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Building immense wealth isn’t easy. If you’re starting with just $5,000 and trying to get to $5,000,000 or beyond, you’re probably already aware of the hard work, discipline, skills, time and lucky breaks you’ll need along the way.

Most of these hurdles are well-known: scaling your income, staying invested through market swings and taking on the right level of risk to grow your money over time.

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But if you’re serious about this journey, you also need to consider some of the lesser-known roadblocks wealth creators face. Here are the top three challenges someone entering the seven-figure club must be prepared for.

The critical mistake many ambitious young people make is ramping up their lifestyle at the same pace (or perhaps even faster) than their career permits. Every new promotion or windfall from the stock market is met with a celebratory car upgrade or a move to a bigger apartment.

This struggle with lifestyle inflation is one of the reasons why many seemingly affluent Americans are still struggling to pay their bills on time. According to Goldman Sachs, 40% of workers earning more than $500,000 a year said they’re living paycheck to paycheck (1).

The fix is actually deceptively simple: automating savings. Apps like Acorns can help round up purchases and help you save while you spend. For example, every $3.50 purchase turns into $4 and you save 50 cents for the future. This spare change can be invested in professionally managed ETFs by industry giants like Vanguard or BlackRock.

By automating savings, you’re taking yourself (and your limited willpower) out of the equation. Now your savings ramp up alongside your spending, which puts a cap on lifestyle creep.

Sign up for Acorns today and get a $20 bonus investment.

Taxes are relatively straightforward when your bank balance is $5,000 and the majority of your income comes from a single employer’s paychecks. Things get increasingly complicated once you start accumulating more money, passive income sources and different asset classes.

Beyond a certain point, perhaps $1 million or so, it makes more financial sense to pay a professional to manage your taxes than to do it all yourself. In fact, at this stage, you could be losing money to rookie errors or leaving some tax credits on the table because you were not aware of them.

Most affluent people are aware of this. That’s why 74% of American millionaires told Northwestern Mutual in 2025 that they work with a professional financial advisor (2). That ratio drops to just 34% for the general public.

Even if you’re not in the seven-figure club but looking to break in, consider hiring a professional to help you. Advisor.com can help match you with the right professional with its new AI-powered matching tool. Just a few details about your finances and goals and the platform scans through a network of vetted advisors to find the right fit.

Once matched, you don’t need to make a commitment right away. Advisor.com lets you set up a free initial consultation with no obligation to hire.

Whether you're already sitting on seven figures or grinding your way toward them, having a guide in your corner makes the climb a lot less treacherous.

Read More: Taxes are changing under Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ — 4 reasons why retirees can’t afford to waste time

Preserving capital requires a very different skillset from creating it. Successful wealth creators have probably already mastered the art of delayed gratification, calculated risk-taking and savvy investing. But once you have a sizable fortune, you need a mindset shift to preserve it.

For instance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised its forecast for annual inflation for the U.S. economy from 2.8% to 4.2% after the invasion of Iran earlier this year, according to Bloomberg (3). For someone with a net worth of $5,000,000, that is a loss of purchasing power worth $210,000.

In other words, hedging against inflation, diversification and tax efficiency are crucial if you’re trying to hold onto your wealth. You can potentially combine all three factors with Priority Gold’s so-called gold IRA.

As the name suggests, a Gold IRA allows you to hold physical gold or gold-related assets in an IRA account so that you can get the inflation-hedge aspects along with the tax advantages of an IRA.

Plus, you can also convert an existing IRA into a gold IRA. Priority Gold offers 100% free rollover, as well as free shipping and free storage for up to five years. Qualifying purchases can also receive up to $10,000 in free silver.

To learn more about how Priority Gold can help you reduce inflation’s impact on your nest egg, download their free 2026 gold investor bundle.

As you steadily progress on your wealth-building journey, your money management and investment strategies need to evolve and adapt to your changing circumstances.

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Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

Goldman Sachs (1); Northwestern Mutual (2); Bloomberg (3)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.