J from Budgets Are Sexy started a Million Dollar Club for those of us who want to have that amount to retire. In order to join, you have to list the steps you are going to take to build up your wealth so that you can grow to have one million dollars.
I have found that writing your goals down makes it easier to reach them so here are my steps for getting my One Million Dollars:
1. Save a dollar a day
2. Pay off credit card debt completely
3. Pay off car loan
4. Pay off personal loans
1. Save a dollar a day
It might not seem like much but if I can put a dollar a day into my Never Go Back To Fresno Fund then at the end of one year I will have $365 in there before interest. Since interest rates fluctuate so much I am not going to even try to calculate what the value of this money will be but will just be happy with the fact that by doing nothing else I have put away $365.
2. Pay off credit card debt completely
I am well on the way to being completely free of credit card debt after 
carrying debt on various cards for almost 10 years. I will be finished with the LASIK card this year in December and will only have the balance on the Citi card to worry about. Currently this balance is $2695 and based on my current payments I should be finished paying it off in August 2011. Now this is obviously a ridiculous time frame so I plan on having that card paid off before my birthday in July. So I will have to put any additional money towards a snowflake payment to that credit card so I can say happy birthday to myself next year with absolutely no credit card debt.
3. Pay off car loan
The balance on my car is about $6,000 and my snowball calculator says that based on my current payments I should be finished with it in October of 2011. I am not going to be too aggressive on this one but I would like to be debt free in 2010 so I am trying my hardest to see if I can get apply extra money to the car loan after I have paid off the credit card debt.
4. Pay off personal loans
I do have two small personal loans that I will be increasing payments to in the new year as well, after I have paid off the credit card debt, which has a higher interest rate.
Those are my goals for 2010 and the savings of not paying interest on those debts will help me to get closer to my goal of One Million Dollars…and beyond.
I like your save-a-dollar idea! It is perfect for a student like me who doesn’t have a steady paycheck coming in.
Welcome to the club! And see you at the beach one day sippin’ on fruity drinks and blogging our lives away 😉
Good stuff! Just wanted to send a shout out to a fellow member! 🙂
We talked about saving and how to become a millionaire in my Money & Banking course here at the university. It’s quite amazing how many people CAN actually become millionaires by the time they retire =D
Till then,
Jean
These are great ideas. As you know, the interest paid to credit cards, personal loans, and car loans, general is not tax deductible. Also, the interest rates may be very high. For these reasons, paying off these debts is of the highest importance. Other debts, such as student loans and home mortgages may offer the benefits of tax deductible interest, which means they should be paid off, but not before higher priority debt like credit cards, personal loans, and car loans.
I am really excited to see how everyone does with this. Good Luck!
This is great, I too want to be in the Millionaire Dollar Club [sooner than later!]. I was laid off at the beginning of the year and have started dedicating my time to finding ways to make money from home. I’ve read some of the books out there about making money, and I am currently reading a new book by Loral Langemeier called Put More Cash In Your Pocket.
It’s very action-oriented, telling you what you need to do everyday to put money in your pocket everyday – it’s really got me motivated and I know that if I keep applying the steps everyday I will be in that club in no time!
I am sorry that you lost your job. Sounds like you are on the right track and will soon get into the Million Dollar Club if you keep a positive attitude and let the wealth find you.
I like the ‘Save a dollar a day’ idea too… although as a UK reader I would be saving £1 a day. Think I might start doing this though….
Great list! It’s always a good idea to tackle all those loans. I especially like the one dollar a day idea as it’s not so intimidating and definitely doable.
Just curious – do you have any retirement plans?
Right now the only retirement I have is through the Teacher retirement plan.
All your tips seem to be very reasonable, especially for people who have no fixed income guaranteed each month. My son’s at the university now, so I’m definitely going to send him a link to your blog.
I also like the one dollar/day part (~ 7.50 Rand for me)… But I currently save a bit more than that… this year (2009) I’ve averaged 5-10% of my Nett income per month.
Both my cars are fully paid for (First car got paid in full in 18months, second was paid for cash). I know what you’re thinking, Why a second car? Well, it’s a run-around car (2001/2 Ford Fiesta 1.6 RSi)
Have an RA (debits from my bank account monthly) 2.5% of my gross income, Pension and Provident fund, each 5% of my gross montly income — which works out to 10%. I chose the RA over pay-TV. No regrets yet as I’m a 26 year old South African male.
My reason to chase down dept is because our interest rates are far higher than the western countries (US, Euro region, etc). I quite enjoy having no bills.
I have a zero-exposure credit card (only my money gets loaded in it). I’m very self-disciplined so I can be comfortable with this setup. I have the credit card for things such as car-rental (credit card is compulsory for this service), store reward programs which help pay for my pre-paid cellphone usage.
Only dept is my bonded primary residence and one investment property. I’ll have you know that we’re hosting the Football (Soccer to you) World Cup is in 7 months and if all goes well I may pocket 200% of my yearly rental income (pre-tax). Combine that with potential returns from my stock market portfolio :).
To me, it’s all about self-discipline.
Here’s to the new year!!
Hi Akohna, I am originally from the Caribbean so I know it as football too so no worries there. 🙂
You seem to have things under control so I am proud of you. Keep up the good work and all the best for the new year as well.
Just an update here….I paid off all my debt and I am starting off 2011 completely DEBT FREE!!!! Well on the way to the Million Dollar Club goals.
Sorry to revive a dead post, but I love your goals here and it’s great to read this update that you’re going completely debt free! Hopefully that stills hold true to this day. I’m actually researching currently to put my ideas in order to get my list/blog on the Millionaire club if that’s still a thing. Can’t wait to get my goals on paper and speak them into the universe!
No problem with commenting on an old post. I actually forgot what it was so I had to go back and read it. I’ve done all the points except #1. I had a few expenses come up over the years that depleted savings so I am now behind my goal.
I guess I need to get back in the habit of saving a dollar a day since I currently have no debt.