Welcome to Kiplinger’s My First $1 Million series, in which we hear from people who have made $1 million. They’re sharing how they did it and what they’re doing with it.
This time, we hear from a 75-year-old married and retired chief operating officer of a logistics company in Northwest Arkansas. He grew up in Louisiana and reports his salary when he retired was $125,000.
See our earlier profiles, including a writer in New England, a literacy interventionist in Colorado, a semiretired entrepreneur in Nashville and an events industry CEO in Northern New Jersey. (See all of the profiles here.)
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Each profile features one person or couple, who will always be completely anonymous to readers, answering questions to help our readers learn from their experience.
These features are intended to provide a window into how different people build their savings — they’re not intended to provide financial advice.
To learn what these millionaires have taught us, check out the articles 5 Key Insights We Learned From 50 Millionaires and 5 Things 50 Millionaires Wish They’d Known Before They Retired.
And to hear more about My First $1 Million, you can check out this podcast with bestselling author and tax attorney Toby Mathis:
The Basics
How did you make your first $1 million?
My first $1 million was a real slog. It took 25 years to reach this milestone. It took a lot of saving, discipline and sacrifice.
I started in the 1970s. This was before the internet and things we take for granted now.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Back then, it took a minimum of $25,000 to $50,000 to even open a brokerage account.
So for the longest time, investing was a matter of shopping interest rates and looking for the best deals on CDs and such.
But more importantly, it took getting the buy-in from family (and spouse). It is hard to deny yourself and family something you want when the money is there to have it, to convince them and myself that the sacrifice is worth it in the long run.
At times, this caused a lot of friction. I had often told them that they could have anything they want, just not now or all at once.
Overall, we did it through investments in real estate, the stock market and businesses that I had an equity interest in.
What are you doing with the money?
We are continuing to invest it. In the 25 years after making the first $1 million, we have added many more millions to it.
In hindsight, I don’t think there is anything that we denied ourselves that we did not obtain.
The Fun Stuff
Did you do anything to celebrate?
No. Just took pleasure in its accomplishment. Gave us a feeling of freedom that when hard choices have to be made, we could make the choice and withstand any consequences.
What is the best part of making $1 million?
Did your life change?
Only in confirming that the assumptions we made in building this wealth were validated. We still live the same lifestyle we have always lived. We want for nothing.
Does anyone know you’re a millionaire?
No, not specifically. I am sure our children know we are well-off, but not specific amounts. We are private people and see no need to advertise our success.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Even writing this feels like an invasion of our privacy that we would normally not indulge.
However, we feel it is important that people know that this level of financial success can be achieved by anyone, regardless of present circumstances.
By all appearances, no one would think that we have the net worth we do. We live in a normal middle-class house, drive modest automobiles, buy clothes off the rack.
Did you retire early?
Retired at 52. That was my last “job.” Since then, we have devoted our time and effort to travel and building our own net worth.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
We have done more for ourselves than if we had stayed employed. Our employer could not have compensated us enough to build the financial resources we have now. Nor would we have had the time and attention to devote to personal wealth building.
Looking Back
Anything you would do differently?
No.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Going through life, I would have more closely aligned our goals with our values. In chasing our goals, we sometimes lost sight of the things that mattered to us the most. I spent most of my time and effort chasing career milestones and neglected personal objectives. I thought these career goals were the most important.
However, obtaining these objectives was at the sacrifice of the personal values I held high, those being time with family and friends and travel.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
I read a book by Charles Givens entitled Super Self. In this book, he has a chapter dedicated to aligning your goals with your values. If not aligned, the result would be frustration and conflict, and your accomplishments would not produce the satisfaction you desired.
This book had an impact in that there came a time when an important decision was made easy. After many years, I was offered a promotion to the presidency of the company. This would require more time away from home and less time for family, friends and travel.
This did not align with what I valued at the time. Not only did I not take the position, but I retired the next day.
In the long run, this was one of the best decisions I made. I/we still prospered greatly without sacrifice and were happy with the decision.
Having already made my first million made this decision easier.
However, you should make sure your values and goals are aligned in the pursuit of your objectives.
Did you read any books that helped you on your journey?
We have read many of them — too numerous to mention.
Did you work with a financial adviser?
No. I have always been a DIY guy. There was an occasion that we used an investment adviser and asset manager. This was only for a short period of time. We found that our own strategies and methods outperformed theirs.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
I am an avid reader. Most of what we have achieved was accomplished by research and investigation on our own.
In this day and time, virtually anything you want to find out about or learn how to do can be found out very quickly.
Did anyone help you early on?
Yes, family, friends and business associates. But mostly in the negative. I noticed that it did not matter how much money they made, how many promotions they got, how big their bonuses were or any windfalls they got, they were always in financial crisis.
Any money, promotion, bonuses, etc., they got was always spent immediately. Lived paycheck-to-paycheck. Most never had any financial reserves to carry them in case of misfortune. Any adverse development put them in crisis mode.
Seeing others experience the agony of financial crisis solidified our belief that we were on the right path.
Looking Ahead
Plans for your next $1 million?
We have no specific plans except to continue investing and growing our net worth. We have no plans for any big purchases or additions.
My wife and I have become acutely aware of the legacy we will possibly be leaving. We are both from large families with six siblings each. We were two young people who started life together with literally nothing.
To be able to leave our children and grandchildren with the means we could only dream of when young amazes us.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
We have set up irrevocable trusts for our grandchildren to provide them with resources they can use for start-up capital for their lives. These are equivalent to a down payment on a house.
Also, we have set up a fund sufficient to cover the post-high-school costs of skills development or college tuition costs. This represents an investment in our grandchildren of approximately $500,000.
These funds have been given and are not part of our current net worth. This still leaves a substantial amount of wealth for our adult children.
We are hoping this will not stop them from continuing their lives in a productive way. Our concern is that this windfall might encourage them to do nothing.
Any advice for others trying to make their first $1 million?
The first goal you should seek is to have what is currently called an emergency fund. This is money you can put your hands on to handle unexpected or emergency needs that come up. These are resources you can access without upsetting your plans or altering your goals.
Like Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.” And life will punch you in the mouth. This fund is what lets you take a punch and still remain standing.
I learned this the hard way early in life. There was a time when I thought it was important to wear the nicest clothes, drive the best car and have the best apartment, etc. That led to a lot of debt.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It never dawned on me that I would lose my only source of income. When it did happen, I found myself in debt, with rent and car payments due and no way to pay them. It was a setback that I’ll remember for a lifetime.
Debt can be used as leverage to improve returns, but only for investments that will provide a return on investment. Credit card debt, store credit and automobile debt are not investments that will bring a return. These are poor uses of debt.
Since then, I have always had an emergency fund, lived below my means and saved always. I resolved that I would never be in that situation again.
Other important considerations are:
- Living below your means
- Saving and investing regularly and consistently
- Taking taxes into consideration when making investment decisions
- Monitoring and tracking progress on a regular basis
Do you have an estate plan?
Yes, we have an estate plan. It includes a revocable trust, wills, powers of attorney and instructions on how to settle our estate, including burial instructions.
Our goal is to make whatever decisions necessary in our estate be simple and emotion-free.
We want whatever hurt feelings or animosity that may result from our estate plan be directed at us and not at each other.
What do you wish you’d known …
When you first started investing? I wish we had access to the information that is now available to everyone. The internet was a game changer for us. It gave us the ability to easily find information and do research on and analyze any investment we are interested in.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It is a powerful tool that we use on a daily basis. Having this when we started would have helped us immensely in our investing.
When you first started working with a financial professional? We are investigating the possibility of using one. In the event of some occurrence that would render us incapacitated, we feel it would be useful to have someone at the ready to independently manage our affairs.
Before you retired? How enjoyable and fun it is.
If you have made $1 million or more and would like to be anonymously featured in a future My First $1 Million profile, please fill out and submit this Google Form or send an email to [email protected] to receive the questions. We welcome all stories that add up to $1 million or more in your accounts, although we will use discretion in which stories we choose to publish, to ensure we share a diversity of experiences. We also might want to verify that you really do have $1 million. Your answers may be edited for clarity.
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