Posted on: June 1st, 2017
As a successful business owner, your entrepreneurial drive has propelled you to heights that most others dream of.
But we know one important thing about you: You’re not even close to done! You want to build on your success so far to create even more wealth and more value.
If fact, nearly all successful business owners want to be wealthier, according to our research (see Exhibit 4).
It’s not greed that’s driving you. You’re not after wealth simply for wealth’s sake. We’ve learned from accomplished business owners that you probably want to grow your wealth substantially to achieve goals that are deeply meaningful to you.
Those goals, summarized in Exhibit 5 below, include:
But here’s what we’ve discovered: To make those goals real, you’ll likely need at least $20 million of personal wealth—that is, financial assets outside of your business or businesses.
That’s what we call SERIOUS WEALTH.
You see, $20 million of personal wealth is ample to give most successful business owners the latitude to take care of their families and ensure their secure financial future, support the causes they care deeply about, and perhaps even change the world for the better. $20 million will give you the maximum freedom to do just about anything you want in life within reason—and to, as Steve Jobs once said, “make a dent in the universe.”
Bonus: $20 million is also enough to have some “private jet” money left over to pursue amazing life experiences and really go for it!
It takes discipline and focus to become seriously wealthy. By evaluating their attitudes, behaviors and actions of self-made billionaires and self-made multi-multi-millionaires when it comes to private wealth creation, we’ve identified some of the precise, dominant, and persistent patterns – rules, if you will.
This set of seven Money Rules used by the self-made Super Rich encapsulates the key mindsets, strategies, and tactics that can potentially make you seriously wealthy.
#1. Commit to extreme wealth.
#2. Engage in enlightened self-interest.
#3. Put yourself in the line of money.
#4. Pay everyone involved.
#5. Connect for profit and results.
#6. Use failure to improve and refocus.
#7. Stay highly centered.
Important: Don’t fret if you don’t feel like adopting these rules en mass. 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!
#1. Commit to extreme 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.
#2. Engage in enlightened self-interest. 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 evidenced 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.”
#3. Put yourself in the line of money. Simply put, 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—as you well know. 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 having equity stakes in enterprises and endeavors that, they conclude, are likely to make them wealthier.
#4. Pay everyone involved. The exceedingly wealthy 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.
#5. Connect for profit and results. Maintain a small but deep network of relationships that can lead to power and influence as well as friendships. This form of nodal networking—where a person has a few very powerful, highly impactful, deep relationships that 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.
#6. Use failure to improve and refocus. Failure is inevitable, so most of the super-rich don’t worry about avoiding it. Instead they focus on learning from each experience and using the lessons to get an advantage the next time around. Rather than obsessing about lost opportunities and getting discouraged, you should study your failures and do all you can to prevent repeating missteps.
#7. Stay highly centered. 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 delegate to others in a way that leaves little room for derailment or doubt.
Remember: 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 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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