Worst thing you can do is think that such a result is accidental, or that you will get there without developing your own skill set to do so. The key is to move at the pace that you are ready for, to not exceed your abilities while you are growing them.
Wealth is the result of doubling your money. An old example is one where a person agrees to pay you one penny today, two tomorrow, four on the day after- doubling the payment each day for a month. The payment on the 10th day is $10.22, but on the 31st day is more than $500,000.00. The point is that each time you double the gain gets bigger. Starting young allows time to reach the big numbers, starting old does not.
The process is faster when the return is larger. There is what's known as the "Rule of 78" which is the conservative formula for calculating the doubling of value. If you are getting interest on invested money, say 10% a year, you divide 78 by the interest rate or return (10) and the result is 7.8, or the number of years it will take for that investment to double in value. If you are able to raise that rate from 10 to 39, the result is 2 years. I have a small portfolio that I invest for my mother, which started as $15,000 5 years ago. It's now worth $132,554. That is a return of 880% over 5 years. It can be done, but believe me it will not be done by accident over the long run. There are three self-made millionaires in my immediate family, all through business and investing. The youngest is 43, and his net is probably over 2M now.
You are on the right track. Move as quickly as you can, but not beyond your ability to understand what you are doing. It's often good advice to find a family member you can trust to help. Be cautious about trusting commercial advisers with your money.
Get a Certified Financial Planner
Best of luck. Take Care
If you're young take riskier investments but as you get older make safer ones. One example; more stocks if you're younger switching to bond funds when older.
What can I add to my plan to make it more practical?
I want to get rich, and I want to start now. My reasoning is that the younger you start trying to get rich, the sooner and younger you will. I'm 17, have a part time job, a trust fund that is fairly large. (I would rather not disclose the value, I don't want to sound pompous.) I have short term and long term financial goals. Short term being: Get income tax, save $500 in savings, add $50 off each check from my current job, then I will start my summer job making $2240-$3200 and month and I will get a bonus of up to $2000. This makes a total of $7720-$11600. This in addition to the $700 I saved makes the grand total $8420-$12,300
I have made a pact with two friends to be business partners in whatever we do. I am going to become a programmer (already started.) and I will get a associates in Software Design, and bachelors in Computer Science. My friend wants to be a graphic designer and is already pretty good. Both friends will be making approximately $3000 this summer.
My idea is to safe $2,500 for a college investment plan (my dad agreed to match whatever I saved for college) and put $5000 or so into a new savings account and have my friends put in a percentage of their money. We could use this to open an investment plan with a financial adviser, or we could do it ourselves.
