Neil McCarthy
Research chemist Neil McCarthy started investing in the Stock market when he was 34, in the 1970s. Today he has a net worth of about $2.1 million. When stocks went down, he bought more. He contributed the maximum to both his IRA and his 401(k) and his employer matched 100 percent. That's truly free money -- no risk. The big payoff came during the 1990s bull market when his stock doubled in three or four years, suddenly reaching $1 million.He avoided technology companies because it didn't make sense to him. He saw price-earnings ratios of 200 to 300 and "thought it was absolute nonsense." This practical investing style saved his millionaire status when the market crashed. When he retired in 2000, McCarthy took his retirement payout as a lump sum. Just before interest rates started to fall, he invested part of the money in an immediate annuity and earned a bigger payout than if he had chosen the company's pension annuity.
His number one piece of advice that made all the difference is this: "If you wait to save out of what's left over from your salary, it's not going to happen. Pay yourself first" [source: Million Dollar Ideas].
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