Commitment to Our Readers Eight in 10 (79%) American millionaires built their own wealth rather than inheriting it, according to a study by Northwestern Mutual. They started from scratch. So how did they do it? More importantly, what steps can you take this year to join the two-comma club yourself? Grow the Gap The most repeatable path to wealth is also the most boring: save and invest a lot of your income. Start growing the gap between what you spend and what you earn, also known as your...

Commitment to Our Readers In early February, J.P. Morgan announced the unusual step of importing $4 billion of gold bullion from London into the U.S. It rarely makes sense to physically move that much gold, because it’s so heavy and expensive to fly. But J.P. Morgan — the world’s largest bullion dealer — clearly has their reasons. To begin with, the announcement came on the heels of tariff announcements by President Donald Trump. But the numbers also added up: New York gold futures shot up...

Commitment to Our Readers Think millionaires live debt-free? Think again. Some millionaires still opt to carry mortgage loans and auto loans. Some carry business loans — or even student loans. In fact, the Education Data Initiative reported that 58% of student loan debt is held by the top two quintiles of income earners. Take Peter Landis, chief marketing officer of Noble House Buyers, who prioritizes investing over debt paydown. “With low interest rates on my loans, I realized I could get a...

Commitment to Our Readers Most investors think of risk and returns one-dimensionally, as a line: as returns get higher, so does risk in lockstep. More sophisticated investors understand that investments actually have many dimensions. Beyond risk and returns, other dimensions include liquidity, time commitment, minimum investment, required expertise, personal values, tax advantages and more. For example, I’ve seen plenty of high-return, low-risk investments — that require a $50,000 minimum...