I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: The Money Habit That Made Me $2M Richer in 6 Years
Written by
Cindy Lamothe
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Ever wonder what actually moves the needle for people who build real wealth? Not the flashy hacks or the overnight wins — but the tiny, almost boring habits that quietly stack up over time.
UBS Wealth Management reported that, on average, the U.S. gained more than a thousand new millionaires each day in 2024. You can be part of that trend, too.
GOBankingRates spoke to Mircea Dima, the CEO, CTO, founder and software engineer at AlgoCademy, who shared the money habit that led to their wealth, and how you can emulate it.
The Rule That Built $2 Million in 6 Years
“The financial practice that had made me over $2 million wealthier over six years was unremitting investment in my individual technical expertise set,” Dima revealed.
He said this didn’t come about by fashionable certification or conferences, but by problem solving repetition and constructing systems that eradicated actual inefficiencies.
When he was in his twenties, he made a rule that any dollar that he did not use to survive or pay taxes had to either purchase him time or increase his leverage in engineering.
“That included until my own code-generated scalable income, to turn my back on passive investing,” Dima explained.
Five Hours a Day Turned Into Six Figures a Month
The above attributes assisted Dima to be disciplined since he saw each hour of learning as a seed.
“I developed trading algorithms, autocomplete systems and education systems. Most failed. However, all projects made me sharpen my mind until I could create AlgoCademy without venture capital,” he explained.
His platform is now generating six figures every month with almost zero marginal cost.
“It began by coding five hours a day even when the freelance clients ran dry,” Dima said.
Capitalize on Mastery Before Money
“When one desires a selling habit, capitalize on something before capital,” said Dima. “Precision does not follow passion, but wealth.”
He advised finding something tough, learning to master it and then commercializing the understanding. Capitalizing on mastery means putting in the work before expecting a payday.
It’s about tackling difficult skills, refining them through practice and then offering something truly valuable that others can’t easily replicate.
The focus isn’t on what’s trendy or easy — it’s on building expertise that sets you apart. When you commit to this process, wealth becomes a natural byproduct of competence, not a hope tied to fleeting enthusiasm.
Bottom Line
Building real wealth isn’t about shortcuts, flashy hacks or passive luck. It’s about consistently investing in yourself, mastering hard skills and turning that mastery into something others value.
As Dima shows, small, disciplined habits — like coding five hours a day or reinvesting every spare dollar into your own leverage — compound over time into scalable, lasting results.
Wealth follows precision and effort, not fleeting passion or trends.
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