1 million dollars certainly feels different in 2024 compared to 2013 when this thread was started.
My wife and I unfortunately became millionaires through inheritance at age 33. Becoming a millionaire was a goal of mine before that, and I remember reading this thread years before we hit the mark and feeling motivated/inspired.
I always envisioned hitting the threshold was going to be a monumental and joyous achievement that we would celebrate and take a trip or at least splurge on a nice dinner or weekend.
Then when we hit millionaire status through the death of her dad, it completely changed my perspective and feelings about it. There is a lot of emotion tied up with the money. We are of course grateful and proud to receive it, and it provides a secure future for our kids by funding their college educations. We have been good stewards of the inheritance and have saved, invested, and spent some of it on the right things. I truly believe he would be proud of what we've done with it. However, there is a bit of sadness or possibly guilt when I think about how hard he saved and that the money should have been used for his retirement. He started with nothing and worked hard his whole life and would have retired the year he passed away. Seeing how that turned out for him has significantly changed my perspective relative to careers and money.
Outside of the inheritance, we would have independently become millionaires around age 36. I started working for a construction company when I finished school, and I worked at least 50 hours per week (paid OT) and got per diem (around $75-100/day) for the first 10 years after graduation. Before having kids, we took overseas assignments for a few years where I was paid uplifts on my salary in addition to the OT and per diem. I've maxed out my 401k every year of my career. We have a couple of rental properties that have appreciated nicely and produce positive cash flow with almost no vacancies.
But I think the biggest key it is that my wife and I have been married the whole time, and neither of us are big spenders. We drive Fords, Toyotas, and Hondas and rarely get new ones, we live in a sensible house in the burbs, our kids go to public schools, and we have no debt outside of mortgages.
Good luck to everyone on the journey, and be sure to enjoy some of it along the way!