How to Become a Millionaire Step One - Earn Money

Last week I wrote a simplified version of how to become a millionaire. The nature of the process is simple: earn money, spend less than you earn, save and invest, and repeat the process.

The Million Dollar Question - How much do you need to earn to become a millionaire?

Obviously, The more money you earn, the easier it is to become a millionaire, provided you spend less than you earn and are able to save and invest the difference. But how much do you need to earn?

As I mentioned in my earlier article about how to become a millionaire, you don’t necessarily need to earn six figures to become a millionaire. A New Jersey man became a millionaire several times over and never earned more than $11/hr. He amassed his fortune and decided to donate over a million dollars to a local college. He made his millions through hard work, simple living, and wise investments including real estate and stocks.

While it is very difficult to become a millionaire on $11/hr, especially in today’s society, it is possible to become a millionaire on much less than 6 figures. They important thing is to start young, live well within your means, make wise investment decisions, and repeat this process over many years. If you want to speed the process, you can do one of several things: earn more money, save more money, and receive better returns on your investments. In this article, we will talk about earning more money.

How to earn more money

Many people only think about earning money in terms of their day job - be it a salary or an hourly wage. For most people, this is probably the majority of their income, but there are many ways to earn money outside of your day job. Here are some ways you can increase your income for your day job and outside your day job.

Earn more money from your day job: Depending on your type of employment, earning more money from your day job may be as simple as working overtime or obtaining additional education or certifications to get a raise. It could be as simple as asking for a raise during your next performance review. Sometimes the best way to get a raise is to find a new job.

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to earn more money from your day job. Some jobs, especially those with the government are locked in to raises based on the cost of living or other factors. If you can’t easily earn more money from your day job, there are other ways to earn more money.

Earn money from a business or side job: There are many ways to earn money through a small business or part time or seasonal jobs. You can make money from your hobbies, start a candy vending machine business, do freelance consulting or writing, hang Christmas lights on houses, write a book, or do other odds and ends. The possibilities are limited to your creativity or abilities. They key here is the willingness to work outside your day job. If you need the money, the sacrifice is worth it.

Earn more money from alternative income (loosely defined as income not from your day job). Last year I made over $4,000 without working. My main sources of alternative income were earned interest from savings accounts (like my ING Direct account), dividend earnings from stocks and mutual funds, bank account sign up bonuses, credit card sign up bonuses, and other sources of free money. These are all little things that anyone can do if they are willing to save and invest, or have decent credit and half an hour of time to set up an account on-line. Even though most online bank accounts have lower interest rates than a year ago, I hope to improve on my $4,000 earnings from last year.

There are other forms of alternative income as well. Rental income, royalties, and patents, are just a few of many sources of income outside a traditional day job.

The key to financial health is spending less than you earn. But sometimes the better solution is to earn more than you spend. If you want to earn more money, go out and do it.

Here are more ways to increase your income:

• Building, Diversifying, and Shifting Your Income Streams.
• 7 Key Factors to Build Successful Alternative Income Streams.
• Alternative Income is a Virus.
• how to make money without a job and why you should.
• My Sources Of Alternative Income And How I Make Them Work For Me.
• 40+ Alternative Income Ideas and Resources.
• How Do You Plan To Get Ahead? Ways To Increase Your Income.
• 50+ Resources to Legitimately Raise Your Income.

Tagged as: earn more money, how to become a millionaire, Investing, saving