So I have considerable savings (401K, Brokerage Account) that I spent 30 years building that are 100% stock based. I am not wealthy.
My wife and I have taken 4 major vacations in the last 26 years (2 diving trips, a disney cruise and a trip to Disney.
I drove my Toyota Highlander for 20 years, my wife is on year 15 of her Toyota highlander. When my Toyota died, I bought a 4 year old Lexus for $24K.
I paid $100 -$200 extra on my mortgage for 20+ years and paid it off.
I am fortunate to have a 401K. I have done everything in my power to put in enough to get a company match....sometimes that was 6%, sometimes I could do 10%.
I started my brokerage account in 2004 with ShareBuilder. I put $100 a month in and bought partial shares of multiple stocks. I reinvested all the dividends. I signed up for a cash back rewards credit card. I put all my bills that I have to pay (till the day I die) on this card. This is things like utilities, gas, groceries, phone, internet. I pay it off every month...this is non-negotiable, because it is BILLS, not discretionary spending. For most people this is $1000's a year and will be there FOREVER. I took the cash back and invested in my brokerage account. This brokerage acct has grown to over $250K, with $7K in dividends annually. I pay taxes yearly on that dividend income. I estimate that at least 40-50% of that total is from growth and dividend reinvestment from the FREE money I got from paying my MUST PAY bills. Everyone on the planet has non-discretionary bills they pay and with some discipline, can use this system. Maybe not the additional $100 a month, but the free cash from bill payments. Even poor people have bills so they too can be stock investors, even if it is only $100-$200 annually. Do that for 20+ years and you will be surprised at the returns....on FREE money.
I have sacrificed time and time again to build up my net worth drip, by drip, by drip. The 401K value is nice, but it was built on a 30 year plan, day by day, week by week, year by year that I had to sacrifice to build. I will not tell you how much I have in my 401K, but is puts me squarely in the target of someone who is rich