In times of rapid economic changes and uncertainty, it may feel like building wealth is impossible, but achieving self-made millionaire status in America is not out of reach or unattainable. In fact, there are more than 24 million millionaires in the United States according to a UBS Global Wealth Management study. While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact number of self-made millionaires, one thing is clear: Many followed the same smart habits like minimalist living, a strong work ethic, setting financial goals, avoiding debt and taking calculated risks with stocks, which helped accelerate their financial success.
Learn more: Dave Ramsey says this is the best way to pay off debt
Now Read: 6 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000
To help others make good investments, self-made millionaires are opening up about their journeys and sharing what their best stock investments have been. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your portfolio, his stories are packed with practical tips, real-world lessons, and a dose of inspiration.
Why did holding Microsoft change everything?
Peter Diamond is a federally licensed tax, accounting, real estate and structuring and certified bankability specialist as well as a self-made millionaire. However, when he was starting out, he made many mistakes in his investments due to lack of patience.
“What I ultimately learned is that time is always your best friend when investing,” he said. “If you can maintain patience, you will win in the end.”
This lesson came from a simple observation. Diamond was actively trading through his TD Ameritrade account and gave no time for his investments to compound. But one stock – Microsoft – slipped badly. He unknowingly left it that way for years and earned massive returns as a result, teaching him the unexpected value of moderation.
“The moral of the story is to always invest for the long term regardless of the asset class and let compounding do its thing,” he said.
WATCH: According to a financial expert, here’s why you’ll always want to know your net worth
Early recognition of a technological innovation: the step that returns threefold
Chris Dehnert is the CEO of Dugout Mugs and the first person in his family to reach millionaire status. He made his fortune by investing heavily in his business as well as in several start-ups, such as HBAR, the cryptocurrency used by Hedera Hashgraph, a crypto-trading alternative to blockchain-based platforms.
“As soon as I heard the founder speak at a mastermind event and I understood its value, I recognized HBAR as a solid investment,” he said.
Hedera’s cryptography network provides extremely fast, secure transactions with very low transaction fees – often just a fraction of a cent. These features make it suitable for applications requiring high throughput, predictable costs, and tokenization tools.
“I knew the big conglomerates would see use cases in the future, and they did! Today, companies like Google, Boeing, IBM, Dell, Swift, and Nvidia are using this technology,” Dehnert said. He invested $100,000 in 2021 and tripled his money.
How index fund VTI was a game changer
Steven and Lauren Keys are a millionaire couple who retired at the age of 29 and started the blog Trip of a Lifestyle, which provides financial tips to help others make money and travel more. The couple lived below their means and invested 60 percent to 80 percent of their education salaries in stock and bond index funds to build wealth. Their focus is on reliable, stable growth rather than risky opportunities to make life-changing profits.
Steven Keyes reports, “The largest returns have come from VTI, an exchange-traded index fund that includes nearly every public company in the United States under a ticker symbol.”
“Index funds like VTI are amazing because they easily capture the average returns of the entire stock market in one place,” he said. “Instead of trying to get lucky by picking winning stocks, I simply buy them all, automatically getting a powerful positive return through a well-diversified portfolio.”
He further added, “I make profits from the stock market without ever thinking about it!”
Every millionaire’s path is different, but the right investment can make a difference.
rock-components slug=”more-from-gobankingrates-2″]
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Self-Made Millionaires Reveal the Best Investments They’ve Made
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. Reflect the views of.
