Anyone Can Do It - But They Probably Won’t

August 25, 2007

I’ve read hundreds of books and articles recently claiming that anyone can do it - become a millionaire that is. But research results by Merrill Lynch show that most people don’t. In fact, just a small fraction of a percent of the world’s population are millionaires. And only 5% of individuals in the world earn at least six figures a year.

So why are all these people claiming that anyone can do it? And how can you beat the odds?

Thinking differently will give you a huge head start. Think about the people around you. Make a random list of 100 people you know - if you have the time and the inclination. What percentage of that list would like to win the lottery?

It’s probably quite high, given that seventy percent of the adult population in the UK buy at least one lottery ticket a month. So that means that 70 percent of the adult population want something for nothing. No wonder there’s so many snakes pushing get rich quick pyramid schemes, and people making a fortune from casinos and the like.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with doing the lottery- that is up to you. But given that you have more chance of being struck by lightening than actually winning, could you really be bothered to queue up for tickets each week? I know I couldn’t. Even if I did, I’d either lose them, or forget I’d bought them.

That brings us to millionaire rule 1. Just because most of the people you know think it’s a great idea - it doesn’t mean that it is. And contrary to popular belief - the majority don’t rule. Think about stock market and housing market crashes. They almost always happen when the average man on the street has entered the market, and there’s usually lots of them all piling in at once. This is because the average person usually does what everyone else is doing. And most of them won’t do it until a huge percentage of the population already have.

Back to that list again. How many people on that list want to be a millionaire and are actually doing something constructive about it? Depending on the people you know - you’ll probably end up with 2% on your list at the very most.

Millionaire rule number 2: It’s no good wanting something for nothing. You’ve more chance of becoming a millionaire if you want to actually work to achieve that status, as opposed to winning it. It’s simple maths. If you want to win it - you’re competing against 70% of the population, but if you want to work for it, you’re only competing with around 2%.

If these statistics haven’t put you off - and I hope they haven’t, you probably realise by now that what you really have to do if you want to become a millionaire is think and act differently to the majority of people you know.

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