My name is Ryan Taylor from Chicago, IL. My philosophy is that building wealth and becoming rich is not as complicated as commercial organizations want you to think it is. In fact, becoming wealthy is just a matter of following the basic, fundamental rules of money.

While your income level can help you financial goals quicker, a high income is not necessary to get where you want to be. As long as you have developed sound money habits and have the discipline to manage your personal finances properly, there is no doubt that you too can become rich.

Growing up in a low-income family, but being immersed in a rich environment, I made a decision at a young age to become wealthy (see Getting Real About My Personal Finances). My single-parent mom worked extremely hard, and my three siblings and I got jobs at very young ages just to be able to get by day-to-day. In the meantime, my friends came from incredibly wealthy families and never had a money worry in their lives. It made me wonder why my family, who worked so hard, could not get ahead while others had what appeared to be a bottomless piggy bank. I realized at a young age that being rich was simply a decision, and I decided that the only money problem I wanted was to have too much money.

As an adolescent I firmly believed that you can do anything you put your mind to. If someone else can do something, there’s no reason that I could not train myself to do the same. With this in mind, nothing was going to stop me from obtaining my money goals. I literally used to day dream what it would be like to not have any limitations due to money and how I was going to make that happen. I remember at one point actually designing a machine that printed money.

Needless to say, I took a major interest in understanding how wealth was created at a young age. I tried to soak up as much info as possible by reading, studying and listening to all the investing and “money mentors.”

Years later I’m still here learning, but now I’m a practicing accumulator of wealth. I am by no means qualified as somebody that should be giving investing or personal finance advice. I just enjoy the game of making money and figured by documenting my thoughts I am more likely to put them into action. By maintaining a personal finance website, I am also forced to stay current, alert and educated on the topic, which hopefully translates to the ability to accumulate more money.

What I have learned over the years is that there is nothing very surprising about how people become self-made millionaires. Like weight loss and fitness, building wealth is simple in theory, but easier said than done. Becoming wealthy takes discipline, a bit of patience, and the willpower to not let emotions get in the way of your money decisions.

By collectively discussing the behaviors, beliefs and habits of the affluent, we can develop the habits of millionaires and achieve our financial goals together.

I enjoy hearing your feedback, so be sure to contact me or leave comments on my articles to stimulate discussion. Remember to subscribe to the RSS feed or by email to receive updates on new articles posted at Millionaire Money Habits.

photo by Chris Gin

Note: Nothing on this site should be considered advice, but rather my personal opinions and the opinion of guest authors. Please do your own research and consult with a trusted financial adviser before embarking on any investment endeavors.