I Met 400+ Millionaires - This is what I LEARNED

Most people think millionaires are different. They're not. They just do things that everyone else avoids. And after being in rooms and meeting over 400 plus millionaires, I can tell you the brutal truth. You don't become wealthy by working harder. You become wealthy by working differently. That's why today's episode is all about I met 400 plus millionaires. Here's what I learned. Because if you've been following the traditional path and still feel behind, it's not your fault. But it is your responsibility to change direction. And this is building your money machine, where we help you master your money, eliminate financial stress so you can live a life of choice. Because earning more doesn't make you free. A money machine does. All right, and I'm your host, Mel Abraham. I've spent 30 plus years helping thousands of people build wealth and watching the habits that actually move people to financial freedom. Now it's your turn. Let's jump in. Let's do this. All right. Millionaires aren't some sort of superhuman. They're not smarter than you. They're not luckier than you. They're not genetically modified with Warren Buffett DNA. Okay. They're just ridiculously consistent at the things most people only do on their motivated days. And the biggest wealth gaps I've seen. Yeah, it's not skill, it's not opportunity. It's not luck, behavior and execution, though, and how they think when no one's watching. So let's jump in. Let's do some of these. Some of these are going to sting. Some of these may inspire you, but a few might slap you across the face with a wet towel. All out of love. All right. But let's really start to drive home the things that matter, the lessons that I gleaned from being in rooms with hundreds of millionaires. Okay, and the first one is this. Millionaires do not chase money. They build a money machine. See, most people wake up thinking, how do I make more money today? And millionaires wake up thinking, how do I make sure money keeps coming in even if I disappear for a week? Not that they disappear, although if they did, their money machine would still keep working. Okay, here's a stat. According to Fidelity, 88% of millionaires built something on their own. They were. They were first generation. They didn't inherit it. Meaning that they built a system. And so here's what they obsessed over. They obsess over cash flow. They obsess over a wealth Runway. They obsess over liquidity. They obsess over their enough number and whether Their money is doing its job and not just sitting around like a teenager on summer break. Here's what I mean is that they're trying to build assets so those assets can generate more cash flow in a way that it supports their, their lifestyle. The idea is this. We have to separate our earnings from our efforts to earn it. And the only way to do that is to create an environment where the earnings are coming in to through the assets that we acquire that enough number, if you will. And so you've heard me say, income doesn't make you free. Systems make you free. And every millionaire I've met, they built their system before they felt ready. They start to drive it. So you got to ask yourself, are you obsessing over your cash flow? Are you obsessing over the assets that you acquire that generate that cash flow? Are you obsessing over liquidity? Do you know your enough number? And is the money that you have coming into your life doing the job to build wealth for you or is it not? That will start to drive things. Lesson number two. Millionaires know their net worth, but they know that net worth itself is vanity without cash flow. And here's how I look at this. Net worth looks good on paper, cash flow feels good in real life. We've all met those people that are paper millionaires who are rich on Zillow but broke at Starbucks. And here's the truth. Net worth matters. Now let's just be real clear for those that, that are new here, that net worth is your total assets, everything you own, minus everything you owe. Okay, that's what your total net worth is. But that might mean that it's your, it's your shoes, your clothes, your cars, your home. But your shoes, your clothes, your cars typically are not going to generate income for you that you can live off of. Yeah, they might be assets in the truest definition, but are they truly creating cash flow for you? And so millionaires know that what really counts is investable net worth. The net worth that actually generates cash flow in their life. Because if it doesn't produce cash flow, then it's not wealth, it's it's financial cosplay. It's fabricated. Here's a quick stat. The CFP Board Certified Financial Planners Board show that nearly 70% of people with a million dollar net worth couldn't retire today. 70%? Why? Because their money isn't structured for cash flow. Because the majority of that net worth is in their home. Now I'm not saying not to get a home. I'm just saying to classify it correctly, that's a lifestyle asset. It is not a wealth asset unless you're going to rent it because it doesn't produce cash flow. We need a place to live. I get it, okay? But at the same time, I've seen people with lower net worths living completely free because their net worth was built in a way that generated cash flow. See, cash flows buy choices. Net worth is an ego play if you're solely focused on net worth. Ego is expensive, choice is priceless. Track both. But obsess over cash flow. Okay, if you're trying to figure this out and you don't know what it is that you need in your freedom number, where are you trying to go? I got something for you. It's called my freedom number calculator. And you can go in, you put in some numbers, you figure out what your life is is going to take to build. And now you know the enough number that you're trying to get to. So you go to melabraham.com/forward/number will also hook it up here, takes a minute, it's totally free and it might probably in some way shock you in a good way. All right, let's roll on lesson number three. Millionaires protect flexibility more than luxury. See, luxury looks good. Flexibility builds wealth. Here's what I watched in 2008. People with cash, they had this opportunity buffet. They could go after things. I had cash at the time and it allowed me to go after things and build wealth. But people that were, were building a lifestyle at that same time when the 2008 crash and everything recession hit because they were so focused on a lifestyle, what it looked like on the outside, they were in a financial prison yard. Here's the thing. When you look at data like Bankrend.com says 56% of Americans can't cover a thousand dollar emergency. It's because every dollar is committed to looking successful instead of being successful. Now I get it, costs have gone up, lifestyle's gone up. But are we being as diligent with our money to do the work it's supposed to do for us as we should? And maybe we're not as millionaires as people becoming millionaires. And people on this journey, they protect a couple of things. One, they protect their liquidity. In other words, they have cash available for opportunities and to build wealth and to make sure that an emergency or a left turn or when life happens, it doesn't take them down with the ship. Okay? They protect their margin. In other words, they're not living to the edges of their check. They have excess at the end of the day and that excess is what gives them the breathing room. They protect their breathing room to make sure that they can do what they need to do. And they have flexibility in their choices and their decision. If we are living to the edges of our check, we don't have any breathing room, we have no margin and we don't have any flexibility. Okay. They also protect low overhead. In other words, they don't allow lifestyle creep to get in and keep that overhead coming up and up and up. They keep it as low as possible. And the last thing I think they protect is optionality. They want to keep their options open because with options you have alternatives when things, things, things maybe don't work out. The idea is this. If there's only one path to success and the line is the planets have to line up, that's okay because. Because when life tightens or when the economy swings or there's. There's issues. Flexibility is a superpower. Lifestyle may make you feel rich, but flexibility makes you rich. That leads me to lesson number four. Millionaires learn with purpose, not for entertainment. Most people will treat learning like a binge worthy Netflix series. That's just one more video and one more and one more and suddenly it's 1am and they haven't applied anything. See, millionaires, they don't drown in information. They hunt for solutions. Here's what I mean. There are people out there that do what I call just in case learning. Just in case I need the information, I'm going to spend the time to learn it. And they use their time to digest things that maybe they'll never ever use. But time is our most precious asset. Instead, we should be looking at things and saying, just in time, learning. And ask ourselves, what problem am I trying to solve? What do I need right now? What do I need in the next 12 months? What information gets me unstuck today, who already solved this? And how do I ethically get access to their wisdom? Now all of a sudden you're digesting information with a purpose, with a direction. Okay, to make that happen. Okay, quick stat. According to LinkedIn workplace study, only 12% of learners actually apply what they learn. See, the idea here is not to just accumulate information, but to apply information. Because applying the information is what's going to change things for you and for us. When I apply the information. When I was getting ready to launch my book, everything I focused on would, would have to help me launch the book. Anything else outside of that, I didn't Care about. I left it. I left it go. I didn't do anything with it. Millionaires are in that 12% that apply what they learn. Everyone else thinks reading is doing, but it's not. Learning isn't an advantage. Implementation is. Lesson number five. Millionaires know their wealth window and they use it. Here's what I mean. Everyone has a wealth window, the peak period where your time, your energy, your risk capacity, your opportunity and your earning power are at the strongest. There is a window of opportunity where you can maximize the peak potential with what you're doing. And millionaires use it. Most people sleep through it. There is no later. Later is where dreams go to die. Okay, here's the stat. According to Vanguard, the bulk of lifetime wealth is created between ages 35 and 55. The heart of wealth and the wealth window is in that time frame. So from 35 to 55, making sure that you're being focused on the information, implementing the do the stuff that you're, you're learning. Millionaires move during that time plane. They don't wait for motivation. They don't wait for after the holidays. They don't wait for the kids to grow up, the economy to calm down, or Mercury to get out of retrograde. They use the window before it closes because they know the power of it. Lesson number six. Millionaires build relationships before they need them. And millionaires don't network. They don't look at it as transactional, they look at it as relational. They don't network. They connect. They show up with curiosity, they show up with humility, and they value the relationship and they look to try and provide value. They don't come at it from a desperation, from a need perspective. They come at it from the perspective of, hey, I want to learn, I'm a student, I want to add value. They understand the proximity principle and being in the rooms, just like I've been in the rooms with millionaires. And so you start to look at it from that perspective. The Harvard research found that up to 85% of career success comes from connections, not skills alone. But here's the secret. Millionaires will work to build the relationships before they need them. That means that they go and serve, they do the things, they get in, in the sphere, and they learn and learn and learn. It's almost that apprenticeship type of mentality. But most people will isolate because of insecurity, whereas millionaires lean in because they understand leverage. Okay, lesson number seven. Millionaires don't avoid risk, but they avoid blind risk. See, they don't run from risk. They run from stupid risk. They're not gamblers. They're strategists, okay? People will say, you know, oh, you're an entrepreneur. And they look at you like you've got this contagious disease and like, you love risk. No, entrepreneurs don't love risk. They're risk mitigators. They ask questions. Entrepreneurs and individuals and millionaires, they ask questions. What's the downside? Can I recover? I remember someone asking me why I wouldn't go into an investment that was very speculative. That was very speculative. And I could have made a killing, but I could have lost all of it. And I looked at him and I said, because, frankly, I don't need to. I don't. I understand the risk. I don't need the downside because I'm at a place where I don't need to. And. And so millionaires will ask themselves, what's the downside? Can I recover? That's something called risk capacity. Do I understand the game? Fact of the matter is, is that the number one rule of investing is to never, ever, ever invest in something you don't understand. So they don't wait and avoid risk. They ask the questions and then make a decision based on the answers to those questions, in spite of the risk, if it makes sense. But meanwhile, the average person waits for absolute certainty. And in investing in wealth building, it never exists, okay? And that weight, that. That. That weight moves them out of opportunity if they're not careful. Okay? As much as people say, the average millionaire has seven streams of income. Every one of them started with a risk, every one of them started with one. Millionaires don't need perfect outcomes. They look for probability, and then they take action. That's the game. Lesson number eight. Millionaires use debt like a tool, not a treat, okay? Debt isn't the enemy. Unproductive debt is. But millionaires understand how to use debt. They use debt to buy real estate. They use debt to acquire businesses. They use debt to scale opportunities. They use debt to increase cash flows. Now, if you noticed, all of those have the ability to increase cash flow and increase their wealth. They don't use debt for cars, for vacations, for sofas, for lifestyle inflation disguised as rewards. See, that is just consumables that don't create cash flow and don't create anything but maybe momentary pleasures with a albatross of debt involved. Okay? There's a study that Ramsey Solutions said 40% of millionaires have mortgages, not because they can't pay cash. In fact, I have a mortgage on my home. And we could write a check to pay it off, but we are making more money elsewhere. And therefore we keep the mortgage. And the mortgage is at a low interest rate. But that's the game that they play. Millionaires will borrow to get richer, but they do it strategically, not recklessly. But we've been indoctrinated into a society that normalized payment plans and buy now, pay later, buy now, pray later, buy now, pain later, however you want to look at it. Most people will use debt and borrow to look richer. Instead of get richer. Millionaires focus on getting richer. Lesson number nine. Millionaires schedule time with their money. See, most people spend more time choosing a Netflix show than choosing their investments. Millionaires, though, they put money meetings on the calendar like it's a leg day. They don't skip leg day, all right? They'll spend the time. We have dashboards and scorecards in the money machine blueprint that our clients use, my students use to track everything, to know where they are every. Every month, every week, depending what it is. Every year, they review their cash flow. They review their investments, they review their risk. They review their goals. They make adjustments to their plan. They will do that. Okay, the average millionaire. It's been said that the average millionaire spends five plus hours a month on financial planning. Now it's only five hours a month. But the average non wealthy person, zero goose egg. Okay? They don't schedule their money. If you don't schedule your money, your money will schedule you. If you don't write your money story, it's writing your story for you, and they're the wrong scribe for your money story. It's time that you schedule time with your money so it can do the work that it's meant to do. Lesson number 10. Millionaires don't wait for confidence. They act into confidence. See, confidence isn't a prerequisite. It's the byproduct. See, millionaires will act while nervous. They'll look at options. They'll look at alternatives. They'll mitigate risks. They negotiate while they're shaky. They take the meeting while uncertain. They invest while uncomfortable. They know this is the truth. Action builds confidence. Waiting actually destroys it. Staring at something actually destroys it. Okay, most people wait to feel ready. But millionaires, they mitigate the risks as best as possible. And then they act and let readiness catch up. Okay, that leads me to listen. Lesson 11. Millionaires make decisions faster than everyone else. This was crazy when I started to see this. Here's the million dollar truth. Indecision is the most expensive decision. It Truly is. Millionaires make decisions quickly, not recklessly, but efficiently. They don't overthink it. They don't poll Instagram, they don't revisit the same decision 27 times. They don't try to find the perfect information. They gather enough clarity to, to move and know that they can perfect it through action. That no decision they make is terminal, that is going to get you in motion so you get better information to make a better decision. Speed is a wealth multiplier. Now, we don't do it recklessly. Remember, they plan, they, they analyze and they know. And then when they have enough information, they act. That leads me to lesson number 12. Millionaires define rich for. For themselves, not the world. See, this is the soul of it all. Millionaires who stay wealthy don't chase flex, they chase freedom. They want richness in time, in peace, in relationships, in autonomy, in purpose, in health, in experiences. See, money isn't their identity, it is a tool. It is what I call a paintbrush to paint the masterpiece called their life. If we're focused on lifestyle to impress strangers and status, it's the wrong focus. Freedom is the focus because that impresses your soul. That's something you feel viscerally that that comes to life. And so millionaires understand that they're going to define rich for themselves and live their way. You might determine that you want to live a life where you're on a yacht in Monaco or a tent in Montana and neither one is right or wrong, it is just right for you. The question is, have you taken the time to define it, to decide that's where you're going? Or are you allowing media, social media, peers, upbringing, culture, any of those things, the algorithms to define it for you see, millionaires, they don't. They live their life their way because they know that that's where their fulfillment lies, that's where their richness lies. And that and freedom is the focus. So here's the game. When we start to come down this. If you're not sure where you are on your path again, go back and do the freedom number calculator. It's 60 seconds to do this. It's a tool that you get for free. Go to melabraham.com forward/number, totally free and takes the guessing out of the way and gives you at least a trajectory to go for. All right, listen. After sitting with, being in rooms with more than 400 millionaires, here's the truth. Wealth isn't reserved for someone else. It's built with behaviors, not luck, with systems not stress, with consistency, not perfection. You don't need permission. You don't need the perfect past. You don't need the. The perfect genetics. You don't need to feel ready. You need to act like the person you want to become before the results show up, because the results always follow the behaviors, not the other way around. Look after yourselves. Make sure that you're doing the right thing the way you want to. Ask the questions. Be curious. Do the things, ask me questions, reach out to me. That's why we do this. That's why I have this channel. That's why I do the work that I do to light the path to financial freedom, because I believe it's your birthright. I hope that this helps. I hope that you'll look at these lessons and bring them into your life. I'd love to hear from you. Which one resonated you with you? Which one maybe stung a little bit. Which one you're going to put into your life first? Because we're going to put them all into your life. All right, DM me. Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you. All right. And in the meantime, while you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button. It's going to make me happy, it's going to make YouTube happy, it's going to make the channel happy. All right. Until we get a chance to see each other in another episode or on your path to financial freedom, or maybe when I'm out there speaking, as I say, always, always strive to live a life that outlives you. See you in the next one. Cheers. For now.