<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/603fc2152dc901001835526a-1782/aprilstewart-15-12105bi2.jpg" border="0" alt="april stewart" data-mce-source="Courtesy April Stewart"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>For years, <a href="https://aprilthemoneycoach.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April Stewart</a> didn't feel like she was earning much, even though she made a six-figure salary.</p><p>"I wasn't taught about money [growing up] except that 'there wasn't enough of it' and that 'it was hard to come by,'" Stewart <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/black-millionaires-on-building-wealth-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told writer Leslie Quander Wooldridge in an article for Insider</a>.</p><p>Eventually, she discovered one big problem with her lifestyle as she started to learn more about managing money: She didn't have a plan for her cash. To fix that, she <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zero-sum-budget" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made a budget</a>.</p><p>And it made a world of differenceher budget helped her reach a $1 million net worth in her 30s. It's a simple lifestyle change many other self-made millionaires have embraced for building and maintaining their wealth.</p><p>Now a money coach, Stewart shares what she's learned from books, articles, and her own experience to help others grow their money.</p><div><style> #div-gpt-ad-1579713650634-0 > div > iframe { width: 100% !important; min-width: 300px; max-width: 595px; } </style><script async src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js"></script><script> window.googletag = window.googletag || { cmd: [] }; googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.defineSlot('/1035677/Business_Insider_', [[1, 1], [300, 139], [595, 139], [300, 250], [595, 250], [300, 360], [595, 360], [300, 475], [595, 475]], 'div-gpt-ad-1579713650634-0') .addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); googletag.pubads().setTargeting('category', ["Banking"]).setTargeting('subcat', ["Savings Accounts"]).setTargeting('post_id', []) .setTargeting('post_url', []) .setTargeting('keyword', []) .setTargeting('company-product', []) .setTargeting('post_title', []); googletag.enableServices(); }); </script><!-- /1035677/Business_Insider_ --><div id="div-gpt-ad-1579713650634-0"> <script> googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1579713650634-0'); }); </script></div></div><h2>Budgeting helped her turn her income into wealth</h2><p>Many people equate income with wealth, but the two aren't the same.</p><p>While having a high income can help to build wealth, it doesn't happen automatically. In Stewart's experience, it took careful planning and budgeting to put her money to work building wealth.</p><p>To start, she needed to be able to control her spending and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-to-save-in-emergency-fund-rules" target="_blank" rel="noopener">build an emergency fund</a> to start paying down debt and saving.</p><p>"I had more money than I realized; I felt like I got an instant raise once I started budgeting," she said. "Once I realized that, I was able to take my money and apply it to my goals." Eventually, this budget helped her feel like she wasn't in a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, and allowed her to work towards her goals.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/signs-you-wont-be-wealthy-advice-2019-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spending and saving without working towards goals</a> can feel aimless and unrewarding, and that never helps in the long run. For Stewart, budgeting was about harnessing the power of the money she was already bringing in each month.</p><h2>Creating a budget is a simple move that millionaires swear by</h2><p>To write<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"The Millionaire Next Door,"</a> Thomas J. Stanley <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/wealth-building-advice-from-self-made-millionaires-2020-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed over 1,000 millionaires</a>, many of them, like Stewart, who built their own fortunes over time. He found a common key to their success: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/millionaire-spending-habits-millionaire-next-door-2020-11">A majority of them used a budget.</a></p><p>"We found that for every 100 millionaires who don't budget, there are about 120 that do," Stanley wrote. While the millionaires he surveyed weren't all using budgets that were strict on categories and time-consuming to maintain, they all had rules and guidelines on how much income should be saved, spent, and invested at any given time.</p><p>One of the big takeaways from this survey, Stanley wrote, is that the people he surveyed "became millionaires by budgeting and controlling expenses, and they maintain their affluent status the same way."</p><p>Stewart's story is proof that the habits outlined in this <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-personal-finance-books">classic personal finance book</a> really do work. "It truly is not about how much money you make, but what you do with your money," Stewart told Insider.</p><bi-shortcode id="related-content-module" class="mceNonEditable" data-type="more-personal-finance-coverage" data-sheetname="More Personal Finance Coverage">Related Content Module: More Personal Finance Coverage</bi-shortcode><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/turned-salary-into-million-lifestyle-change-budget-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p>
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