You don’t need to win a game show Who wants to be a millionaire or lottery to become a millionaire in Nigeria by age 24. A lot of Nigerian youths just like other youths around the world at some point, had lofty dreams and aspirations such as taking over the information technology world, or becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates or the Google Guys; being ‘somebody’ or doing ‘something’ that would affect the world and perhaps put ‘them’ and their country in the eyes of the world for a positive reason. Only a few have been able to achieve this dream. This is true irrespective of the fact that becoming a millionaire is now easier than it used to be, thanks to inflation, attaining the status in Nigeria these days is easier than it was 10 or 20 years ago.
Indeed, becoming a millionaire at the age of 24 in Nigeria without making recourse to ‘yahoo yahoo’ (Nigerian acronym for internet fraud), pilfering funds, or being used as a political thug is possible. You don’t have to hope for winning the grand prize in the Big Brother Africa, any other reality TV shows, becoming a pop star or sportsman. Again, it is 100% possible and actually easier now than it was decades ago.
By definition, the writer of this article is a self-made millionaire who achieved millionaire status in Nigeria before the age of 21. But how did he do it? What does it really take to produce substantial income early in life? Below I have outlined a few strategies which are also common in the outlier community of young millionaires.
Prioritize, prioritize and prioritize
One of the first things you have to do to become very successful early in Nigeria is to prioritize, you need to decide what you want as early as possible and draw out plans on how to achieve it, your plan should be clear enough and should include things like – Where you would live, if and when you would be married and have children, whether you would attend college or start a business, what type of freedom you would have and more. You need to write a personal mission and vision statement in a notebook, plastered it in your car and the mirror of my bathroom, paste it on the walls of your bedroom, think and dream about it and you’ll one day live the dream.
Also part of your plan should include answering questions such as: What would it take to achieve this vision? What behaviours would you need to adopt? How should you budget your money? What type of girl should you be dating? Nothing should be left to chance. Although this may seem a bit “overly-structured” for a young person, it’s this level of prioritization that often makes the difference between those who find freedom, wealth and success and those who don’t.
Be Good With Money
For anyone to be successful at this age takes a considerable degree of discipline and ingenuity to manage money, this is especially true if you come from a family that never quite got it right.
In order to make it at 24, you must understand these things and be able to answer some related questions:
1. What efforts will undoubtedly make money in a sustainable and scalable way: Is it starting a business, positioning yourself for a lucrative career, or generating passive income streams.
2. How can you live a life well below your means: No debt (no matter what), saving 20% of their monthly income, not buying things you don’t need, and keeping expenses very low.
3. What is the makeup of a good investment in Nigeria today: Reinvesting profits into measurable efforts, low risk and high return opportunities, and intelligent asset purchasing (houses, cars, and equipment), Information Technology.
The good news is that all of this can be learned. A few books, classes, and a dedication to healthy financial management will put you far ahead of the crowd.
More Steps That Guarantee Being a Millionaire by Age 24
1. Follow the money. This is number one basic rule of money – follow the money, the truth is unless you’re earning huge amount of money on monthly basis, you cannot save your way to millions or millionaire status, you need to systematically figure out a way to increase your income and repeat the process to multiply it. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.
2. Save to invest, don’t just save for saving sake. Don’t just save to buy a new car or house, rather save to invest what you’ve saved. Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency unless it’s investments.
3. Don’t show off – show up! Don’t buy that new car until your businesses and investments start producing multiple secure flows of income. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.
4. Get yourself a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up as middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group or social status. If you cannot find a millionaire that could mentor you around where you live or work, go over to the internet, read books, study millionaires to duplicate what they did and how they got there. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources and would be willing to offer help
5. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.
6. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who cares.
7. Poverty makes no sense. Poverty sucks, eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow okay. Bill Gates once said, “If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake!” And I absolutely agree.
8. Money never sleeps. Money doesn’t know about clocks, weather, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. It cares for people who have a great work ethic. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person – just make sure you outwork everyone.
9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money, you won’t make investments.
10. Shoot for N100 million, not N1 million. The single biggest financial mistake a lot of people make is not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million bucks.
Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Stay away from people who suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes or very high-risk investment programs. Be ethical, never give up, and once you make it be willing to help others get there too, you’ll make even more as you do this.
How are you tracking on the millionaire path? Maybe 30 is too early for you, what about 35 or even 40. What is working in your strategy? Let me know in the comments below and please share this post with your friends and they will appreciate it.
