500 Days To A Million

Hello. My name is Darren, I am 33 years old. For more than ten years, I have been working in the IT industry as a computer programmer working for various organisations and at various levels of income. Recently, though, I have started to think that there is more to life than working for other people. I have wanted to start my own business and break the chains that bind me to the every day nine-to-five lifestyle. I have wanted to create a passive income stream that more than supplements my work income, one that will allow me to quit my job and concentrate on what life really has to offer rather than the small office cubicles that have become my home from home over the years. With this in mind, I have devised a plan which will for now and for always be Christened

The Millionaire Challenge

Today (31st March 2014) represents 500 business days until my 35th birthday, and by that time I want to have a million dollars in my bank account. It's that simple. Over the course of 500 days, I plan to use my skills as a computer programmer and my interest in Forex, the stock markets and affiliate marketing to create passive income streams that will make a millionaire of me.

Admittedly, this seems like an extremely tall order, but let me give you some background of how I see this working out. I currently have a Forex trading account in which sits around $2000. I have been trading this account for over a year and it has remained at a steady $2000 during that time while I have been learning the ropes. I now feel I have the skills in place to make small profits every day. These small profits will be compounded over the course of the next two years, but with the addition of the money from the other income streams.

The power of compounding
I have run some figures through an Excel spreadsheet, and according to the results I have, the account will need to grow by just under 1.25% per day. This doesn't sound a lot, especially given that that only amounts to $25 on the first day. But over time, this compounding effect means that by the last day, I should be earning in excess of $12000 per day. That looks like a big increase, but the percentage value is still the same. Once again, not all of this will come from trading profits, but from the other ventures that will be put in place.

The purpose of this blog is to, on a month-by-month basis, give a run down of how things are going and where the current balance of the account is. I will mostly be updating the blog on the last weekend of every month but there may be additional posts in between times on big events such as meeting targets.

Targets
1. $4000
The first target will be the $4000 mark. This represents a 100% increase on the account. All being well, this target should be reached around day 56
2. $5000
3. $10000
At the $10000 mark, I will begin to partition the account. The reason for this is that I am not expecting anywhere close to a 50% drawdown, and with my trading style, the money will be sitting in the trading account doing nothing. So, from this point forward, the account value will be split between the actual trading account and a high interest bank account that will give me an additional 4% p/a to leverage my expected earnings
4. $25000
5. $50000
6. $100000
7. $250000
8. $500000
9. $1000000

Goals
Along with the gaining of a million dollars, I also have some additional aims during the course of this challenge. These include, but are not limited to the following

• Create a passive income stream that allows me to work for myself while enjoying the benefits of a stable income
• Increase my personal health by going to the gym three times every week. Although this has nothing to do with the challenge itself, I see it as an important part of the challenge duration. Let's face it, there's no point in aiming for a million dollars if you're not going to be able to enjoy it.
• Give up smoking - This is something that I have been trying to do for a long time, but something that I am rolling into this project. With this in mind, I will be adding $16 into the trading account every two days. Why? Well, I smoke on average 10 a day, and a pack of 20 costs around $16, so rather than keep that money elsewhere and let it be swallowed by rent and bills, I will add it to the account and make use of it. At first, this will be a large part of the daily target, allowing me time to setup the additional income streams.
• Not blow the account - The absolute worst thing that could happen at any point during this challenge would be to blow my trading account. I MUST NOT let this happen, and to be honest, my trading style shouldn't allow this to happen as I am a very low risk trader.

So that's it. That's the challenge. Sit back, enjoy the ride and keep this page bookmarked so you can check back here every month. And of course, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Darren