I Retired in My 40s With Millions: 3 Wealth Rules That Worked — and 2 That Didn’t
With so much financial advice out there, it can be hard to cut through the noise. But that's exactly what Joseph S. Moore, Ph.D., an investor and historian, aimed to do while writing his book, "How To Get Rich in American History." By stress‑testing 300 years of American financial advice, Moore identified which rules reliably build wealth — and which ones don’t. By following the right rules, he became a multimillionaire and retired in his 40s.
MoneyLion spoke with Moore about the conventional financial advice that helped him build his wealth, and what advice he doesn't recommend following. Here's what he had to say.
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The Financial Strategies That Helped Me Build Wealth and Retire Early
Financial advice has changed a lot throughout history, so what is conventional today was unconventional in the past.
Saving 10% in stocks for 40 years would have failed to fund retirement in half of the historical scenarios in American history, even though that is standard wisdom today. The only savings rate that never failed at any point in time is nearly 40%. To some extent, that is what my wife and I did — and that is why the advice that worked best for me came from earlier eras.
Marry Well and Live Off One Salary While Investing the Other
A strong marriage gives you extra runway to take risks. For most of history, believe it or not, women also worked to create extra household income. Having the power of dual incomes, where one partner handles the living expenses and the other income goes to pay off student loans, save for a house or invest to leap ahead, is one of the hidden superpowers of the past.
That was standard wisdom 100 years ago, and it worked great for us.
Look For Oversized and Occasional Paydays
I was raised working class, where the conventional wisdom is to think about money in terms of how steady it is: weekly checks, monthly deposits. But to leap ahead financially, you need rare windfalls.
I started investing in real estate, looking for steady rent checks, but the margins on rental investing are shockingly low — 4% to 6%. The real money is made taking a home in disrepair, making it nice and livable, selling it a few years later, and rolling that into doing it again. I probably made over $1 million by finding beat-up houses that scared other people away.
Move More
In the 1800s, 1 in 3 Americans changed addresses every single year. Even in the 1950s, it was 1 in 5. Today, it is just 1 in 13!
Rewards go to the strivers, and sometimes striving means going where the opportunity is. When opportunities came at work for either of us, we said "yes" first and figured out how after. People talk about compound interest a lot, but the biggest compounding returns are in your career when you make the deposits early, and it pays out because your resume beats the other resumes.
Outdated Money Beliefs That No Longer Build Real Wealth
According to Moore, some conventional financial frameworks should be abandoned if you want to build real wealth.
The Dream of Generational Wealth
I’ve visited so many guru sessions where they promise to change your family tree. That dream is old. One 1875 bestseller told people buying bonds for 100 years “makes grandchildren millionaires.” You only needed a century!
But here is the reality: Tutors outperform trust funds. Generational wealth simply doesn’t last long because those who inherit it don’t understand how hard it was to build it. Of the infamous 1% we hear so much about, 90% of their grandchildren aren’t particularly wealthy. Over and over, the generations that actually moved ahead were the ones where parents poured into education and job training. We have the data on this, and it isn’t even close.
The best thing you can give your kids is an education on money and an open door to good careers. There are over 500 books on Amazon listed under Children-Education-Money & Savings. I know because I ordered most of them to read at bedtime.
Obsessing About Net Worth
Net worth wasn’t even a term until about 100 years ago. It entered the culture through an obsession to sell to “high net worth individuals.” But the reality is, net worth only matters at three moments: when you borrow ... when you die ... and when men try to impress each other. Other than that, the stat is meaningless.
Your home is probably your greatest asset, and it costs you every time someone binges HGTV. Instead, pursue what was called “an estate worth,” meaning how much money each year your assets pay you.
This is in the plot of every Jane Austen novel: How much money can you actually spend from assets you hold, not how much can you spend on buying them? So cars, toys and big houses are nice to have, but they don’t make you worth what you think.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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