How to get rich in 600 words
I’m currently doing a round of interviews for my new book so I’m trying to capture in a nutshell what the biggest lessons are for anyone who, if given a choice, would prefer to be rich rather than poor.
Over the weekend I started to reread my book to pull out the main points but I was stymied by the fact that there are too many great pieces of advice that I’ve inherited over 30 years hanging out with some of the greatest business and wealth-builders known to man.
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What follows is my best shot at helping you get rich in about 600 words. Here goes:
If you aren’t happy with your money situation now or into the future, you have to sign up for changing your greatest money-killer — YOU!
Tennis great Chris Evert should inspire you with what she once said: “There were times when deep down I wanted to win so badly I could actually will it to happen.” You have to want to be a money winner rather than a money loser.
Work out what you want in life. Price those goals. For example, I want to pay off my house and have a million dollars in super by age 60. Create a plan to make it happen. If you know you can’t do it yourself, then start reading a book like Join the Rich Club or go to an good and trustworthy financial adviser.
You need to know numbers, such as: how much do I have to save and invest each month? What kind of return do I have to get to make my dreams come true?
For example, if I save $40 a week from age 21 in a good super fund until age 60, I will be a millionaire plus!
Visualise yourself richer and give yourself a daily reminder. Layne Beachley, our world champ surfer, wrote down her goal to be the best in the world on her mirror so she saw it every day!
I know it’s boring but you have to do a budget and then GST your life — hit your spending by 10% by shopping and buying smarter — to give you the money/savings to invest.
Next you have to make sure you have tested all your financial products — do you have the lowest cost home loan and credit card? Are you in the best super fund — returns and cost-wise? Have you found the best value-for-money insurance policy, health cover, etc.? If not, why not? Is it because you don’t really want to be a money winner?
Do you need to have a second job or start a side-hustle to get the money to do the investing? A friend of mine turned her garage into an Airbnb cottage and she gets $400 a weekend, which she uses to buy dividend-buying stocks when the stock market sells off! She’s got a “get rich” plan.
Armed with the savings, you have to develop a money-making plan. A simple one might be to wait for the stock market to crash. It might take two or three years but you would have saved up a lot of money. When everyone is scared, buy an exchange traded fund like Vanguard’s VAS, which buys the top 300 stocks on the Aussie stock market and charges only 0.1%. Here’s its track record:
If someone saved $10,000 a year from age 30 to age 60 and secured an 8% return after tax, say in a great super fund, that would end up being $1.13 million.
Stop being a footie fanatic or a Kardashian fan and become focused on money — understand it, collect it and invest it wisely.
It’s not Mission Impossible but mission very possible but you have to keep saying to yourself: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me!”
As Chrissie said: “There were times when deep down I wanted to win so badly I could actually will it to happen.” And she added something else: “I think most of my career was based on desire.”
How badly do you want it? (By the way, I went about 70 words over but you’re worth it.)
Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit is on the 26th of September 2019 at the Shangri-La, Sydney. Check out the full line-up of speakers and agenda for this groundbreaking event here.