Posted on: January 1st, 2022
What does it take to become a billionaire—or even a multimillionaire? If you think there’s no single right answer, you’re correct. There are actually seven components to building a pathway to becoming extremely financially successful.
So says Russ Alan Prince, one of the leading authorities and consultants in the area of private wealth. He’s distilled a collection of insights and intelligence he’s identified among the many multimillionaires and billionaires he’s worked with over decades into what he calls the Billionaire Money Rules—and he recently shared with us his perspectives on these important mindsets and action steps.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Prince discovered that most successful, wealthy people are interested in becoming even wealthier and more successful. Think about what happens when you reach a goal in your life: Chances are, you get motivated to keep going and see how much more you can accomplish.
But what is it that drives successful, affluent people to keep growing their wealth? It’s not greed, which is the assumption that lots of people make. There are exceptions, but generally speaking, the pursuit of wealth simply for the sake of more wealth is not a key driver.
Instead, we find that the affluent generally are driven by a few key goals: Taking care of their families, and supporting charities and causes that are important to them. Some even want to become extremely wealthy so they can have a big impact on the world at large.
For example, take one group of successful people we’ve studied over the years: entrepreneurs. Among successful business owners who want to be wealthier, 94 percent say it’s because that would enable them to make sure their loved ones were financially taken care of. And more than 70 percent of this group are tremendously charitably inclined. So they see more wealth as a way to do more good. Additionally, about one in eight successful business owners is considering ideas and projects tied to his or her business that will change the world in a very positive way. These possibilities are, at their core, extensions or variations of the owners’ businesses.
And by and large, those same drivers are found among various types of affluent cohorts—they’re not unique to business owners.
So just how driven do you have to be to attain a level of wealth that would make it likely you could achieve those goals? The fact is, there’s no one level or range of net worth that is the right answer for all affluent people. So much depends on how an individual defines terms like “loved ones” and “taken care of” and “change the world.” A wealthy couple with one heir likely has different numbers to hit than a couple with a huge family they want to support.
That said, to make those goals real, a level of personal wealth of at least $20 million is a good target to be thinking about. The reason: That amount is ample to give most successful people the latitude needed to take care of their families, ensure their secure financial future, meaningfully support their chosen causes and maybe even “put a dent in the universe,” as Steve Jobs liked to say. If you reach $20 million, that’s what we call “serious wealth”—and chances are you’re going to have the maximum freedom to do just about anything in life.
Of course, all that raises the issue of how to get there—or at least, how to get to whatever you decide is your own personal amount you need.
It takes discipline and focus to become seriously wealthy. By evaluating the attitudes, behaviors and actions of self-made billionaires and self-made multimillionaires when it comes to private wealth creation, we’ve identified some precise, dominant and persistent patterns—rules, if you will.
This set of seven Money Rules used by the self-made Super Rich—people who earned their wealth as opposed to inheriting it—encapsulates the key mindsets, strategies and tactics that can potentially make you seriously wealthy.
Important: Don’t fret if you don’t feel like adopting these rules en masse. Although these rules will have maximum impact if you implement them all, even following a few of them and implementing them in modest ways can enable you to generate significantly more wealth than you currently possess. The fact is, not everyone wants to make the sacrifices that are required to become Super Rich. Taking only what works for you will still get you on the right path to much greater personal wealth!
Truth be told, many people would like to be rich but haven’t committed the time or effort necessary to get there. Doing so can often mean being faced with choices that help you reach your goal of being wealthy at the expense of something else that may be important to you. Following this rule means having a clear sense that money is a critical objective. This is often overlooked or underappreciated because it’s a mindset issue rather than an action. But a deep and steady focus on becoming very wealthy has to be in place or the other strategies and actions won’t really be as effective as they should be.
Operationally, enlightened self-interest takes many forms. One example of this is making well-reasoned decisions, and the way to do that is by constructing pro formas per decision. Another example of this behavior pattern is evident during negotiations. Skilled negotiation is at the heart of successful economic endeavors. As Bill Gates said, “In business, you don’t get what you deserve, but only what you negotiate.”
Let’s face it: Some endeavors are more fruitful and rewarding than others. For instance, being your own boss gives you a greater chance for personal wealth than working for somebody else. Following this rule means pursuing the fields and initiatives that have the utmost potential for outsize returns, now and in the future.
Often a key aspect of being in the “line of money” is having a piece of the action. It’s very much the norm that the self-made Super Rich are successful business owners with equity stakes in enterprises and endeavors that, they conclude, are likely to make them wealthier.
We find that exceedingly wealthy business owners assume everyone has a degree of self-interest that can be used when building a team around themselves. They never assume people are willing to work solely for satisfaction or fulfillment, and therefore reward handsomely—with cash, equity or some other form of currency—in an effort to cultivate loyalty and specific behaviors.
The way you build your connections and networks of people in your life can help you raise your game. Look to maintain a small but deep network of relationships that can lead to power and influence, as well as friendships. This form of nodal networking—in which a person has a few very powerful, highly impactful, deep relationships with people who in turn have an array of similar relationships of their own—maximizes the time and effort spent toward realizing profits and identifying those things that can further enhance your success.
A lot of people don’t think enough about failure—specifically, about how important it can be. A key money rule is to use failure to improve and refocus. You have to start, as multimillionaires and billionaires do, by accepting that failure is inevitable and that you will experience it. When you internalize that fact, you stop worrying about avoiding failure at all costs and instead focus on how you’re going to learn from the one (or more) bad experiences you encounter.
Mistakes both big and small can hold lessons you can use to get an advantage the next time around—and that’s something that extremely successful people seem to understand at a deep level. Rather than obsessing about lost opportunities and getting discouraged, study your failures and do all you can to prevent repeating missteps.
The wealthiest among us know there are very few things they do exceptionally well and what role these skills and expertise play in generating wealth. Being highly centered means sticking to your plan and not getting distracted by other opportunities or events that call for new and different skill sets. The self-made Super Rich are exceptionally capable of focusing and delegating to others in a way that leaves little room for derailment or doubt.
You may decide that adopting all these rules is just too much to take on—that doing so would require you to make too many compromises that would throw your life out of balance. That’s okay. The key is to determine what amount of wealth you require in order to live a life of financial freedom and financial meaning. Armed with that number, you can start to incorporate the best practices of the self-made Super Rich that will accelerate your success and get you to where you want to go!
This report was prepared by, and is reprinted with permission from, VFO Inner Circle. AES Nation, LLC is the creator and publisher of VFO Inner Circle reports.
Disclosure: The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra IS or Kestra AS. The material is for informational purposes only. It represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. It is not guaranteed by Kestra IS or Kestra AS for accuracy, does not purport to be complete and is not intended to be used as a primary basis for investment decisions. It should also not be construed as advice meeting the particular investment needs of any investor. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS.
Fusion Wealth Management is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. https://www.kestrafinancial.com/disclosures
VFO Inner Circle Special Report
By Russ Alan Prince and John J. Bowen Jr.
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