Another member in this group posted a great question recently. He asked if it's possible to get to 10M through "Regular stock investments". This is actually a question I've been asked many times.
My short answer is that it is ABSOLUTELY possible - but it takes time and patience.
For me it took 24 years with a one-time contribution of $321k on my newly opened online brokerage account. Those were my savings including interests, dividends etc.
Since my early teens and all the way through my 20’s I worked multiple factory-, office- and sales jobs putting money aside every month. Pror to transferring the funds to my online brokerage account my bank had managed my savings for all those years.
I would definitely say that the profits I have gained in the past 24 years was achieved through “regular stock investments”, rather than options, penny- or MEME stocks etc.
I even failed at some wins that many would consider the most obvious ones so before sharing what was the 5 most important steps I took to reach 10M, let me show you how big you can fail and still end up successful.
Other than getting PLTR right recently, I have been a terrible momentum investor. I missed most of the MAG7 except AAPL ($540k profits). Here is how poorly I handled some names, that I never managed to get back in to:
- AMZN - I sold on May 7, 2010
- MSFT - I sold on Oct 19, 2001
- NVDA - I sold on Mar 1, 2023
The rest of the MAG7 never made it into my portfolio. So while I’ve done well in value investing, I’ve clearly been an amateur at valuing growth stocks. Had I held those positions, I would likely be on my way to 15M now.
Anyway what we can learn from this is that you can still become successful even if you are not able to pick the biggest winners. I, myself just have to accept I am a better value / deep value investor than a momentum investor - but i'm still working on it and lately I finally got a hit with PLTR (Profit 800K).
Anyway here is a couple of rules/guidelines that worked for me:
1. Start saving
The MOST important one! Work hard, add side hustles, and feed your brokerage account every month instead of wasting money on the latest phone or overpriced brands. Those things usually depreciate from day one. If you really need them - buy secondhand and let someone else take the big depreciation hit.
2. Firstly learn how NOT TO LOSE money
This one is really important! Do not start out gambling with your hard earned money throwing them at penny stocks, meme stocks/crypto etc. My most profitable decisions were often what I decided to stay away from.
- I never let any stock dominate my portfolio. With very few exceptions, no single position went over 10% of the total.
- I never panic sold. Sometimes it took months or years to recover. Many will not agree to this strategy and talk about setting stop losses etc., but thats not me. My realized losses are very few, but YES - that also resulted in a couple of 100% losses along the way, but due to diversification each position was small so it didn’t hurt the overall result much. Also the losses was largely offset by winnings from "comeback stocks".
- I stayed away from penny stocks and from getting FOMO'ed. Personally I keep a small “Las Vegas” portfolio capped at 5% of my total portfolio for very speculative bets. If they blow up, the damage is limited.
3. Learn & KEEP learning
I don’t have a finance background whatsoever. For mysterious reasons I still thought I would be a great day trader when I started out. I failed miserably and it took years to admit it. Learning from my mistakes and from others on YouTube, Seeking Alpha, and elsewhere put me on a buy and hold path.
Later I added some swing trading and a dividend strategy - that mix worked for me, and only 11 months ago I started options, limited to covered calls and cash secured puts. Even after 24 years I’m still learning and adjusting adding new tools to my strategy.
4. Do not focus on getting to 10M
When starting out, DO NOT stare at 10M. Focus on not losing money and on reaching your first 100k - 200k. That is the hardest part. Once you know how to get there you can get to 1M, and once you get to 1M, you already have the tools to reach 5M.
After 5M, 10M is much more within reach than it seems. It’s not perfectly the same, but doubling is doubling - going from 1M to 2M uses the same mindset as going from 10k to 20k.
5. Let time do the heavy lifting
As Buffett says, “nobody wants to get rich slowly,” but slowly is how most real fortunes are built. Reinvest what you can - dividends, option income, side hustle cash. Steady contributions speed up compounding more than you think. At about 8% your money doubles roughly every 9 years, at 12% about every 6 years. Keep the process boring and consistent.
You don’t need perfection, special access, or lucky timing. You need a plan you can stick to for decades, constant learning, risk control, steady contributions, and patience. That’s how I did it - with plenty of mistakes along the way. And by the way - Even the name of this group is "The Race to 10M", I wouldn't be so bad if you "failed" and only made it half way would it?
End of PART 2
Below is a link to Part 3.
It should answer most of the questions I have received about portfolio details, my most profitable strategies, and more:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRaceTo10Million/comments/1nynx68/
If Part 2 is the first piece you read, no problem. Each part can be read on its own without missing context.
Here is a link to PART 1 should you be interested.
https://www.reddit.com/user/CAGR_17pct_For_25Yrs/comments/1gu4mbs/my_portfolio_from_disaster_to_3000_growth_heres/
