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According to a new UBS Global Wealth Report (1), the United States added roughly 440,000 new millionaires in 2025 — about 1,200 every day — as rising financial markets helped push household wealth to new highs.

It's easy to assume those new millionaires got there through lucky stock picks or overnight success; the report argues the opposite. Long-term investing in stocks and retirement accounts, steady saving and patience have long been common themes in wealth-building strategies and the report attributes most of those gains to such consistent steps rather than sudden windfalls.

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And while median wealth declined in many countries, gains were concentrated among households that already owned substantial investments. Worth noting, wage growth was not the primary reason for the jump in millionaires; rather, the 79% of gross household wealth tied up in rising markets had an outsized impact on the net worths of nearly half a million Americans.

The report's findings woouldn't surprise two of the biggest names in personal finance.

Warren Buffett has spent decades encouraging investors to stay patient (2) and let compounding work its magic, while Dave Ramsey has long argued that ordinary Americans can build extraordinary wealth through consistent investing (3) and disciplined financial habits.

Though they approach money from different perspectives, both have built their reputations on the same core idea: Lasting wealth is usually created over years, not overnight. Here are four principles investors can take away from America's latest millionaire boom.

Warren Buffett has famously said (4) that "the stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient."

The UBS report reinforces that idea.

Many of the Americans who crossed the seven-figure threshold in 2025 likely didn't become millionaires because of one extraordinary investment. Instead, years of consistently investing in retirement accounts and diversified portfolios received a boost by another strong year for financial markets.

Predicting every market swing can be difficult, even for professionals. Instead, many investors choose to automate contributions and stay invested through both bull and bear markets.

If you're looking to build consistent investing habits, Acorns can automatically invest your spare change and recurring contributions, helping you put Buffett's long-term philosophy into practice.

With Acorns, you can automatically invest spare change from your everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.

For instance, if you buy a donut for $3.25, Acorns will round up the purchase to $4 and invest the difference — your spare change — in a smart investment portfolio. So a $3.25 purchase automatically becomes a 75-cent investment in your future.

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Read More: Millionaires under 43 hold only 25% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going

Buffett is known for spending much of his day reading annual reports, company filings and financial news before making investment decisions.

Most investors don't have that kind of time, but understanding what you're buying can still make a meaningful difference. Researching companies, industries and broader market trends may help investors avoid emotional decisions driven by headlines or social media.

Platforms like Moby provide research, market insights and investment ideas designed to help everyday investors make more informed decisions.

In four years and across almost 400 stock picks, their recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Moby's team spends hundreds of hours sifting through financial news and data to provide you with stock and crypto reports delivered straight to you. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can help you reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.

Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

Dave Ramsey often points to long-term investing as one of the biggest common threads among everyday millionaires. In his Everyday Millionaires research (5), Ramsey found that most millionaires didn't inherit their wealth but instead built it gradually through consistent investing and disciplined financial habits.

While stocks have historically played a major role in wealth creation, they're not the only assets that can appreciate over time. Real estate has long been another avenue investors have used to build wealth through both property values and rental income.

Arrived allows investors to buy fractional shares of rental properties, providing exposure to residential real estate without purchasing an entire home.

If you're more interested in the long-term earning potential of short-term stays, you can get into this market for a mere $100 minimum and get immediate access to shares of SEC-qualified investments in rental homes and vacation rentals.

Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it easy to fit these properties into your investment portfolio regardless of your income level. Their flexible investment amounts and simplified process allow accredited and non-accredited investors to take advantage of this inflation-hedging asset class without any extra work on your part. That means more money stays in your pocket when the markets are turbulent.

You can view their full list of vetted properties, selected for their income-generating and appreciation potential and start investing today.

Residential properties aren't the only way to gain exposure to real estate. Commercial properties — including apartment communities, industrial buildings and mixed-use developments — can provide a different mix of income potential and diversification.

Lightstone DIRECT's direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

Buffett has built his investing career around patience, while Ramsey has long argued that consistency often matters more than finding the perfect investment.

Those ideas aren't especially exciting, but they may help explain why so many households continue building wealth over decades rather than months.

Creating a financial plan, regularly reviewing your goals and resisting the urge to constantly react to market volatility can help investors stay focused on long-term objectives.

If you're unsure how to build a long-term investing strategy, Advisor.com can connect you with a financial advisor who can help create a plan tailored to your goals and risk tolerance.

Just enter a few details about your finances and goals and Advisor.com's AI-powered matching tool will connect you with a qualified expert best suited for your needs based on your unique financial goals and preferences.

Finding the right advisor isn't always easy — there's no one-size-fits-all solution. That's why Advisor.com lets you set up a free initial consultation, with no obligation to hire, to see if they're the right fit for you.

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UBS (1); YouTube (2), (3); Livemint (4); Ramsey Solutions (5)

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