3 Simple Steps to Lasting Wealth

It’s Saturday night at midnight, winter of 1989. I've worked a 16-hour shift and I'm busily mopping a restaurant floor. The work is mind numbingly boring and physically draining. This is one of three jobs that I work at. During the week I work at my new job at Lehman Brothers, at night I work on a loading dock in Brooklyn, and on the weekends I work at a local restaurant.

Half way through the mopping, my shift manager sits at the counter haranguing me to work faster. It's been a long day, and before I know it I snap back to her that in just a few years I'll be making enough money to buy the restaurant and fire her. I immediately regret the words as they leave my lips… I figure I'm getting fired for sure. But what happens is much, much worse.

She breaks out in hysterical laughter!

She proceeds to tell me that I will never be more than a kitchen worker and mopping boy. At that time my belief in myself is so great that my future was self evident... I knew I would become successful. So her derision and complete lack of faith in me stopped me in my tracks. I had never considered the idea that I might fail.

For a brief second I thought, "What if she is right?" I immediately expelled that thought, straightened my back and simply shot back, "Just you wait and see." Not the snappiest of comebacks for sure, but for me it was all the affirmation I needed.

Vindication

Eighteen months later I was earning a high six-figure income.  Eighteen months after that I was fast approaching my first million. I never felt the urge to go back there and show my wealth off. You see, I had nothing to prove.  If anything, I think I would have thanked her for her doubt and disbelief because, instead of letting her words weigh me down, I used them as fuel to propel me forward.

It's easy to let the words and actions of others act as an excuse to explain away our own inaction. I would strongly urge you to avoid falling into this trap. It can lead to a sink hole of self pity and "loserdom" that you want to avoid at all costs. We have a choice in how we react to what happens to us and to how people treat us.

I've found that once you get clear on exactly what you want then all external events, whether good or bad, will get converted into fuel to get you to your goal. The key is getting really clear on what you want and then abandoning yourself to getting it.

Rules For Getting Rich

Here at The Tycoon Report we deal with the acquisition of wealth. Many people state that they want to be rich, but how many will actually get there? There are certain rules to the game of wealth acquisition, rules that fly right in the face of the daily mental pounding that we all take from TV, movies, print and internet ads. The world’s greatest marketing minds are focused on parting you from your money.

Spend, spend, spend is the mantra that we are born, raised and buried with as we cruise through life. But if you want to be rich, the single most important lesson that you must learn is to save, save, save. Getting rich is not complicated... but it is difficult.

Let me explain...

Step # 1

In order to get rich, you must first create the habit of living on less than what you earn.  It is here that 99% of all people fall short. They just cannot bring themselves to deny themselves anything. If you find yourself in this position, take heart, because at some point you will either fall ill and run out of money, lose your job and run out of money, or file bankruptcy because you ran out of money. I promise you that any one of those three will wake you up.

When you wake up, you will feel like a 24 karat fool. Don't worry about that, because the fact that you now have enough self awareness to know how foolish you were means that you are finally able to change. The first step is to start saving at least 10% of your income.

Step # 2

The second step is to stop using debt to acquire depreciating assets. That means no more credit cards.  Sure, if you need them for business and travel, by all means use them. But treat them as charge accounts, meaning that you pay them off as soon as the bill comes in.

So the first step of wealth acquisition is to create a pool of surplus money by spending at least 10% less than what you earn. The second step is to stop using debt to acquire depreciating assets – cars, home electronics, and clothing being prime examples.

Step # 3

The third step of wealth accumulation is finding a profitable use for your surplus money. This is where a lot of would-be-millionaires fall short. They are seduced by the siren songs of outlandish returns, take on far too much risk, and invariably watch their hard-earned savings evaporate in a cloud of vapor.

Here's what you need to remember about step 3; finding a profitable use for your capital takes work. Just like in step 1 when you had to overcome your desire to spend, in step 3 you have to overcome your desire to get rich quickly. Lasting wealth takes time to acquire.  Sure, you can get lucky along the way, but I wouldn't count on it as a viable wealth acquisition strategy.

The ugly truth is that it takes real hard work to figure out a profitable use for your money. Whether it is learning how to invest, starting your own business, or fixing up and flipping houses, you can't expect to just wake up one morning and be an expert. The key here is to learn all you can before you commit your capital.

In my stock market training classes I always tell my subscribers to paper trade first. Get the hang of what you have learned before committing real dollars. The same is true for any other money making endeavor. 

Maybe you are handy and can fix up cars or homes.  Before doing it for yourself, tag along with someone who is already doing it. Work for them for free or at a greatly reduced rate if need be so you can get the training you will need to be successful.

Read up on what those cars and homes are really selling for. Get clarity on how much time and materials are going to cost, and figure out if there really is enough of a profit there to justify your time.

If there is then go for it and remember - don't spend your profits! To really turbo charge your wealth accumulation efforts you must harness the power of compounding. You do that by reinvesting all of your profits, dividends etc.. back into your chosen money making vehicle. Rinse, repeat and in a few years you will become wealthy.

This is the boring nitty-gritty of wealth creation.

1. Save at least 10% of your income
2. Eliminate credit card use for the purchase of depreciating assets
3. Find a money making vehicle and reinvest all earnings back into that vehicle

Getting rich is simple but it takes sacrifice, hard work and focus. I urge you to do what I did when I was a teenager:  Throw yourself completely into the process of acquiring wealth; because as you succeed, every breath of air you take in will be that much sweeter, and you will enjoy your life so much more as you greet each day with optimism and hope instead of fear and doubt.

Teeka Tiwari
Chief Investment Officer
ETF Master Trader