The Keys To Experiencing The Joy Of Wealth
by Rick Kahler
Ask ten people how the rich got rich, and you will get at least ten opinions. Some of the more common assumptions are that people become wealthy by inheriting fortunes, taking advantage of those less fortunate, or “playing” the stock market. I even remember one government employee who insisted anyone who obtained wealth had to do so illegally.
While a few people become rich in these ways, they are the exception rather than the rule. A survey by the Spectrem Group asked 132,000 people with a net worth of over $25 million where their wealth came from. Here are the results:
1. Hard work, 87 percent: Most millionaires put in long hours, often in careers they love enough so that work becomes play.
2. Education, 78 percent: Certainly, people with college educations earn more than those without. However, the right type of education for building wealth may not be found in a college curriculum. For example, I know one person with no college degree who took the equivalent of 75 credit hours of real estate education and amassed large real estate holdings.
3. Smart investing, 72 percent: Don’t confuse smart investing with sophisticated investments. It’s just not that hard to invest smartly: start young, invest regularly, don’t speculate, diversify your investments over multiple asset classes and multiple securities, reduce fees and minimize taxes, and don’t time the markets.
4. Taking risks, 63 percent: I would add, “smart risks.” Actions like starting a business, buying into the company you work for, relocating your family to a city with brighter prospects, changing careers, or borrowing to purchase investment real estate all carry with them a certain degree of risk. And with risk inevitably comes failure. In “The Millionaire Next Door”, Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko point out that… Read more…