My First $1 Million: Attorney, 55, Rhode Island
His advice: "Start a business with regular income and the potential for the occasional home run. Keep it small and profitable — don't build a monster you have to feed."
Welcome to Kiplinger's My First $1 Million series, in which we hear from people who have made $1 million. They're sharing how they did it and what they're doing with it.
This time, we hear from a married 55-year-old attorney in Rhode Island who's retired but working part-time. It took him a while to find his footing, but he credits his mom for providing the foundation that helped him get there. (Happy Mother's Day weekend to all the great moms out there!)
To learn what the millionaires featured in this series have taught us, check out the article 5 Key Insights We Learned From 50 First-Time Millionaires.
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See our earlier profiles, including a writer in New England, a literacy interventionist in Colorado, a semiretired entrepreneur in Nashville and an events industry CEO in Northern New Jersey. (See all of the profiles here.)
Each profile features one person or couple, who will always be completely anonymous to readers, answering questions to help our readers learn from their experience.
These features are intended to provide a window into how different people build their savings — they're not intended to provide financial advice.
If you want to hear more about My First $1 Million, you can check out this podcast with bestselling author and tax attorney Toby Mathis:
The Basics
How did you make your first $1 million?
My journey began as the sole child of young divorced mom with no education who could barely make ends meet. My father disappeared when I was about 1 to 2 years old, and they made it official soon after, but my mom was able to hold it together enough to keep the house and raise me in a good neighborhood.
High school was a disaster for me, but I managed to barely graduate. Community college and a steady job working with troubled kids occupied my next 10 years.
Then I flipped the switch. Not sure why. I guess it was just time. I met a great admissions officer and blew the doors off to get my BA degree.
Law school was an obvious choice, as I enjoyed the debate. I was about 30 by the time my real career began. Then the first job took another five from me.
My journey to a million really starts here, as I opened my own firm, but every well-built house sits on a foundation, so I figured I'd share.
I made my first million very slowly. I struggled just to pay the mortgage and the rent at the office.
My mom let my wife and me live in her basement while we built our business. We focused on two areas — short money transactions that paid consistent small wins and big long-term litigation payouts.
I've had some amazing clients with some terrible, terrible damages over the years, and I didn't take any guff from insurance adjusters. They needed to either pay my clients the total value, or we were going to trial.
The small cases, constant cases, kept me disciplined economically.
I never wanted a monster to feed, so I kept it all small internally. I learned early on that you never know how long a really big case will take to resolve. The big wins — as they appeared — allowed me to get debt-free, make large investments in the market, diversify my assets.
I have a talent for equities, too, and I've been very lucky in building a portfolio.
My wife has family with money, and I guess that always loomed in my mind as a safety net someday, so I was probably more risky in my investments, but nothing crazy — just solid companies with earnings or a seductive growth story.
I read a lot, too, about how "the rich" do it and tried to mimic what I could to get there.
What are you doing with the money?
Mostly, it sits in a brokerage account I manage as a hobby. It is spread out mostly among stocks, but some crypto (not good at the moment, but still in the black), Roth, 401(k), HSAs, gold, etc.
I bought my office building and some raw land close by home for my kids to build on someday, if they want.
I have my mom's house now — maybe someday I'll gift it to one of the kids.
I helped my wife start a nonprofit to support our daughter's Scouting America troop. You would be surprised at the cost to make it sustainable.
We vacation regularly all over the world with family and friends.
I like to focus on UNESCO World Heritage sites, but I love Italian food and drink, so sometimes that wins out! lol.
The Fun Stuff
Did you do anything to celebrate?
I did not, specifically. I told my wife, but she kinda already knew we were doing OK.
What is the best part of making $1 million?
Less stress.
Did your life change?
Yes and no. It takes all the worry away about one's family's immediate future.
Does anyone know you're a millionaire?
I've told too many people, mostly because I want them to succeed, to guide them and help them understand the way to get here. My wife tells me to mind my own business! lol
Did you retire early?
Yes. Kinda work now because people seek me out.
Looking Back
Anything you would do differently?
Probably high school. I burned a lot of bridges. I was very defensive in my youth.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
It's funny — I used to tell my high school vice principal, who I visited often, that someday I would be a millionaire.
He never quashed the statement on me, just nodded.
I've always been motivated to get where I am, and I shake my head all the time about the decisions people make with their money. I guess it goes back to my childhood, albeit that seems a bit too simple.
Did you read any books that helped you on your journey?
No. Apple News articles mostly. CNBC, Bloomberg …
Did you work with a financial adviser?
I've always been interested (in managing my own money). I always had the 401(k) from that first job.
My law school roommate took me to open my first brokerage account. I was hooked on it.
I have always made my own decisions — mostly with individual stocks, and I always beat the market significantly without paying the 2% fees, but I did go get an MBA in finance so I'd have some background on building a solid portfolio.
Did anyone help you early on?
My mom. Keeping our house in that simple and safe neighborhood was a big deal — I believe — in keeping my fingertip-grip on the bottom rung of the ladder of my life.
Without that base, without that vertical visual, I would not have had the time to grow up slowly and reach for that second rung and thereon.
Looking Ahead
Any advice for others trying to make their first $1 million?
Start a business with regular income and the potential for the occasional home run. Keep it small and profitable — don't build a monster you have to feed.
Educate yourself on how others have done it and mimic them.
Be careful of financial adviser fees. They can add up.
Start early. Start your kids early.
Look at the long term but spend a little along the way, too.
Put as little cash as possible in depreciating assets, like pickup trucks, fancy cars and clothes, until money becomes less valuable to you, then spend on generational quality.
Do you have an estate plan?
I have a simple estate plan. I'm still young, our kids are still young, but I am beginning to think about how best to provide our wealth to our kids and, importantly, for me, generations beyond my vision.
I refuse to have this gift squandered. I'm thinking about a sort of a generational flywheel estate setup. It is still rough, but I'm forming an idea/plan.
What do you wish you'd known …
Before you retired? There are not enough friends in the same position. Many are still struggling day to day, or they like the day-to-day struggle. I'm not truly sure.
When you first started saving? That it would all pay off.
If you have made $1 million or more and would like to be anonymously featured in a future My First $1 Million profile, please fill out and submit this Google Form or send an email to MyFirstMillion@futurenet.com to receive the questions. We welcome all stories that add up to $1 million or more in your accounts, although we will use discretion in which stories we choose to publish, to ensure we share a diversity of experiences. We also might want to verify that you really do have $1 million. Your answers may be edited for clarity.
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