Iām a Millionaire. It Doesnāt Feel Like I Thought It Would. Hereās something that feels strange to say. By the traditional definition of net worth what we own minus what we owe our household would technically be considered millionaires. Iām not saying that as a flex. In fact, thatās kind of the point. When I was younger, a millionaire meant big houses, fancy cars and expensive vacations. Basically, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. If you just heard Robin Leachās voice, congratulations ā¦..youāre probably my target audience. But being a millionaire at 53 looks surprisinglyā¦ normal. We have investments and equity in our home. We also have a mortgage, and I still get up and go to work. What got me thinking about this was my friend @williamwang23 Willās recent post about becoming a millionaire in his early 30s. Thatās an incredible accomplishment. But what really stands out to me is that Will became curious about money early. He learned, saved, invested and, most importantly, gave his money time. I didnāt start DIY investing until I was 50. We saved and built home equity, but I didnāt become curious enough about investing and money until much later. And I have to give @moementumfinance Moe credit for the word curious. He talked about it during our panel at BlossomCon, and it really stuck with me. Over the last three years, Iāve asked more questions, learned more and become much more financially literate. Iāve also made mistakes. Iāve posted things that werenāt quite right, and people here have corrected me. Iām good with that. Being financially literate doesnāt mean knowing everything. It means being curious enough to ask questions and open enough to learn from the answers. I wish Iād figured that out at 30 instead of 50. Because Will and I might technically carry the same āmillionaireā label today, but heās given his money decades more time to compound. Thatās why the number itself is so relative. Our goal is still to build a $1 million+ investment portfolio by retirement. On paper, our net worth could eventually be well into the millions. But weāre not planning a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous retirement. We want to travel, enjoy our time, help our kids when we can and have enough that money gives us choices. And maybe thatās the funny part. Technically, Iām already a millionaire. But weāre still working toward becoming what younger me thought a millionaire was. Not the mansion or the yacht. The freedom. The security. The choices. Maybe thatās what being wealthy really means. What does being a millionaire mean to you?
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25 Comments
Will W@williamwang23 Ā· 13h
Thanks for the shout out Darren, I do think a Millionare feels different than back in the 90s or 80s. Inflation has eaten away so much. However I think youre still killing it and doing so far compared to the majority of canadians! Keep it up man, youll have a million dollar invested soon!!
george Young@geo_van Ā· 14h
Great post - as I am in my early 50ās, I also wish I had started learning earlier. Having a million that is tied up in liquid assets is where I would like to be, but having a home, a RRSP, and a LIRA definitely limits what a million dollars feels like. My goal is to have my TFSA maxed and growing hard as that is where I see the real value of being a millionaire- money that you can actually access tax free. Illiquid assets just doesnāt have the same feel of freedom - even with a million dollars.
Derek W@darkwing1 Ā· 11h
Great post! If I may add, the investing ideology was completely different when we were working. It was work, buy a home, raise a family, invest if possible. The investment advice and tools to invest were limited, you invest in an RRSP, hire an advisor. You were too busy building a life to do anything else. The only reason I started informing myself was the fact a family member retired and did the same thing weāre doing now, passing the knowledge to me, whereby I started questioning my advisor and investments. The more I learned the more I took over, and yes it was a huge learning curve.
Hostile Door@hostiledoor Ā· 13h
You are on the right track, unfortunately the world has moved in the wrong direction and being a millionaire no longer feels the same. It's only enough to continue the current lifestyle into retirement
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