The #1 Thing You Misunderstand about Becoming a Millionaire

Tom and I love to dream. We’ll cuddle together on the bed and lay out our dreams for when money isn’t a real issue and we’re debt free. We dream of our own homestead, of leaving our daughter in a place where she’ll never have to worry about anything and of helping our friends and family live well too. It was during one of these conversations that I read something that helped us both to realize that we had been looking at becoming a millionaire all wrong.

I’m willing to bet you have been too.

I was reading the book “The 4 Hour Work Week” when the author pointed something out that made so much sense to me that I was floored that I hadn’t seen it before.

When you think about becoming a millionaire, what do you think about? Do you think about logging into your bank account to see those comma’s and zeroes? Do you think about the people at the bank recognizing that you’re now worth millions? Do you dream about being able to write someone a huge check without considering how much is in your bank account?

Probably not. How about this though?

Do you dream of being able to pay all of your bills with no issues? How about dreaming of traveling whenever and where ever you want? Are your dreams of buying your kids that pony they’ve been asking for and of putting them into only the best schools? Of building your dream home in the perfect spot? Of taking care of your family and friends and helping them out with what they need? I know that I personally think about helping my family with new houses and cars, putting all of our kids through college, building my dream home here in Texas and a vacation home in Alaska and more.

The #1 Thing You Misunderstand about Becoming a Millionaire

Sounds bout right?

Did you catch what you’re misunderstanding? No? That’s okay. Like I said, it took me a while too. Here was the author pointed out:

No one dreams about having a million dollar bank account. They dream about the life a million dollars can give them. 

This follows along with what I said in my post, The #1 Reason You Will Never Be a Millionaire, even though it may not be obvious. Becoming a millionaire means dreaming, it means knowing that you’re going to make it someday, it means thinking positively. It means knowing that even though your bank account might only have a few hundred dollars in it that someday, with enough work, time and the right budget, you can build yourself enough wealth to become a millionaire.

Realizing that you aren’t after the million dollar bank balance, but instead the millionaire lifestyle can have a huge impact on your finances. As I’ve said before, negative thought breeds negative action. If you’re always walking around thinking that you’re never going to get anywhere, that you will always be poor, that you will never be a millionaire or even a thousandaire (as my Emma likes to put people who have “thousands of dollars), guess what?

You won’t. You will stand in your own way even if you don’t know that you’re doing it. 

But, if you think about that lifestyle that you want, those dreams and hopes of what you’ll do when you have a million dollars? They won’t magically fill your checking account, but they also won’t allow your own thoughts to get in your way. What they will do is keep your hopes and dreams alive…

and that my friends? Is just as necessary to building wealth and becoming a millionaire as money is. Without them? You won’t get very far. Don’t you agree?