What is the most important advice a millionaire has given you?

Her's a little sage advice as we go about our business of trying to achieve fiancial "success" Publish in Quora Digest in March 2020 by Doug Armey

"My dad grew up poor, as in some nights not knowing if they’d have dinner. His parents starved in the wilderness of Canada until they moved to California when he was 14.

Yet, he became a millionaire.

And often freely gave me advice. Some of which I didn’t appreciate.

But one stuck with me. He said many times,

“I never cared about being really rich, I just never wanted to be poor again.”

I’ve watched too many people who were obsessed with becoming really rich. And in their pursuit took long bets on speculative investments that promised it.

Dot-com stocks, gold, leveraged real estate, crypto-currencies, oil futures, limited partnerships.

All promised immense wealth, fast and easy.

Yet, in reality, proved to be mirages that destroyed their wealth. And many never recovered.

I, too, was hungry to be wealthy when I was young. I wanted to be a millionaire quick and retire to the good life.

But I went through a business bankruptcy, lying awake at night worrying how I’d pay the mortgage and feed my family. In the darkness I could hear my dad’s voice.

“I never cared about being really rich. I just never wanted to be poor again.”

So I changed my focus. I worked hard and smart. Educated myself, saved consistently and invested intelligently.

Many times we gave up some of the luxuries friends enjoyed though we lived comfortably.

We learned to enjoy the little things of life a lot more. Fun together as a family. Reasonable family vacations. Playing football in the front yard, hiking, sailing and skiing.

And I found over the years our wealth grew. Sure there were ups and downs. Bull markets and recessions. But slowly and consistently it multiplied.

One day I realized I’d achieved my youthful goals and was thankful I hadn’t passed up everything else to do it.

We’d built comfortable wealth and enjoyed the real riches of life along the way.

So thanks Pop for your advice. Even if I didn’t appreciate some of it.

I never cared about being really rich. I just never wanted to be poor again.

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