There’s simply so much wealth building advice out there that it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed. If you ask ChatGPT "how to become a millionaire," you’re likely to get a flood of endless money hacks, conflicting advice and complex economic theory.

But you don’t need any of that to get into the seven-figure club. In fact, you can chart a course to the $1 million milestone by simply focusing on three essential numbers. Here’s a closer look at these crucial wealth building blocks.

Don’t miss

• I’m 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don’t panic. Here are 6 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast)
• Robert Kiyosaki warns of a ‘Greater Depression’ coming to the US — with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 ‘easy-money’ assets will bring in ‘great wealth’. How to get in now
• Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it

Net worth

You can’t make intentional progress if you don’t know where you currently sit. That’s why the most basic number you should be tracking on a consistent basis is your net worth.

Although calculating your net worth should be relatively easy, most Americans wouldn’t know where to start. Only 54% of those surveyed by Pew Research in 2023 said they knew a great deal or a fair amount about personal finances, which means nearly half of all adults could be struggling to measure their wealth and financial status accurately.

Fortunately, you don’t need sophisticated tools or AI to track your net worth. A simple spreadsheet that lists all of your assets and liabilities and calculates the difference between the two should suffice.

Savings Rate

If you’re trying to build wealth, tracking the amount of money you or your family save in any given year is an essential task. In fact, if you can monitor and raise your savings rate high enough to meet your savings goal, you can make your journey to millionaire status a lot shorter.

Read more: You don’t have to be a millionaire to gain access to this $1B private real estate fund. In fact, you can get started with as little as $10 — here’s how

Unfortunately, most American families are struggling to save much. At the end of May 2025, the personal savings rate was just 4.5%, according to the St.Louis Federal Reserve.

A family earning $100,000 a year would save just $4,500 a year at this pace and would take 222 years to get to $1 million in savings. But, by contrast, if the same family can raise their annual savings rate to 20%, it would take them just 50 years to get to that target.

This is why tracking and boosting your savings rate is so crucial for wealth building and why so many millionaires and billionaires are notoriously frugal.

Rate of return

The final ingredient in the wealth creation recipe is the rate of return on your savings.

Where you place your savings is just as important as how much you save. If you’re stacking $20,000 a year under a mattress, you will take several decades to get to millionaire status and by the time you get there, inflation would have drastically reduced the value of a million dollars anyway. Instead, if you invest in robust growth stocks, real estate, or fixed income opportunities, you could get to the seven-figure club a lot faster.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, for example, has delivered an annualized return of 14.55% since its inception in 2010. If you assume a similar return going forward and invest $1,000 a month, you could reach the $1 million target in less than 20 years.

For someone with a diversified portfolio spread across bonds, real estate, stocks and cryptocurrency, it’s essential to measure the total combined return on all your assets every year to see if you’re making good progress towards your goal.

With these strategies in mind, you’re well on your way to joining the millionaire club.

What to read next

• Financial aid only funds about 27% of US college expenses — but savvy parents are using this 3-minute move to cover 100% of those costs
• Here are 5 ‘must have’ items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you?
• How much cash do you plan to keep on hand after you retire? Here are 3 of the biggest reasons you’ll need a substantial stash of savings in retirement
• This is how American car dealers use the ‘4-square method’ to make big profits off you — and how you can ensure you pay a fair price for all your vehicle costs

Money doesn’t have to be complicated — sign up for the free Moneywise newsletter for actionable finance tips and news you can use. Join now.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.