Let's be honest. The clock is ticking. When people search for how to make millions before grandma dies, they usually aren't being morbid—they’re feeling the weight of a deadline. Maybe you want her to see you succeed. Maybe you want to buy her a house or pay for the best healthcare money can buy while she's still around to enjoy it. Whatever the case, "slow and steady" isn't the vibe here.
Making seven figures in a condensed timeframe isn't about a 401(k). It’s about aggressive equity, high-leverage skills, and frankly, a bit of luck.
Most financial advice is built for 30-year horizons. But if you have five years—or maybe just two—the math changes. You can’t save your way to a million on a $60,000 salary in that window. You have to create value that scales or own an asset that explodes.
The Reality of High-Velocity Wealth
Wealth is usually a function of $Value \times Leverage$. If you’re trading your time for hourly wages, you’ve capped your leverage at 24 hours a day. That’s a losing game. To hit that million-dollar mark fast, you need to look at things like "The Millionaire Fastlane" philosophy by MJ DeMarco. He talks about the difference between the "Slowlane" (jobs) and the "Fastlane" (business systems).
Success isn't guaranteed.
In fact, most people who try to get rich quick actually just get poor fast. But if you’re serious about the how to make millions before grandma dies challenge, you have to lean into asymmetric risk. This is where the downside is limited (you lose your time and some seed money) but the upside is uncapped (you make millions).
The Software Play: SaaS and Distribution
Software is still the king of leverage. Why? Because it costs almost nothing to sell the second copy of a program once the first one is written. This is what Naval Ravikant calls "permissionless leverage." You don’t need a boss to tell you that you can code an app or a Chrome extension.
Look at Peter Levels. He built a suite of tools like Nomad List and Photo AI. He’s a "solopreneur" making millions a year with almost no employees. He didn't do it with one lucky strike; he launched dozens of projects. Most failed. A few hit.
If you want to make millions quickly, you shouldn't be building a "company." You should be launching "experiments."
Buying a Business Instead of Starting One
Everyone wants to be a founder. It sounds cool at parties. But starting from zero is hard and the failure rate is depressing.
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HBR and experts like Walker Deibel, author of Buy Then Build, argue that acquisition entrepreneurship is a faster path to wealth. You find a "boring" business—think HVAC, laundromats, or a niche e-commerce site—where the owner is ready to retire. This is "Grandma’s generation" moving out of the workforce.
You use an SBA 7(a) loan.
With $100,000 (which you might need to scrape together or find an investor for), you can buy a business generating $500,000 in annual profit. You don't need to invent anything. You just need to run it better than the 70-year-old who doesn't know how to use Instagram ads. This is a legitimate way to hit a million-dollar net worth almost instantly because you own the equity in a cash-flowing asset.
High-Ticket Sales and the "Rainmaker" Path
Maybe you don't want to manage a plumbing company. Fine.
The fastest way to cash without owning a company is high-ticket sales. We aren't talking about selling shoes at the mall. We’re talking about enterprise software, medical devices, or private jets.
In these industries, commissions can be $50,000 to $200,000 per deal. If you’re a natural communicator and can handle the stress of a 100% commission environment, you can clear seven figures in a few years. It’s grueling. It requires 80-hour weeks. But the math works.
Why Most People Fail at "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies"
The biggest trap is the "get rich quick" scam. If someone is selling you a course on how to make millions by clicking a button, they are the one making the millions—off you.
Real wealth requires:
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- Specific Knowledge: Stuff you can't be trained for. If the society can train you, it can train someone else and replace you.
- Accountability: Taking personal risks under your own name.
- Leverage: Capital, people, or products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media).
Many people get distracted by "lifestyle design." They want the laptop on the beach. Forget the beach. If you want to make millions before a specific person passes away, you need to be in a "war room" mindset.
The Content and Media Engine
YouTube, newsletters, and podcasts. Sounds crowded, right? It is. But it’s also a way to build a massive "trust asset."
Take a look at Codie Sanchez. She turned her expertise in "boring businesses" into a massive media brand. That media brand then fuels her investment fund. She’s not just making money from ads; she’s using the audience to find deals.
You can do this too, but you need a niche. Don't be a "life coach." Be the person who knows everything about how to flip car washes in the Midwest. The more specific you are, the more valuable you become.
The Role of Aggressive Investing
You can't ignore the markets, but you have to be careful. Standard index funds (VTSAX and chill) won't get you to a million in three years unless you already have $800,000.
To bridge a gap quickly, some people look at concentrated bets.
This is dangerous.
It’s what investors like Stanley Druckenmiller do—they wait for a "fat pitch." They don't diversify. They find one thing they are 90% sure about and they bet the house. For some, that was Bitcoin in 2015. For others, it was Nvidia in 2022.
If you're wrong, you're at zero. If you're right, you hit the goal. You have to decide if the risk of being broke is worth the chance of making Grandma a millionaire. Most financial advisors will tell you "no." But if your goal is how to make millions before grandma dies, you aren't looking for "most advisors'" results.
Actionable Steps to Accelerate Your Net Worth
Stop thinking about saving. Start thinking about earning.
- Audit your skills. Are you replaceable? If you are, go learn a skill that is hard to do and even harder to explain.
- Choose your leverage. Are you going to use Capital (money), Labor (people), or Code/Media (software/content)? For most people starting from scratch, Code and Media are the only options.
- Find a "Star" market. Growth hides a lot of mistakes. Don't start a business in a dying industry. Join a rocket ship or build one in a sector like AI, renewable energy, or aging-in-place healthcare.
- Iterate fast. If a project isn't showing signs of life in three months, pivot. You don't have time to nurse a dead horse.
- Network up. You are the average of the people you spend time with. If your friends are complaining about their bosses, you’ll stay a complainer. If your friends are talking about EBITDA and exit multiples, you’ll start thinking that way.
Understanding the "Why"
The drive to succeed for someone else is a powerful motivator. It’s "external validation" which psychologists sometimes frown upon, but in the world of business, it’s a superpower. It keeps you working at 2:00 AM when you’d otherwise quit.
Just remember that "millions" is a number, but time is the real currency.
If you spend every waking second chasing the dollar and you miss the Sunday dinners with Grandma, you’ve lost the game anyway. The goal is to build the engine that creates wealth while still being present for the people you’re doing it for.
It’s a tightrope.
Most fail.
But the ones who make it usually do so because they stopped following the "rules" of middle-class finance and started playing the game of equity and leverage.
Focus on building assets that work while you sleep. Whether it's a small SaaS tool, a niche content site, or a laundromat empire, equity is the only path to seven figures that doesn't take forty years. Start today. The clock doesn't stop for anyone.