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Charity

Exposing The “Millionaire Lifestyle”

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 2/18/2021 17 min read

The time has come for me to expose what it’s really like to be a millionaire and living the millionaire lifestyle because there simply aren’t ANY accurate books or blog posts about this wild lifestyle so there’s far too much misinformation being spread.

From the time I was a young boy I always wanted to be rich, but now that I’ve actually achieved my goals and gotten rich, the reality of being a multi-millionaire is FAR different from I expected…in both good and bad ways.

First, let me start with the bad because it’s important you understand it all and it’s going to surprise you. That is that having six, seven, or even eight figures figures in your bank accounts, stacks of cash that you can play with (as I often do) and the ability to buy anything you want will not make you happy.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it won’t.

I became a millionaire over a decade ago while I was still in college** and I went on to start a hedge fund (which I sucked at as you might’ve read here), living the high life, while renting a ridiculous penthouse apartment with a private pool in the center of Madrid, Spain (for anyone whose lived in Madrid knows, nothing beats a private pool in the summer), eating at all the best restaurants, drinking all the best wines, partying nightly with celebrities and friends who all loved me since I always picked up the bill and guess what, I was bored to death because I was living a soulless, meaningless existence.

In my early 20s, this realization led to a severe drinking problem…I had worked so hard to achieve my goals and I had actually done it and yet I still wasn’t happy?

Everyone wants to be happy and most people, aside from hippies and communists, believe that if you have the ability to buy a big house, fancy cars, clothes and jewelry, travel the world in style, buy and race exotic cars, sit courtside at basketball games, have luxury suites for football and hockey games, schmooze with billionaires, Hollywood stars and the greatest athletes in the world, have beautiful women fawning all over you, treat yourself and your loved ones to anything you and they can dream of that you’re set in life.

Nope.

Trust me, I’ve tried.

Since my initial feat of becoming a millionaire at such a young age, I’ve lived all over the world in penthouses and over-the-top hotel suites, in big mansions in Miami and Beverly Hills, I have a $200,000+ Lamborghini and a $300,000+ Ferrari, I’ve traveled extensively to over 100+ countries, met and hung out with billionaires, celebrities and beautiful models, bought expensive jewelry and clothes, flown on countless private jets, helicopters, chartered several giant boats and yachts and sat courtside watching major championships being won in baseball, hockey and football from luxury private suites, and while it’s certainly fun, it has never made me truly happy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m far from a billionaire and I can’t afford to buy anything I want, just most of what I want. I show all of my stock trades, wins and losses, publicly here and you can clearly see I’ve made $4.4 million in trading profits**, not $44 million or $444 million or $4.4 billion because my stock trading strategy is a niche strategy and not capable of making hundreds of millions or billions of dollars so try to everything in perspective…

Also, remember I do make several million dollars per year teaching stock trading to others and here’s why I trade with such a small account basically “taking one for the team” by trading small and helping my students learn better…and my education business has been growing every single year now for nearly a decade now because I deliver a quality educational product, with nearly 4,000 video lessons, 1,000 webinars, DVDs, commentary, watchlists and trade alerts galore…I make much more money from teaching than I do from trading these days and it motivates me to keep making my teaching products even better for my students…that’s my main focus these days.

Remember that I NEVER promise BS returns, not everyone is going to be my next student who turns $1,500 into $1 million in 3 years, and the sad fact is that the vast majority of my students don’t even bother watching all of my video lessons and that hurts their chances for great success.

The good news is even if a student doesn’t reach $1 million, I’m teaching good, solid financial rules and risk management so it’s impossible not to benefit from my videos even if you put in just a little effort.

It ALWAYS helps to learn from someone who’s seen the good, bad and the ugly and that I definitely have over the past 2 decades of my stock market journey and I wouldn’t be half the teacher I am today if I didn’t have sizable losses in the past (like this one) that have helped solidify the rules I teach others.

Long story short, whether I make millions per year teaching or from trading (as I traded somewhat large in 2014 and had my best trading profits ever of nearly $1 million in profits), the end result of my lifestyle is the same and everything I do can be done with just a few hundred thousand dollars per year.

I also must mention that I don’t always buy all the places I’ve lived in, sometimes I’ve rented them for a few months or years, especially when I’m not sure I’ll be in one place for a very long time as my life is pretty crazy.

But as as I talked about at Harvard here and I told a media legend here a few months ago, it’s fair to say that I’ve tried and tested out early every high priced splurge in the world and I’m here to tell you that while becoming a millionaire is a great goal to have, mainly for the freedom that comes with it, it should never be your endgame…find something that fulfills you and find love like I have on top of any of your monetary goals.

The glitzy, rich life looks great from the outside, but once you’re actually living it, there are many surprises that await you. I’ve lost track of how many problems I’ve had with all these expensive toys and experiences, from celebrities and childhood heroes like Ken Griffey Jr. being the biggest assholes in the world, too many sensors and parts breaking in both my Lamborghini and Ferrari that have kept them in the mechanic’s shop for weeks on end, watches, expensive clothes and jewelry issues galore, not having solid Internet access and getting ill on yachts/during my travels no matter how expensive and supposedly perfect the hotel is to maintenance issues galore in my many apartments, houses, Jet-skis, boats that I’ve either owned or rented over the years and my truly least favorite experience, discovering dangerous mold in a multi-million dollar penthouse apartment I was trying to buy (even if we gutted the whole thing, which I considered, there could still be trace amounts that would affect my Jewish nose, so I’m sorry, but for nearly $2 million, that’s a deal killer!)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful for all the opportunities and experiences I’ve had and truly my entire journey, even my drinking problem and failures along the way outlined here; remember I’m just a small-town boy from Orange, CT so compared to the rest of my little town, I’ve truly been “living large” as my fiancee’s little brother says.

But now onto the good parts about the millionaire lifestyle.

I’ve met so many incredible people all over the world throughout my journey, most notably my amazing fiancee who I never would’ve met if I didn’t travel so much! I’m also very proud and thankful that my family has been with me throughout everything as we truly are a family business as both my dad and mom work for me as many of you students have talked and met them and it’s one of the greatest joys of my life to be able to afford to treat my parents right and surprise them with little splurges like having my dad throw out the first pitch at his favorite team, the Boston Red Sox this last week to his favorite player David “Big Papi” Ortiz:

(I know I still have to post video of him actually throwing out the first pitch, it’s on my to do list, my life can get a little overwhelming sometimes, I’m now getting 4,000+ emails/day so student takes priority)

I proudly share snippets of my crazy life on social media as you can see on my Instagram, Snapchat (username: timothysykes), Twitter, Facebook and Youtube because I know how inspiring it is in helping my students study and work harder (remember as I explained in my best-selling all-for-charity HTMM DVD, studies have found that having a big goal and visual inspiration increases your overall performance by 15-25% so ALWAYS dream big and push yourself to actually achieve those big dreams) as what I have found that does make me truly happy is teaching, helping others and pushing you to achieve your goals, no matter what they are.

So that’s how you should utilize pictures like this…as motivation to better yourself and to study harder!

Obviously, some people take it the wrong way, they don’t get inspired as I intend, some even get offended, but non-students are NEVER my concern, if you don’t like me, simply don’t follow me…it’s hard enough to get ahead even if a student is truly dedicated so if anyone doesn’t have the right attitude, seriously, please don’t waste my time or yours as I have ZERO time to waste these days.

I have built my education business not on the backs of non-dedicated students, but on dedicated students so that’s my sole focus. I’m not ashamed but I’m actually proud that social media has helped me build my education business and find more dedicated students, it’s literally been a worldwide student-hunt. Teachers must use ALL the tools in their arsenal to spread their message so I continually search everywhere and now I have students in over 80 countries…all that’s required is internet access and the right attitude.

Many people tell me that if I was nicer I could have many more students, but being nice doesn’t create millionaires and in fact it actually harms the teaching process because students are unprepared for the harsh realities of the trading world. As you can ask anyone who attended my 7-hour live trading webinar a few days ago, I don’t go easy on ANY of my students as 2 disruptive guys, Omar and Vincent, learned the hard way because my business is not to be your friend, I’m here to teach you and change your life, the way my life has been changed by stock trading.

If you want a friend, go buy a dog.

I know too many gurus who are “nice” and guess what, they have ZERO millionaire students, they don’t show ALL their trades publicly, they have no multi-year, let alone multi-decade track record, and their teachings are not only inaccurate, they can actually be harmful given their misinformation.

I’m DEFINITELY not the nicest guy when I’m teaching, as nearly every single one of my students can attest, but I’m real and bring the hammer down only when it’s necessary to teach valuable lessons (or when I’m in a bad mood, sorry, I’m not perfect)…long story short, it’s good to be real in an industry full of scams, I’m not looking for “more students”, I only want dedicated students.

Everything I do, no matter how crazy it seems, is to create more millionaire students because even with all the negatives associated with being a millionaire, overall it’s a great feeling for the self-confidence alone, and I wish more people could experience it.

I love teaching, I love having more millionaire students than anyone else, and frankly, every new successful student I create can also help reduce my crazy workload down the line as both of my first 2 millionaire students** now help me in giving weekly trading challenge webinars (so I need more help, but you have to prove yourself first!)

Another recent development in my millionaire lifestyle journey has been my new charity foundation which has brought me a ton of happiness and fulfillment that I didn’t expect.

My $20,000 donation here was one of the single best experiences of my entire life and my whole family was and we all broke down crying with tears of joy…this other $20,000 I gave away to random strangers, not from my charity, but just for fun one day, rocked too so you live and you learn what makes you happiest.

Just like successful stock trading is not exact science (I should also mention the $4.4 million I’ve made in trading** is just a rough estimate, I give real-time alerts and try to estimate my execution prices, sometimes I’m off by a few cents/share, most of the time I go back and correct them, but sometimes I forget…the reason I’m not more exact is because it just doesn’t matter, you should NEVER go into learning thinking you’ll make the exact $4.4 million I’ve made, in fact many of my top students do better than me on many trades, like this guy** whose nearly doubled the profit I had in my first 4-5 years of trading, but in case you don’t believe me, I’ve also posted some of my brokerage statements, tax returns and audits here), neither is finding what makes you happy in life, but at least if you find financial stability, you have the freedom to try everything instead of barely getting by, working for a boss you hate at a job you hate while drowning in debt as too many people who works their butts off, but who have the wrong or incomplete education/improper mindset/perspective do.

If you study my video lessons, DVD and webinars hard enough are you guaranteed to be my next millionaire student? Can I guarantee profits?

No and no, but I do guarantee I will teach you every single thing I’ve learned over the years and that knowledge can only increase your odds of success. Because I trade with such a small account and show every trade publicly, wins and losses, and make far more from teaching (again, read this to see why I trade with such a small account and why I’ll likely never go back to trading big as long as I teach), you know where my priority is, in teaching and creating the most successful students I can, both for my business and personal fulfillment.

When learning, it’s important you know everything you can about your teacher, including their motivation and income streams. Too many “teachers” don’t share all their trades transparently, have no millionaire students and actually get compensated by brokers, prop firms and hedge funds based on how many trades their “students” do…talk about a conflict of interest!

These are the 2 brokers I use, both of them hate me since I encourage students not to trade as much as they think they should, thus reducing their brokerage commissions, and as I explained here, I would not have any off-shore, questionable company or small startup broker accounts as I believe winter is coming so I stick with big multi-billion dollar US-based brokers only for now.

I should also mention that despite all the problems I’ve had along my millionaire lifestyle journey, the path that I’ve taken to get to my current mindset has been fully worthwhile as I’ve grown tremendously as a person and learned a lot about myself in ways I never could’ve imagined.

I’ve worked my butt off to get here and no matter how bad you want it, there’s no such thing as an easy path to surefire millions and anyone who claims there is is full of BS. All you can do to try to get it for yourself and your loved ones is to study and work your butt off, and having a mentor whose done it all helps a ton so my goal every single day now is not to be some soulless, superficial millionaire, but to be the mentor to my students that I never had.

I have to get back to researching the stock market now and making tonight’s watchlist for my students, because as you’ve seen in video lessons HERE and HERE, it’s the best market environment we’ve had in many months right now so I don’t want to waste ANY opportunities…but I had to write this post to clear up some of the confusion about what the millionaire lifestyle really is and is not.


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Timothy Sykes

Tim Sykes is a penny stock trader and teacher who became a self-made millionaire by the age of 22 by trading $12,415 of bar mitzvah money. After becoming disenchanted with the hedge fund world, he established the Tim Sykes Trading Challenge to teach aspiring traders how to follow his trading strategies. He’s been featured in a variety of media outlets including CNN, Larry King, Steve Harvey, Forbes, Men’s Journal, and more. He’s also an active philanthropist and environmental activist, a co-founder of Karmagawa, and has donated millions of dollars to charity. Read More

* Results are not typical and will vary from person to person. Making money trading stocks takes time, dedication, and hard work. There are inherent risks involved with investing in the stock market, including the loss of your investment. Past performance in the market is not indicative of future results. Any investment is at your own risk. See Terms of Service here

The available research on day trading suggests that most active traders lose money. Fees and overtrading are major contributors to these losses.

A 2000 study called “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors” evaluated 66,465 U.S. households that held stocks from 1991 to 1996. The households that traded most averaged an 11.4% annual return during a period where the overall market gained 17.9%. These lower returns were attributed to overconfidence.

A 2014 paper (revised 2019) titled “Learning Fast or Slow?” analyzed the complete transaction history of the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2006. It looked at the ongoing performance of day traders in this sample, and found that 97% of day traders can expect to lose money from trading, and more than 90% of all day trading volume can be traced to investors who predictably lose money. Additionally, it tied the behavior of gamblers and drivers who get more speeding tickets to overtrading, and cited studies showing that legalized gambling has an inverse effect on trading volume.

A 2019 research study (revised 2020) called “Day Trading for a Living?” observed 19,646 Brazilian futures contract traders who started day trading from 2013 to 2015, and recorded two years of their trading activity. The study authors found that 97% of traders with more than 300 days actively trading lost money, and only 1.1% earned more than the Brazilian minimum wage ($16 USD per day). They hypothesized that the greater returns shown in previous studies did not differentiate between frequent day traders and those who traded rarely, and that more frequent trading activity decreases the chance of profitability.

These studies show the wide variance of the available data on day trading profitability. One thing that seems clear from the research is that most day traders lose money .

Millionaire Media 66 W Flagler St. Ste. 900 Miami, FL 33130 United States (888) 878-3621 This is for information purposes only as Millionaire Media LLC nor Timothy Sykes is registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. No information herein is intended as securities brokerage, investment, tax, accounting or legal advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company, security or fund. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes cannot and does not assess, verify or guarantee the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of any information, the suitability or profitability of any particular investment, or the potential value of any investment or informational source. The reader bears responsibility for his/her own investment research and decisions, should seek the advice of a qualified securities professional before making any investment, and investigate and fully understand any and all risks before investing. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes in no way warrants the solvency, financial condition, or investment advisability of any of the securities mentioned in communications or websites. In addition, Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes accepts no liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of this information. This information is not intended to be used as the sole basis of any investment decision, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the investment needs of any particular investor. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future returns.

Citations for Disclaimer

Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terrance, Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors. Available at SSRN: “Day Trading for a Living?”

Barber, Brad M. and Lee, Yi-Tsung and Liu, Yu-Jane and Odean, Terrance and Zhang, Ke, Learning Fast or Slow? (May 28, 2019). Forthcoming: Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=2535636”

Chague, Fernando and De-Losso, Rodrigo and Giovannetti, Bruno, Day Trading for a Living? (June 11, 2020). Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3423101”