7 Secret Ways to Become a Millionaire

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Here are the best seven ways that I could come up with to become a millionaire. If you have better ideas than these, feel free to write your own article.
1. Invest and save: Honestly, if you just can keep from spending your money long enough to save some of it away, you can probably become a millionaire eventually. The online savings calculators that I consulted said that, if you save as little as 200$ a month for 40 years and invest it at 11% interest (about the returns on the historical stock market when you dividend reinvest), you too could become a millionaire -- with a lot left over. However, the trick is to free up 200$ per month to invest. I get the impression that a lot of these eventual millionaires are lucky because they never lose their jobs or have sick kids. Well, good for them.
2. Turn to crime: One of the quickest ways to become a millionaire is (even though nobody admits it) a life of crime. Selling drugs, joining organized crime, and embezzlement can net you millions. However, this method does have the downside that you will probably spend large tracks of your life in prison (or worse) and have to give Bubba a sponge bath every night. If you ask me, the money isn't worth it.
3. Have a rich relative die and leave you a big inheritance: This is probably the most effortless way to become a millionaire. If your rich uncle or grandpa dies, you could be living the life on the beaches of Cancun in no time flat. However, there are drawbacks here too. First, your relative has to actually leave you a large inheritance -- as opposed to splitting it up evenly among you and your undeserving siblings or leaving it to charity. If you think that this might happen, one strategy is to wait until your relative has a terminal illness and then start making a point of visiting him or her in the months leading up to death. Remember -- people can be very impressionable and influenced to change a will easily when they're senile.
4. Marry a millionaire: This is another great way to become a millionaire, and it even has side "benefits" to boot. However, this method is also difficult. For one thing, you have to be the caliber of person that can actually land a millionaire spouse. For a girl, this means that you have to be a knockout and have personality. For the guy, it's a little easier -- women, especially spoiled ones, love a loser. However, this method comes with additional baggage. For a girl married to a millionaire, your husband is likely to cheat on you. For a guy, you're likely to be stuck with very demanding in laws that think you're not good enough for their daughter.
5. Get a high paying job: Using a job to advance your economic fortune is clearly the most traditional path to wealth. However, with this method, you'll usually be required to either work hard, work long hours, or have a lot of formal education -- all of which take time and effort. If you want to put yourself through the torture of a long and hard job or college just so that you can be millionaire, fine; but don't expect all of us to do that.
6. Sell your soul on Ebay: From what I've heard, the devil is paying top dollar for these things on Ebay. However, you should sell yours as quickly as possible -- there is a huge supply out there.
7. Write for Associated Content: I just had to include this one so that I could laugh a bit tonight (he he he). Okay, now that over with, let us reason together: to get 1 million from your AC articles, you would need to get 1/2 of a billion page views. Do any of you see that happening?
In conclusion, becoming a millionaire is more difficult that it seems, which is probably the reason why not everyone is a millionaire.

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The Truly 'Golden' Arches

As the old jingle for the McDonald's restaurant chain used to ring: "You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to McDonald's." But you won't be getting that break if what you are looking for at McDonald's is franchise ownership. You will be fully involved and you will work long and hard. But you will most definitely be rewarded for that hard work. Famed columnist George Will recently said it best: "McDonald's has made more millionaires, and especially black and Hispanic millionaires, than any other economic entity ever, anywhere." Getting a bit long in the tooth, and think it's too late for you to start into such a venture? Think again, and we can go back to the beginning to prove it. Way back in 1954, a 52-year old man by the name of Ray Kroc mortgaged his home and invested his life savings in a product called 'The Mulitmixer', a five-spindled milkshake maker. He heard about a California hamburger stand named 'McDonald's' that was running eight Multimixer's at one time, and saw an opportunity. Kroc packed up his life and headed west, saw how popular the business was in the area, and met with owners Dick and Mac McDonald. He pitched to them the idea of opening several restaurants, with the intent of selling eight Multimixers to each of them. When the McDonald brothers asked who would open the restaurants for them, Kroc asked "What about me?" and the rest is history. A year later, Kroc opened the first franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, and made $366 on the first day. As Kroc opened the subsequent restaurants, he preached service and cleanliness to his employees: "If you can lean, you can clean" was his mantra. In 1963, a clown named Ronald McDonald made his first TV appearance as a company mascot, with current national weatherman Willard Scott as the first 'Ronald'. Kroc then set about designing the current logo and building design that would become famous the world over, changing the former (and well-known at the time) red and white tile configuration of the restaurants into the Golden Arches design. In 1965, McDonald's went public, offering their first stock, and in 1985 was selected to the 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average. In 1968, a man named Jim Delligatti was a Pittsburgh-area franchisee, owning 12 restaurants in that area, and he came up with an idea for a new bigger burger, the Big Mac, and a worldwide sensation was born. In 1973 another owner-operator, Herb Peterson, developed a sandwich to be called the Egg McMuffin, and the franchise jumped into the breakfast market. 1979 saw the introduction of the kid-friendly Happy Meal, a staple now for two generations of youngsters. In 2005 the company celebrated it's 50th anniversary by opening up a massive flagship restaurant in Chicago. McDonald's currently has over 11,000 U.S. franchises, and another 13,000 around the world, with approximately 2/3 of those by independent owner-operator franchisees, many of those entrepreneurs owning multiple restaurants. Okay, you're sold, you're ready to throw up some arches and open that drive-thru window in your neighborhood. Slow down, big fella'! You are gonna need to get your act together first. You will need a $45,000 franchise fee and will need to be able to access between $500,000 and $1.5 million in start up costs, and you will need to make a 20-year commitment to the company. You will also need to be experienced in the industry, including business and marketing. Owning a McDonald's isn't necessarily for everyone. But if you are willing to commit your time and resources, you can make this happen. Don't be discouraged by the money figures, because the ultimate payoff is real if you are willing to work hard. There are sources out there willing to lend you the start up money. They know that McDonald's is a winner, and that they will get repaid on their loan. The real bet for them, and in the end for you, will be you. Do you have what it takes to be a Mickey D's millionaire? Yeah? Then get up and get away, to McDonald's.