Think becoming a millionaire is out of your reach? Wealth expert and best-selling author, Chris Hogan, is here to tell you otherwise.
Chris surveyed 10,000 real-life millionaires for his new book, Everyday Millionaires, and he's sharing their financial habits to help YOU get on the path to seven figures.
"These people are very intentional and consistent with how they go about living," Chris says about everyday millionaires — 79% of whom didn't inherit a dime from their families and a third of whom never made six figures, he notes.
So, want to be like these self-made successes? Chris has five tips to get you started.
1. Coupons, Coupons, Coupons!
With a little preparation, you can save big in the checkout line. Believe it or not, Chris' study shows that 93% of millionaires use coupons. As Rachael says, there are actually former show guests that "have been paid money BACK for buying groceries." Not sure where to start? Check out these tips from a couponing expert.
2. Don't Spend More Than $200 at Restaurants Each Month
Get to know your stove! “"On average, millionaires spend less than $200 each month at restaurants," Chris says. Give your wallet a break and crack open a cookbook (or browse Rach's show recipes!), because eating at home CAN be just as good, we promise!
3. Shy Away From Debt
According to Chris' study, 73% of millionaires have never had credit card debt and 68% of millionaires never had student loan debt. Of course, while these are good habits to have in place, they're not realistic for everybody. So if you do have debt, Chris recommends chipping away at it with Dave Ramsey's "the debt snowball" method.
Here's the gist of it:
List your debts from smallest to largest, pay the minimum on all except for the smallest one, which you should attack first. Once you pay that off, move onto the next.
Need tips on how to save money to pay off your debt? No surprise here, Dave Ramsey has some clever ones.
4. Get a Financial Planner
68% of millionaires use an investment professional to manage their money. Again, it's all about discipline, planning and intention, so it's extremely helpful to have someone to guide you.
5. Take Advantage Of Your Company-Sponsored 401ks
"We've got to put money away if we want spend," Chris says. You can put in enough to match your company. You can also use Roth IRAs, because it's a great way to grow money tax-free.
And since everyday millionaires live with a focus on the future, Chris emphasizes thinking now about your retirement. Because of that, he developed a tool called the "R:IQ" to help you towards your retirement dream. (Bonus: It's free!)
With this tool, you pick your retirement dream (travel, hobbies, family, etc.), input your income, how many years until your desired retirement and your current savings amount. It then gives you your monthly investment goal. From there, you can create a full financial plan and be on your way!
Watch Chris walk through the tool in the video above.
"You can build wealth, I believe in you," Chris says, "We just have to make decisions and work a plan."
For the record, we believe in you, too!
