You don't need a winning lottery ticket, a brilliant business idea, or even a good income to make a million dollars; you just need to know how regular folks managed to do it.

To complete this how-to, you will need:

College education
Business
Budget
Discipline
Investments
Real estate
Perseverance
Modest home (optional)

Step 1: Get an education

Get an education; 80 percent of millionaires are college graduates: 18 percent have master's degrees, 8 percent law degrees, 6 percent medical degrees, and 6 percent PhDs.

Step 2: Start a company

Start a company. 2/3 of U.S. millionaires are self-employed. The business doesn't have to be big, flashy, or innovative to make a million dollars; it just needs to be profitable.

Step 3: Be a landlord

Purchase a modest home -- one that costs no more than twice your taxable income. Consider taking in roommates so they can help pay off the mortgage. Scoop up other bargain homes to lease to people whose rents will pay off the homes for you.

Learn how to do home repairs so you don't have to pay others to do them.

Step 4: Live below your means

Live below your means -- way below. Lots of people have managed to become millionaires on a modest income -- some have even done it earning not much more than minimum wage. It just takes a strict budget and the discipline to stick with it.

Step 5: Invest

Carefully invest at least 15 percent of your taxable income in publicly traded stocks and mutual funds, and reinvest whatever profit or dividends those investments earn. The same goes for your business: Plow profits back into your business so you can hopefully earn even more money.

Step 6: Stay the course

Realize that slow and steady wins the race: Almost anyone can make a million dollars if they're committed to a long-term plan.

Americans of Russian ancestry have the highest concentration of millionaire households in the United States.

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