THE RULES OF WEALTH
I could tell from the correspondence I was getting about the first three books in the series that a lot of readers wanted to know how to be more financially successful. From readers stuck in the poverty trap, to those who were comfortable but wanted more – for security, or to be able to splash out, or perhaps for a specific large purchase, or to help support their wider family, or maybe just so they could stop worrying.
Of course there are plenty of books out there that will give you advice – often very good advice – on how to turn what money you have into more money. However the principle behind the Rules is a bit different, as you’ll realise. It’s not about practical tips and advice – which I’m certainly not particularly qualified to give when it comes to stocks and shares, investments, or many other financial schemes. The Rules are about you, your mindset and attitudes, and I’d certainly noticed plenty of those when observing the wealthiest people I’d encountered during my life.
I’d already noted down plenty of these informally, and I was getting better all the time at identifying Rules. I’d always observed people of course, and thought about what made them tick – lots of us do that and I’m certainly a keen people-watcher – and it turns out that the more you train yourself to extract the underlying Rule from what you’re seeing, the easier it becomes to spot them.
The Rules of Wealth divided themselves into five sections when I started to write the book:
I included this last section because I’d noticed that the rich people who didn’t share at least some of their wealth didn’t seem to gain as much satisfaction from it as those who did. There are lots of ways to share what you have, and plenty of people to share it with, so I wanted to pass on the principles that seemed to work for the wealthiest people I knew.
I was extremely pleased to discover that the most popular Rule in the book was ‘Anybody can be wealthy – you just need to apply yourself’. I hate to see people trapped in a pit – financial or otherwise – and feeling that it’s not an option to climb out of it. So it was good to see how many people had taken on board that when it comes to money, you can always improve your lot. The Rules that follow are the most popular ones that will help you do just that.