USE OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY
To the average person, “it takes money to make money” sounds like a tired cliche used to justify irrational spending. For the rich, it’s a golden rule of wealth. The key is leveraging other people’s money to increase your own wealth.
“Trading time for dollars is a loser’s game, especially as technology destroys many jobs that don’t require a highly skilled human being,” said Wilson. “Using money from banks or investors and hiring people to work for you is a time-tested formula for building wealth, not to mention the tax laws, which heavily favor businesses.”
Whether you’re fundraising to start a business or flipping real estate for a profit, relying on other people’s money to do the heavy lifting greatly increases the return. Of course, it’s also riskier than relying on your own funds. But according to the sage words of the great Warren Buffett, “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
HAVE A SAVING STRATEGY
Everyone knows that saving money is an essential part of being rich, but saving is sometimes easier said than done. While the average person might put aside money here and there, wealthy people decide on a fixed amount they will save from every paycheck and put it directly into a savings or retirement account.
“Take a percentage of what you earn, no matter how little you earn or how much you earn,” said Tony Robbins, life and business strategist and author of the book “Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook” in an interview with GOBankingRates. “A percentage of that has to be set aside that you’re going to keep for you and your family … When you get a 15, 20 percent savings rate and you put it in a place where it’s compounding, you’re going to be financially free.”
CHANGE YOUR THINKING
“There’s no shortage of money on planet Earth, only a shortage of people who think correctly about it,” said Grant Cardone, international sales expert, best-selling author and radio show host of The Cardone Zone in an Entrepreneur article. “To become a millionaire, you must end the poverty thinking.”
In addition to banishing fears of scarcity, you have to truly believe you’ll be rich to get rich, he said.
“I went from nothing — no money, just ideas and a lot of hard work — to create a net worth that probably cannot be destroyed in my lifetime. The first step was making a decision and setting a target,” said Cardone. “Every day for years, I wrote down this statement: ‘I am worth over $100,000,000!’ ”
