Dear DTA,
I’d like to be wealthy one day. I’m starting with basically nothing. How long will it take me to get rich?
-Eric F.
Hi, Eric.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write in.
Seeing as how you’re just starting out, I think you’ve come to the right place.
We provide nothing but free high-quality content. No matter the day of the week, you’re going to find actionable articles here that give you tremendous ideas at no cost to you. It’s a deal you can’t beat.
Moreover, we take the time to personally reach out to our readers. Just like I’m doing right now.
First, there’s no exact definition for that.
My idea of rich might be very different from yours.
In addition, I don’t know your means.
I have no idea about how much money you can earn, save, and invest.
That said, I can point you in the right direction so that you feel comfortable walking down the path to real, sustainable wealth.
Before we get started with some of this information, I just want to advise you to be very cautious regarding any idea or strategy that condones anything close to a “get-rich-quick” scheme.
If anyone tries to sell you or tell you something that makes getting rich sound quick and easy, run. Fast.
Becoming wealthy can happen for an ordinary person.
But it requires some hard work and patience.
How much patience?
Well, I can tell you that I went from below broke at 27 years old to financially free at 33.
It took me six years to become, by my definition, fairly wealthy.
Wealthy enough to quit my job and live the life of my dreams, anyway.
I broke down that entire journey in my Early Retirement Blueprint.
Make sure to check that out.
Now, that’s just my path. Your path might look quite a bit different.
However, I do think there’s a lot to glean here – I worked a regular, middle-class job. I started off with no special knowledge, income, or education. So that should give you plenty of hope and inspiration.
A major aspect of this journey was how I went about investing.
You can’t invest what you don’t have.
Make sure to get your income and spending under control before you start investing. The more capital you have, the more you can invest and the faster you can build wealth.
But the strategy I used to build my wealth, which I think is a fantastic strategy for anyone to use, is dividend growth investing.
What is dividend growth investing?
This is a long-term investment strategy that advocates buying stock in high-quality companies that pay their shareholders reliable and growing cash dividend payments.
Sounds simple?
That’s because it is.
However, while it is simple, it still requires you to take action.
That money isn’t going to save itself. And those stocks don’t buy themselves.
This means you have to work hard, live below your means, and routinely make the right financial choices.
In my experience, one of those routine “right choices” is buying high-quality dividend growth stocks.
Fellow contributor Dave Van Knapp did a great job of explaining exactly what DGI is, why it’s so effective, and how to use it to your advantage.
His Dividend Growth Investing Lessons lay it all out there.
This is the strategy I’ve used to build my FIRE Fund, which is my real-life and real-money stock portfolio.
The Fund generates the five-figure and growing passive dividend income I need to pay my bills and live without a job.
It’s been built on the tenets of DGI, as I’ve gone about systematically building up positions in world-class businesses that reward me with my fair share of the growing profit these companies produce.
I say “my fair share” because shareholders are ultimately the collective owners of any publicly traded company.
These companies are out there working hard and making a lot of money. You may as well get your hands on some of that and build wealth and passive income for yourself.
Take a look at the Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Challengers list, for example.
It contains information on more than 800 US-listed stocks that have raised their dividends each year for at least the last five consecutive years.
These are all dividend growth stocks. And many are blue-chip stocks that have been making people rich for generations.
You could jump on some “hot trend” that could make you rich or poor, just like you can go to Vegas and bet on black. Or you can invest in a collection of phenomenal businesses and watch the growing cash dividends roll in.
I think the right choice is clear.
Again, “rich” is a term that’s up to you define.
But you basically can’t help but become wealthy over time if you regularly save your money and invest in great companies that pay you growing dividends.
How long that will take is up to you.
The key is to start as soon as possible. Then save and invest as much as possible, as often as possible.
Once you are ready to invest, we provide some of the best actionable ideas around.
My Undervalued Dividend Growth Stock of the Week series provides a compelling long-term dividend growth stock investment idea every Sunday.
These ideas are vetted for quality and valuation. Then I compare my findings against the analysis from professional stock analysts, which means you’re getting multiple perspectives on the same idea.
There’s nothing stopping you from becoming as rich as you want to be.
But there’s something you have to do.
You have to start. Today.
I wish you luck and success.
Jason Fieber
Disclaimer: Jason Fieber is not a licensed financial advisor, tax professional, or stock broker. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before investing any of your money. If your money is not FDIC insured, it may decline in value. To protect the privacy of our readers, any names published in this article are under aliases. In addition, text may be edited, omitted or paraphrased for grammar or length.