How to Double Your Way To £1 million in 28 Steps

You may have seen this little fun thing as you’ve been surfing around. It’s by a guy called Stuart Goldsmith. It was written in 2002 as a challenge by him. I thought i’d ‘review’ it here for a bit of fun.

It’s not an affiliate product or a money making opportunity, it’s really a little game that disciplines you into thinking more about how you treat money and how you strategise around it.

The strategies you use to double up in the early stages won’t work as the money gets more substantial. You’ll need to change your thinking and planning as you go along. You may do ok with it though, and could become a little obsessed!

The whole idea is that if you find a penny (you are encouraged to do this to start you off), you move through 28 Stages, doubling your money as you go, until you reach £1 million.

You’ll probably be surprised that it only takes 28 ‘doubles’ to get from a penny to £1 million, but it does!

The 28 Stages from 1p to £1 million

Stage 1 Find a penny

Stage 2 1p – 2p

Stage 3 2p – 4p

Stage 4 4p – 8p

Stage 5 8p – 16p

Stage 6 16p – 32p

Stage 7 32p – 64p

Stage 8 64p – £1.28

Stage 9 £1.28 – £2.56

Stage 10 £2.56 – £5.12 (at this point, round it to £5)

That’s 10 of the 28 steps used up, and we’re still only up to a Fiver. Are you sure this works?

Stage 11 £5 – £10

Stage 12 £10 – £20

Stage 13 £20 – £40

Stage 14 £40 – £80

Stage 15 £80 – £160

Stage 16 £160 – £320

Stage 17 £320 – £640

Stage 18 £640 – £1,280

Stage 19 £1,280 – £2,560

Stage 20 £2,560 – £5,120 (let’s round that to £5,000)

 

Still only reached £5,000 and only 8 Steps left. This is unbelievable. Now look what happens in the last eight steps:

Stage 21 £5,000 – £10,000

Stage 22 £10,000 – £20,000

Stage 23 £20,000 – £40,000

Stage 24 £40,000 – £80,000

Stage 25 £80,000 – £160,000

Stage 26 £160,000 – £320,000

Stage 27 £320,000 – £640,000

Stage 28 £640,000 – £1,280,000

There you have it. 1p to £1 million in 28 steps. You’d have £280,000 to spend as well and still have £1 million left.

If you managed to double every day (I know, that’s impossible), you’d be a millionaire in less than a month!

The Rules

You knew there’d be rules, didn’t you?

When Mr. Goldsmith came up with this little experiment in 2002, he issued a stringent set of rules to be followed as you progressed through the Stages. Here’s his original document

Double Your Way From 1p to £1 million in 28 Steps

If you decide to try it, you should stick to the rules above and see which step you get to. Do as Stuart says and document your progress.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on.