Can a plumber get rich? Can a secretary get rich? Can a fast food restaurant employee get rich? Can a cashier get rich? Can a janitor get rich?

Yes.

Wait, but how can these people get rich? Is that even possible? How can they do that?

Try Googling “(Your Job*) success story” You’ll almost always get a success story of a person who got rich even with minimum wage earnings.

Go ahead and try your profession.

Anyone can get rich. And yes, even if you’re on minimum wage, you can get rich. How? There are many ways! For one, we always advise on taking the big jump and start a business. That’s one of the riskiest but also the fastest way to get rich. If you fail, you can try again especially if you’re in your younger years. But what if you have no knack for business? Is it possible to get rich even if you’re just an employee?

Yes.

Let’s check out the story of a janitor who became a millionaire.

A janitor named Ronald Read shocked his family when he left a whopping $8 million USD when he died. Of this amount, he gave $1.2 million to Brooks Memorial Library, $4.8 million to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and $2 million to his step-children. How did a janitor accumulate so much wealth? How can he possibly gain this much without having a business or any other job? How can a high school graduate out invest more educated men?

Let’s see Ronald Read’s story first and then analyze what he’s done right and what we can do to be like him.

Ronald Read grew up in a poor family. He had to hitchhike or walk 4 mi (6.4 kms) to his high school.

His work experience:

– served the US Army
– gas station attendant
– mechanic
– janitor

First sentence of Ronald’s Wikipedia entry:

Ronald James Read (October 23, 1921 – June 2, 2014) was an American philanthropist, investor, janitor, and gas station attendant.

Hobbies:

Chopping wood so he can save on electricity or gas, stamp and coin collecting. He owned a used Toyota Yaris.

Investment Strategy:

Buying blue chip stocks that paid dividends. His portfolion included:

Johnson & Johnson
Procter & Gamble
JPMorgan Chase
General Electricity
Dow Chemical Company

He held on to his stocks long term, even in the market slump of the 60s and the 70s.

He skipped on tech stocks and didn’t suffer the dot.com bubble.

He did get a hit when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008. But he owned 95 stocks so the loss did very minimal effect on his portfolio. He reinvested the dividends and poured most of his savings into stocks. He frequented the library (thus a huge donation to Brooks Memorial Library ).

Aside from investing consistently, what did he do to get rich?

Ronald Read lived modestly. Even with millions in his bank account, he didn’t splurge in clothes. He’s known to have still used pins to keep his clothes intact. His family, friends, and neighbors never knew he was rich. He let other people offer to buy him his meals because they were thinking he was poor. He skipped parking his car near his lawyer and opted to park where there weren’t any parking meters albeit, he had to walk (he’s used to walking anyway).

What can we learn here?

– Any job can be a success story.
– If you live below your means, you will have savings, a lot of savings.
– Invest your savings and be consistent. Don’t be afraid of market slumps or crashes. 
– Educate yourself.
– Diversify your portfolio. Even if one of your investments goes sour, you still have a lot more earning ones.
– Give back to the community.
– The things that can make you truly happy aren’t always material things. Everything is in your head.
– Invest in things you understand. 
– Make investing a habit.

What else did you learn from Ronald Reads? Did you try Googling your profession? Do you think you have the potential to be a millionaire? 

Tell us what you think!