that was a freebie.  I only review everything once a quarter.  No watching the market getting ulcers every time some bobble head talks on TV.

So is there an easy way to becoming a millionaire?  I would have to say the answer is yes.  There are a handful of stocks that you can buy through a DRiP plan and invest just a few hundred dollars each month and have a million dollars or more in 20 years.  

The later you start or the faster you want to get there, the more you need to invest now.  The laws of compounding interest work over time.  If you give your money time to work for you, it will show you the easy way to becoming a millionaire.

Is Being 10% Happier Something You Would Like To Achieve?

There are thousands of books out there proclaiming they are the answer to your happiness in one way or another.  Like me and most of the other people I talk to, after reading these self-help books, you find that there is still something missing.  There is a multibillion dollar industry out there based on almost giving you the answer.

ABC news anchor Dan Harris spent several years of his time as a journalist researching, challenging and debunking theories from many of the biggest self-help gurus and religious leaders.

Dan now says he found a way to simply improve his happiness by 10%.  Has an ABC news anchor, Dan was able to invest a lot of time and research into the world of self-help.  He shares his findings in his new book, 10% Happier. Before you skip to the next article, think about this: When was the last time you felt really happy if even for just a few moments? 

Most of the people that I talk to describe situations of happiness in terms of Control and progress. The times we are most unhappy with ourselves are when we lose control and gain nothing. 

There are even a few times when I have been in total control and still felt like I didn't gain anything at the end of the day. The trade-off for control wasn't worth it. Something tells me you have been there too.

Years ago when I was looking at a waterfront home, The owner made a profound statement. He looked me in the I and he said “As a business owner, you understand the stress we go through. I'm telling you that it doesn't matter how bad your day is, when you come home and take a lap of the lake on a JetSki, it will all go away and your problems will solve themselves.” 

That statement struck a note with me because I had the same experience when I would take my Harley out after work. Right then and there I realized how important my rides were to growing my business. Quite honestly my business stalled after selling my collection of Harley-Davidson’s.

My problem at that time was I didn't understand how a motorcycle ride could possibly help my business. I felt like the time I was taking away from the office was time lost. More importantly I didn't know if I can re-create it simply by buying another Harley. After reading Dan Harris's book, the process became clear.  It wasn't really the Harley, although it did help.

Dan's book will take you through his adventures, chasing down spiritual and self-help gurus as a skeptic and a journalist at ABC. He also shares some of his innermost failings and demons, and discusses how he overcame them personally. 

The journey is a very interesting one, Not much unlike my own. If you have read this far, it is likely that you have experienced at least part of this journey into the world of self-help and the frustration of not making any real progress. 

The premise of becoming 10% happier should make sense to you. Imagine if next year you could be 10% happier. And imagine if you could be 10% happier again year after that. Like compounding interest your life could improve exponentially overtime. 

Dan Harris does a great job as a journalist walking through the stories of several self-help Gurus and religious leaders. He shows us the flaws false teachings and how he found an answer to overcome them all in an unexpected place. Harris admits that due to his own pre-judgment, he might not have come to this understanding without the entire journey. 

If there is something inside you that says happiness is possible, maybe starting out by getting 10% Happier is where you should start.

I finished the book 10% Happier over the weekend, and it has earned my seal of approval for making things easy.