YOU CAN BE MILLIONAIRE WHILE EMPLOYED!!!

I just attended a talk on financial IQ and independence several nights ago at Gurney Hotel, Penang. It was a useful talk. Even thou I knew many of them, yet they serve me as a reminder or refresher. There was one thing I disagree with their statement. They said you can never be rich by being employed. The main reason they are saying it because they are promoting some MLM indirectly. It is a common misconception by many. Many believe you can only be rich if you running a business. It is going to be true, if that is what you believe so. Let me open up your eyes and show you, how you can be millionaire even if you are employed for the rest of your life.

Let me tell you a secret... The reason you can't be rich by being fully employed is because you have programmed your mind to think that way. Being employed doesn't mean you can't invest elsewhere. Being employed doesn't mean you can't buy property. Being employed doesn't mean you can't do some business part-time.

The 1st rule to become millionaire while employed is proper money management. As long as you never improve your money habit, no matter how much is your salary, it will never be enough. You might be making $1,000 or $10,000 a month, but if your expenses is equivalent or more than your bring home pay, it will never be enough. And of course, as usual blame your job, that your salary is not enough. So, most importantly, reduce your expenses and produce a positive cash flow. Positive cash flow means your expenses are lesser than your income so that you’ll have additional money for savings.

“So, you are saying just by saving we can be millionaire?” some skeptics started to question. The answer is yes and no. Yes, if your salary is big enough and no if your salary is not big enough. I never say saving alone is enough. Once you have saved, you must look around for better returns. As a starter, look at unit trusts which could give you an average return of 7% – 8% returns per annum. In fact if you know how to maximize your unit trust return, you could get almost 12% per annum average.

“It’s just 8% - 12%. How can we become millionaire with such small return?”, as usual people will start to question on everything as if they know better. Have you heard of power of compounding? If you save $1,000 every month, let’s see how power of compounding works through the chart.


As you can see, your investment grows exponentially. As you continue to save and invest every month your total investment grows. The higher the returns, the faster you’ll achieve $1,000,000.

“Duh, I have to wait at least 20 years to see my first million. Who knows whether I’ll be alive or not?”, more start to hesitates. Now the question is, do you have the million Dollars. If not, then shut your mouth and mind from hesitating, complaining, and blaming. Start to do something about your life and how you are going to make your first million. You have a choice, to start saving and investing or to reasoning that by being employed you can never be millionaire.

Another group of people start to complain, “Where got $1,000 to save every month? If I start to save, I won’t able buy a car, buy nice clothing, buy, buy…”. Just as I said, the choice is yours. It’s not necessary to save $1,000 from the beginning. You can start with 10% of your salary. As your salary start to increase, start to save more, maybe 20% of your salary. One day you’ll be able to save more than $2,000 a month. You might even hit that million Dollar mark in 15 years.

Let me tell you another secret, there will be definitely more millionaires 20 years from now, and why don’t you want to be one of them. The reason is our currency value is dropping every year due to inflation. I still remember many people have been dreaming of becoming millionaire since 20 years ago. And about every 15 to 20 years, the value of 1 million is decreasing by half. It means that 15 years from now, the 1 million dollar today will become $500,000 in value. So, stop complaining and blaming others, that you can’t be a millionaire while employed. It will just be easier and easier as time passes by.

“I do want to save money, but my company is paying me so low. What can I do?”, someone start to seek a place to share their sorrow. Here are some of the things you can do to increase your salary, but still money management is still the rule No.1.

1. Be the best employee. By being the best, your salary increment would be higher than the average.
2. Be the best in what you do and have specific skills which many don’t have. This will create more demand for your skill and you can demand for a higher salary.
3. Upgrade yourself by studying part time or acquiring new skills. If you are just a admin with less than thousand salary, get a diploma or degree and work somewhere else for a better salary.
4. Jump companies. Usual, when you jump to another company, it is possible to gain between 20% – 30% increment.
5. Change field. At times certain filed won’t provide you with good salary. So, you might want to think of changing to a better prospective field.

So, stop complaining that your job doesn’t pay you well and keep on staying there. Go out and look for the high paying jobs.

Let’s have a recap.
The first thing you must do is to save money. Then, invest your savings to get a better return than fixed deposit. Look around for a better job opportunity by being the best in your company and field. Upgrade yourself from time to time, so that you can be competitive. And of course change job for a better pay.

All and all, you can be a millionaire while employed.