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TOM@RICHHABITS.NET
Yes—according to my five-year Rich Habits Study that tracked 233 self-made millionaires against 128 lower-income individuals, 28% of millionaires forged their wealth after age 50. The data is unambiguous: late-blooming multimillionaires are not anomalies; they are a norm.
My Rich Habits research identifies four proven Paths to Wealth:
- Saver-Investor Path – Live below your means, save 20%+ of income, and compound in broad-market index funds.
- Company Climber Path – Rise to senior executive (VP or above) inside a large, profitable corporation.
- Virtuoso Path – Become a top-decile expert in a high-demand skill (medicine, law, engineering, etc.).
- Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path – Pursue a big dream by building a scalable business around it.
Paths 1–3 require decades of runway the 50-plus individual no longer possesses.
- Saver-Investor Path: In my Rich Habits Study it took the Saver-Investors an average of 32 years to accumulate an average of $3.3 million in wealth.
- Company Climber Path: The average C-suite Company Climber took 20 years to accumulate an average of $3.4 million in wealth.
- Virtuoso Path: The Virtuoso Path typically requires elite credentials (MD, JD, PhD) plus an average of 21 year to accumulate an average of $4 million in wealth.
Only the Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path compresses wealth creation into a 12-year sprint. The data shows 61% of post-50 millionaires in my study followed this route.
Why?
Entrepreneurship leverages experience, wisdom, asymmetric upside, and robust cash flow.
The Post-50 Dreamer Blueprint
- Inventory Your Advantages – At 50+, you possess 25–30 years of knowledge, skill, wisdom and relationships. My Rich Habits Study found 74% of entrepreneurs monetized an expertise honed in a prior career (e.g., a 52-year-old corporate marketer launching a niche SaaS agency).
- Build a Scalable “Dream Business” – 79% of post-50 millionaires created businesses that required low startup capital (<$50k) but generated high margins (40%+). Examples: consulting firms, digital products, franchised service models.
- Exploit the 12-Year Math – The average Dreamer-Entrepreneur in the study hit $620k annual profit by year 12, which helped them build their wealth.
- Adopt the 5 Rich Habits Accelerators
- Daily Self-Education: 30–60 minutes reading industry-specific material.
- Relentless Lead Generation: 81% made 5+ outbound contacts daily.
- Risk Mitigation: 68% kept a 6-month cash runway.
- Mentor Leverage: 93% had 1–3 mentors who shortened learning curves.
- Process Discipline: 67% followed a written business plan updated at least annually.
After 50, the wealth clock is unforgiving. Saver-Investor, Company Climber, and Virtuoso paths require time – time you don’t have.
The Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path is the only plausible route that can help you amass wealth in a much shorter time period.
Start by self-assessing your advantages, find a low-capital/high-margin business model to roll out, and execute the five Rich Habits accelerators daily.
The Rich Habits data is clear – 12 years is enough time to become a multi-millionaire, f you choose the Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path to wealth.
Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life”, “Effort-Less Wealth”, “Change Your Habits Change Your Life”, “Rich Habits Poor Habits”, “Rich Habits: The Routines Millionaires Use Daily to Build Wealth”, and “Rich Habits Wealth Academy”.
