Bill Gates said, “If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it’s your fault.”

Becoming a millionaire at 30 seems more like a fantasy. But this is possible. In fact, its never too late to achieve anything in life.

Here are the 9 steps that will help you in becoming rich:

Follow the money. In today’s financial conditions you can’t get millionaire status easily but you have to achieve it (unless you are born with silver spoon in the mouth). The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeat that. Start following the money and that will force you to control your income and see opportunities.

Don’t brag, show up for work: Don’t buy luxury watch or car until your business and investments are producing multiple secure income streams.
Be recognized for your work ethic, not the things you buy.

Save to invest, don’t save to save: The only reason to save money is to invest it later. Put it in a safe and untouchable account. Never use these accounts, not even for an emergency. This will force you to follow step one (follow the money).

Avoid unpaid debts: Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow their cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make the rich richer.

Additional reading: Thoughts of millionaires

Treat money like a jealous lover: Millions of people want financial freedom, but only those who make it a priority have millions. To be rich and stay rich you have to make it your priority. If you ignore it, it will ignore you or worse, it will leave you for someone who takes it as a priority.

Money doesn’t sleep: Money doesn’t know watches, schedules or vacations, and neither should you. Money loves people who have a work ethic. Never try to be the smartest or the luckiest person, just make sure you work harder than everyone else.

Find a millionaire mentor: Most of us grew up in a middle class or poor class and limited ourselves to the ideas of a group. Study millionaires to duplicate what they did. Find your personal mentor and study them. Most rich people are very generous with their knowledge and resources.

Read: 3 types of millionaire

Make your money lift the heavy things: Investing is the Holy Grail to become a millionaire and you should make more money from your investments than from your work. If you don’t have extra money, you won’t make investments.

Aim to have 10 million, not 1 million: The biggest financial mistake is not thinking big. There is no shortage of money on this planet, just a shortage of people who don’t think big.

Apply these 9 steps and you will become a millionaire. Put aside the people who say your financial dreams are out of greed. Avoid the schemes of getting rich fast, be ethical, never give up and once you get there, help others get there too.

Author Bio:

Hi, I am Nikesh Mehta owner and writer of this site.

I’m an analytics professional and also love writing on finance and related industry. I’ve done online course in Financial Markets and Investment Strategy from Indian School of Business.

I can be reached at nikeshmehta@allonmoney.com. You may also visit my LinkedIn profile.