- 6 Ways to Save Money Like a Millionaire
- Make It a Game
- Buy Modest Vehicles
- Spend on Extravagances… Selectively
- Ignore the Joneses
- Save the Bulk of Your Income
- Make Smarter Choices, Not Necessarily More Money
Have you ever pictured yourself living the millionaire lifestyle?
What pops into your head? Elegant dinners, sprawling estates, high-end automobiles and luxury fashion?
Don’t forget groceries, home repairs, rides from friends and secondhand finds.
Thought millionaires never fret over those mundane things? How else do you suppose they built their wealth?
For a largely unseen majority, building wealth isn’t about an enormous inheritance, family pedigree or celebrity status. Most self-made millionaires earn and budget similarly to everyone else — they just do it more intelligently.
6 Ways to Save Money Like a Millionaire
If you want to actually live like a millionaire, here are six strategies our favorite thrifty millionaires really use:
1. Make It a Game
No matter your budget, scoring a bargain on something you want always feels satisfying.
Millionaire pair Angela Marchi and Bob Weidner hunt for discounts at outlet malls because they dislike paying full price.
When they shop, Weidner turns it into a challenge: how many items can he grab without going over $100?
Frugal spending and saving become more enjoyable when you gamify them — seriously. Set up contests for yourself and your household to maximize what your money can buy.
2. Buy Modest Vehicles
What’s a telltale clue someone just received a big windfall?
A flashy new car.
Any amateur financial adviser (usually your uncle or grandparent) will warn you that cars are a poor place to park a lot of cash.
“A car loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot,” is a refrain most of us heard growing up.
Still, faced with extra funds, many people make a beeline for the luxury showroom.
Don’t fall into that trap.
Take inspiration from former Dallas Cowboys running back Alfred Morris, who either bikes or drives a used 1991 Mazda to get around.
Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard went even further: he rented a spot near the stadium his rookie season so he could walk to work, and borrowed his girlfriend’s mother’s van when he needed wheels.
3. Spend on Extravagances… Selectively
A lot of self-made millionaires prefer to allocate money to experiences instead of material goods.
That often means investing in travel and hobbies rather than expensive cars and oversized houses.
We frequently read about people who retire early to travel or follow passions they love.
Yes, these experiences cost money, but frugal retirees are choosing to use their extra funds for memories and stories to share with loved ones, rather than temporary possessions.
We always advise being thoughtful with your money — frugality doesn’t equate to never spending. It means being intentional about when and where you splurge. For more ideas on trimming costs, check out money saving tips.
4. Ignore the Joneses
Figure out what genuinely brings you joy, and tune out the pressure to keep pace with the Joneses, Kardashians, or whoever seems to be leading the perpetual race today.
And, for the love of sanity, don’t Instagram before you buy!
Stop measuring your life against curated Instagram and Facebook snapshots. We all know those images are edited to show perfection, yet we still elevate them to unrealistic standards.
5. Save the Bulk of Your Income
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno is famed for his comparatively modest habits.
During his 17-year tenure on the program, Leno reportedly put away virtually every dollar of his NBC pay.
He lived off fees from personal appearances, endorsements and stand-up gigs, which he kept doing most weekends — even while taping a weekday show.
While celebrities might seem uniquely able to stash an entire salary, the discipline likely began long before the big checks arrived.
“You know, when I was a kid,” Leno told fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld’s show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, “I always had two jobs, and I would bank one, and I’d spend the other. Then when I got ‘The Tonight Show’ I just continued to do that.”
Could you survive on the earnings of a side gig or part-time job for a period of time?
Adopting a stricter budget and setting up automatic savings from your main paycheck could speed up your progress toward financial independence.
6. Make Smarter Choices, Not Necessarily More Money
Self-made millionaires usually grow affluence by saving, investing and handling money sensibly — not by collecting huge paychecks.
Think about this: A 21-year-old liberal arts grad with an average starting pay of $36,000 needs to tuck away only $25 a week into an IRA to retire comfortably at 65.
That’s neither an extraordinary income nor a crippling weekly sacrifice. But applying that small sum properly can produce major results.
By investing a large portion of each paycheck, Brandon Sutherland managed to retire at 32. He expects to live at least 30 years off investment returns.
Brandon represents a common college grad without special privileges. He simply chose to funnel as much as 70% of his earnings toward the life he wanted — sooner rather than later.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at Savinly. She’s contributed to Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and others, slipping in humor whenever she can (and sometimes where she shouldn’t).
