What is a Virtual Millionaire?
So, just what is a Virtual Millionaire anyway?
You might think of a "millionaire" as someone who makes a million dollars a year… or that has a million dollars in assets.
What about someone that earns the same income a millionaire would make – and as a result is able to live the SAME lifestyle that a millionaire lives?
Virtual Millionaire is a term I first heard about from a previous business partner, Kelly Reese, that describes an individual that has zero debt and a passive or near passive income of at least 60,000 a year. He said that if a person has the income of a millionaire, he IS a millionaire!
If you can produce $60,000 in a year in dependable passive income, this would be the equivalent of having $1,000,000 in the bank at 6%.
For example, if you had $1,000,000 in the bank earning 6% interest, you would have $60,000 of yearly income. This income is known as PASSIVE income. It is called passive because you weren't active in the production of it. In other words, you did not work to get it. Yes, you worked to save the $1,000,000, but the income from the $1,000,000 keeps coming in without work.
A person with $1,000,000 in the bank could spend 6 months traveling the world and they would still make $60,000 each and every year and still have their $1,000,000 in the bank.
Which approach makes more sense to you?
- Save all you can in the bank to amass $1,000,000, or
- Create a passive income source that produces $60,000 a year?
I decided several years ago that rather than working at a J.O.B. with a somewhat fixed income that only raised slowly over time, I would focus my business in a different direction. I decided that I would pursue the creation of multiple streams of passive INCOME, not the Creation of wealth or Assets.
You see, if I could produce $60,000 in a year in dependable passive income, this would be the equivalent of having $1,000,000 in the bank at 6%.
I figured it would be much easier to create the lifestyle of a millionaire by focusing on creating passive income rather than working for a paycheck in a attempt to accumulate assets that will one day take care of my income needs.
In the years following my decision to pursue the virtual millionaire approach, another series of events occurred that made me even happier I had not continued down the road of traditional saving. 
Bank savings rates have dropped to around only 1%, making the annual income from a $1,000,000 savings account only $10,000. Now an annual income of $60,000 is closer to a virtual six-millionaire, and reaching the virtual one-millionaire level is much easier. In fact, just ONE income stream from ONE business has become equivalent to the income from a $1,000,000 savings account.
For most people that have bought into the traditional way of thinking about financial independence, they work and save, and far too frequently deprive themselves of enjoying their life NOW.
When I was following the traditional methods of working and saving, I found myself in the same situation the vast majority of people find themselves in… they can't save. Instead, they go deeply in debt to finance their lifestyle and the high cost of interest makes it almost impossible for them to dig out of debt in order to finally begin a savings and investment program.
It's far better to hire yourself and invest in your own company instead of buying stock in someone else's company. Instead of trying save and invest to grow assets that you can some day live off, build your own business to produce an income that you can live off NOW and later.
I've discovered as I've pursued this approach that the Virtual Millionaire approach is not only far easier, but also much more enjoyable. Imagine what your life would be like if you were totally debt free and you have at least $60,000 a year coming in year after year. You would be amazed at how much more joy you would have in your life.
Steps to Becoming a Virtual Millionaire
The first step to becoming a virtual millionaire is to completely eliminate debt. That includes home mortgages, car loans, student loans, and of course credit cards. The interest you are paying on debt will enslave you and make it impossible to ever enjoy true financial independence. Do everything you can to first totally wipe out your debt and make a commitment to NOT borrow any more.
For most living in today's society, not borrowing money may seem alien to them… and of course that's what the banks want you to believe. But, living within your means and making purchases with cash will unleash a freedom you may have never experienced before. Sure, you may have to defer some gratifications, but in the end you will be much happier and wealthier.
The other step in the virtual millionaire approach is to place all your emphasis on creating a business that produces the income stream you will need for debt elimination and for early retirement. Explore some of the opportunities I have listed on this site and choose one to begin your virtual millionaire building process.
DO NOT go into further debt to start this process. There are far too many opportunities you can start for a very low cost and you can easily find those few dollars in your current budget if you take a serious look. Once you get that first business into profit, take those profits and snowball into another business or into business building tools.
Once you begin to experience the virtual millionaire approach, you won't need any encouragement to continue. You will be so excited that you will be unstoppable. There is nothing to stop you from working as hard as you choose to continually grow your income.
Get started today by concentrating on becoming a virtual millionaire. It is far easier to produce the income of a millionaire than it is to create the assets of a millionaire. And remember that millionaires DON'T spend their assets, they spend their income. It is that income that provides the quality of life.
