What It’s Like to Hang Out With a Few Dozen Millionaires

The wealthy are hiding among you

A few weekends ago I was invited to one of those conferences hosted by a real estate organization. These RE clubs exist in almost every major city across America, some running for over twenty or more years. It was back then when everyone was watching HGTV and home flipping, which seemed to be the best way to become a millionaire overnight. For more conservative investors it was landlording — building a huge portfolio of single-family homes.

While the popularity of real estate investing will always ebb and flow, there is a dedicated group of investors that have made it work for them. They have the proof… so much, that many in this group of investors I met completely turn their nose up at the stock market.

I still hold firm that the best option is to do both, but I understand the allure of real estate — you can touch it, feel it, the value doesn’t fall off a cliff on Friday because of some options expiration activity.

The irony in the argument against stocks was that many of these investors were able to get into real estate investing only because of cashing in their stock-rich 401K or moving to a self-directed IRA. But that was beside the point. The reality is this — the average person will have a higher likelihood of increasing their wealth through their primary or secondary properties than investing in the stock market. Stock trading is still the fastest way to wealth creation, but most don’t start with a high enough basis and have the ability to make successful trades consistently over 10, 20, or 30 plus years.

So, I listened and learned to all these “regular” people who somehow found the cheat code to wealth creation.

The stories were just as colorful as the people; every walk of life was represented.

There was even a boy no older than ten years of age; he already had 4 properties (obviously with his parent’s help). He was proud and very willing to tell me all about them, just like every other investor there.

It was like, if you were in the room, you were family, and everyone was an open book to their trials and tribulations before they found real estate.

To these investors, property was like buying baseball cards.

There was the software developer who moved to the U.S. only to get laid off. His family has owned homes, land, and apartments to now run a seven-figure real estate business.

There was a stay-at-home mom that used a cash pile from family several years ago to purchase a package deal of five single family homes. Each home had increased in value by over $100,000 when she decided to sell to move into bigger properties.

There were too many people with the same story of almost killing themselves in corporate America before deciding to buy their first one or two properties.

From Washington state to Florida, it was one big family of likeminded individuals who just wanted to celebrate their wins and give each other advice — a true mastermind group.

In reality I was both humbled, depressed, and excited all in one weekend. These nice people weren’t arrogant or unapproachable and you wouldn’t have given them a second look walking in the mall that they were all millionaires. That book about them living next door was really true.

After almost 30 years in corporate, I am no where near where I thought I would be financially, but most would assume I was doing quite well — multiple promotions, decent bonuses, but still at risk of it being yanked away in an instant.

This conference was a stark reminder for me on the importance of focus when it comes to wealth building. People half my age were already approaching their tenth property. To these investors, property was like buying baseball cards.

I thought my path to wealth would be through some brilliant Internet company that I would sell for millions. Too much time, energy, and eyesight wasted coding the next Web venture.

While there was no shortage on words of encouragement, everyone admittedly wished they had only started sooner, no matter how successful they were now.

It wasn’t even about fancy cars or big homes. It was travel, paying for a brother’s medical procedure, sending all your kids to college if that’s what you really wanted to do… and just writing a check for it.

The most noticeable thing the entire weekend was that everyone was super happy. I’d never seen so many people happy… not even at Disney World.

It’s something about having money that allows you to always have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, and the means to go anywhere you wish at a moment’s notice that makes it better than The Magic Kingdom.

These ordinary millionaires had patience, but also the willingness to stay focused and still do the work. Deals still needed to be analyzed, rehab work still needed to be done or managed if you were going to make any type of profit.

It’s all hard work, but these investors were walking testaments to a regular plan, for regular people that could make you a millionaire if you started early enough.

I’ve been to many stock investing seminars and probably wasn’t among that many millionaires… There’s something to be said about that.

As the debate rages on that we have created a nation of renters, I couldn’t help but think how many of the people in the room were contributing to the problem.

But these were not evil people. These were not people who wanted to take over the world. Rather, it takes a lot of homes to create a large stream of passive income. It takes many hours of working in a business to create wealth.

Our capitalistic society is no longer designed for you to have a simple life where you can fully enjoy it on $20,000 a year. The people in this room knew that, and decided to use the best tools at their disposal to combat never having enough.

Should someone be allowed to own 100 homes where 100 people have to pay them rent forever? Probably not. Should people be allowed to own more than one property? Absolutely.

No one has a perfect answer, and if there was a safer, easier way to become a millionaire, you’d see a bunch of those conferences spring up all over America too.

For now, I’m hanging out with the happy people, trying to learn their ways.

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