The Many Roads to Wealth

Everyone wants to have lots of money, right? Well, maybe not. Turns out, there are lots of people who think they want money, but maybe not as badly as they thought. There are several legal ways to get it, and you probably are aware of most of them. So why isn’t everyone rich?

Method #1: Marry someone who is rich. Although it seems like an easy way, it is not really when you think about it more carefully. First of all, people tend to hang out with, make friends with, and marry people who are similar to themselves in most respects. This also includes social class. Also, people who have money are less likely to date or marry people who have substantially less money than they do for a myriad of reasons such as: wondering about a person’s true motives, feeling uncomfortable talking about the subject, and strong objections from family. Granted, these marriages do happen now and then, but most people do not choose to try to find someone who is several steps higher on the financial ladder because of perceived and real differences.

Method #2: A windfall such as from an inheritance, winning the lottery, or lucky investment picking. Unfortunately, this method of getting rich is very fickle. Not only can you not choose to have a windfall, but a majority of people who do, spend the money very quickly and often even find themselves in worse shape than before both financially and emotionally.

Method #3: The pursuit of money through 1) knowledge and 2) risk-taking. This includes a very small group of people who know the ins and outs of their business and are willing to take very large risks to make more money. This type of money-attainment is touted in Robert Kiyosaki’s best-selling “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. Unfortunately, you can not just do one without the other if you want to have fast wealth: if you take risk without proper knowledge and research, you may as well be gambling; on the other hand, if you have knowledge without taking risk, you are taking the slow and steady way to wealth described below. The biggest problem I find with this method is that the hours and hours of research and the 100% commitment to wealth attainment at all costs is not at all appealing to me or to most of the people I know.

Method #4: The slow and steady way. Many people avoid the slow and steady way because it takes so long and seems so BORING! But, ultimately, it is the best way to accumulate wealth, if not great wealth. It is also the way most of America’s wealthy made their money. So here is the secret: 1) Live on less than you earn and put money away in savings. 2) Pay off your current debts and avoid going into future debt. 3) Diversify your investments: don’t try to time the market, just buy some solid mutual funds and hold onto them for many, many years. If you want, you can even purchase a few pieces of well-researched real estate properties. That’s it. It is easy, but maybe too easy. For more information, check out “The Millionaire Next Door”.

Remember, there are no guarantees in life and that your happiness is not contingent upon how much money you have, but on how well you spend it.