Want to End Up a Millionaire? Start This Investing Habit in 2026.

Many Americans want to be millionaires before they retire, and with good reason. A nest egg of $1 million would produce $40,000 in annual retirement income. When combined with Social Security, this may be enough to live comfortably, while for those used to a higher standard of living, saving more than $1 million may actually be needed.

Although it can seem difficult or impossible to actually save up seven figures, especially in light of high inflation levels and pressing needs today, the reality is that the vast majority of people actually can become millionaires. There's just one key thing that you should start doing in 2026 if you want to become one of them.

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Adopt this investing habit to hit millionaire status

If becoming a millionaire is a serious retirement planning goal, not just a pipe dream, there's one thing that you should do today and stick with over the long haul: adopt the habit of automated investing.

Automated investing means that making investments happens automatically. You don't have to decide each time you get a paycheck whether you want to use it to eat out, spend on entertainment, pay bills with the money, or invest. Instead, you arrange to have a portion of your paycheck put into your 401(k), other tax-advantaged account, or taxable brokerage firm (depending on your goals for the money).

You can generally also arrange to have the money you're contributing to these accounts automatically invested into an appropriate mix of different assets. This almost always happens in a 401(k) by default once you've picked a target date fund or a mix of available funds to invest in. And most brokerage firms allow you to sign up for automated recurring investments where money is moved over from your bank account and used to buy stocks, ETFs, or other preselected investments.

The sooner you do this and the more you can set up to autoinvest, the greater your chances of becoming a millionaire.

Why does automated investing help you get rich?

Automated investing is one of the best ways to hit millionaire status because it makes human nature work for you. Specifically, once you've set up the process of having money come out of your paycheck or directly out of your bank account on payday, this becomes the default status quo.

At this point, it takes more effort not to invest than to invest, which means you are far more likely to do it.

You also eliminate the problem of market timing and remove the emotion from investing -- which is a good thing. You don't decide when to buy into a stock or ETF -- it happens on a regular schedule. If you're buying the same stock or ETF and investing the same amount of money in it each time, this is a trading method called dollar-cost averaging, and it naturally results in you buying more shares at a lower price and fewer at higher prices.

The more you can automatically invest, the better with this approach -- but thanks to compounding, investing even a small amount over time can still help you reach millionaire status. So, get started ASAP if you want that seven-figure nest egg to become yours.

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