4 Ways To Get Rich Without People Noticing

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There are two kinds of rich people in the world. The “visibly wealthy” actively advertise their wealth, blasting social media with their extravagant lifestyles and owning “show-off” possessions, like luxury sports cars, yachts and jewelry. The other type lives relatively frugally, enjoying the occasional extravagance but generally just keeping to themselves.

In some cases, the latter category may have more wealth than the former, as living in the fast lane is one of the easiest ways to lose wealth. Just ask billionaire Warren Buffett, who still lives in the relatively modest Nebraska house he bought in 1958. Certainly, living a modest lifestyle like Buffett can help you get rich without people noticing, but Buffett also made his billions on the back of a stellar investment career.

For more easily accessible ways to quietly build wealth, try these options. 

Invest Early

If you’re looking to become a millionaire, it might be as easy as starting to invest at an early age. Over a multidecade work career, investments have time to benefit from compounding. After a few decades of investing consistently and reinvesting your gains, you might be surprised to see how much you end up with in your nest egg. 

Imagine, for example, that you start investing at age 20, targeting retirement at age 65. Investing even $250 per month and earning a relatively modest 7% annual return will grow your account balance to about $948,000, just shy of $1 million, per the Ramsey Solutions investment calculator. If you put all that money into an S&P 500 index fund and earn 10% per year, which is roughly the index’s long-term average, you’d have over $2.6 million.

Let that sink in a bit. Investing just $250 per month over the long run could potentially get you a multimillion-dollar account value by age 65. 

Boost Your Investments Along With Your Income

An even better way to become a millionaire even before retirement is to sock away more money into your retirement accounts as you earn more. Far too many Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck in part because whenever their income increases, they also start spending more. It’s an understandable phenomenon, as most people feel they deserve to spend and enjoy the money they work so hard for. But in terms of building real, long-term wealth, it’s a mistake. 

Imagine instead if when your income rises from $50,000 per year to $70,000 per year that you invest $15,000 of that increase. That still leaves you with $5,000 more per year to spend on yourself, but it also shores up your long-term wealth-building plan.

Investing that $15,000 per year alone — not even counting the monthly contributions you should already be making — would result in an additional $949,000 in your bank account after just 20 years of earning a 10% annual return. Even investing half of that increase — $7,500 every year — and earning a 7% annual return still translates into an additional $325,000 in your pocket after 20 years.

Build Passive Income Streams

Passive income is a revenue stream that isn’t tied to the hours of work you put in. Rental income and investment income are two common examples. While your job requires that you trade hours of your time for your salary, passive income comes in whether you tend to it or not.

One of billionaire Warren Buffett’s famous quotes is, “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” Passive income not only allows you to gain monetarily with little effort but also is a way to get rich quietly.

Keep It Simple

The same supposedly rich people who are bragging on the internet about their lavish lifestyles often boast about making it big through speculative, “hip” investments like bitcoin or private equity. And while there are no doubt some cryptocurrency millionaires, it’s certainly not the “easy” way to build wealth.

Warren Buffett built a $149 billion fortune — enough to make him the 11th-wealthiest person on the planet — by buying boring stocks. Like many wealthy investors, Buffett believes that slow and steady wins the race.

Buy quality companies and hold them for the long haul, and don’t get seduced by the latest fad. They may run hot for a while, but they typically burn out over the long run. Some of the flashier types might look down on you for not investing in “the next big thing,” but you’ll be able to sleep at night while your wealth slowly builds in your “boring” investments. 

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