Millions of dollars won’t make you rich.
If you don’t know how to think about money, no amount of it will ever be enough. And you’ll always be chasing the high of more money like a drug addict. A set of money rules provides constraints. Bookmark these rules.
Rule #1 — Building wealth is the opposite of what we’re told
Poor people sell time.
Wealthy people buy time.
The purpose of more money is to buy more time which equals more freedom. It’s not to buy luxury goods that get boring after 2 weeks and rob you of your wealth.
Poor people buy liabilities.
Wealthy people buy assets.
Debt is sold to us the same way we’re sold on eating vegetables. But owning a bunch of depreciating assets that create an income stream for a bank isn’t how you get wealthy.
The biggest traps: home renovations, new technology, and luxury cars. The way to get wealthy is to use money to make more money, not spend money to have less of it.
Rule #2 — Don’t budget, just make more money. Don’t ask for discounts, just make more money.
This rule is gonna piss a lot of people off.
Good.
When you focus on budgets and discounts you transcend into a scarcity mindset that makes you believe everyone is trying to rob you of something.
If you make enough money, you won’t care about discounts or budgets.
It’s a whole different world. You may even find, like I have, that you enjoy paying more money for things because you appreciate the businesses that worked hard to make it happen.
I enjoy spending more money on certain experiences because I find that some of the curation and decision fatigue is removed when I do.
Quit asking for discounts — you’re offending people who are trying to help you. Make more money by upgrading your skill stack.
Rule #3 — Multiple income streams are dangerous
I love the idea of multiple income streams.
It’s a nice way to diversify the risk of your income and stack cash. Recently I’ve learned there’s a floor in this model.
There’s a dude I follow on X who keeps sharing Stripe screenshots of all his income streams. He thinks he’s a genius. But each income stream looks like this after a month:
- $100 in books
- $4.50 in writing royalties
- $75 selling digital products on Gumroad
Yes, he has money, but what he doesn’t have is a single viable income stream. And he definitely doesn’t have a validated business. $100 in book sales doesn’t validate that it’s a good book.
It’s a distraction.
Money guru Alex Hormozi says “The amount of income streams you need is inversely proportional to your confidence in your first one.”
Too many income streams can become a distraction. You’re probably better off nailing one income stream first before you go stacking ten more.
My rule of thumb: if an income stream doesn’t generate at least $50,000 a year, then it’s not a viable income stream — it’s cheap dopamine.
Rule #4 — “A lot of poor people stay poor because they’re too cheap to get rich.”
What an idea!
The rule here is simple: spend money to make more money. Stop saving and letting inflation make you a loser.
The skills, information, and execution you’re missing lie on the other side of investing in coaches, masterminds, courses, books, and seminars.
You don’t know what you don’t about money.
So you can stay the same or change. But to get the right change you must spend money, otherwise you consume 100s of hours of $0 info taught by amateurs who just live for the occasional stranger to buy them coffee.
Being broke is a good thing.
It means you’ve got nothing to lose. So you might as well invest what money you do have access to into figuring out this money problem.
When I was flat broke I spent the last of my savings on flying to Sydney to attend a Tony Robbins conference.
On day one I instantly wanted to leave. It felt like a rah-rah session. I was uncomfortable and skeptical. “What have I done?!”
Within 24 hours Tony completely rewired my brain. I realized I was broke because my thinking was broken. A few traumas and one tragedy had robbed me of the ability to see the future better than it is.
By the end of the 4-day event I’d made 10x my investment. To this day I still credit that experience as the turning point I needed, financially.
The opportunities you’re missing cost more than the occasional rejection or failure.
Rule #5 — Your income must increase as your skill level does (if not it’s a red flag)
Back in my finance career days, I used to learn a lot of new skills.
There was one 3-year period when my learning was explosive but my income didn’t increase by a single dollar.
I realized that I’d milked most of the money out of my employer. A better job title wasn’t going to change much.
So I took the time I spent trying to become a better banker and started building my own thing on the side. To date it’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
There’s no point in continuously stacking new skills if an employer isn’t willing to pay you more for it.
- Learn new skills.
- Apply them online after hours and create a second income.
Rule #6 — Seek pleasure from free resources
Normies love to brag about being “frugal.”
They deprive themselves of an experience or purchase they clearly want as a form of sacrifice. They think it’s smart but it’s actually dumb.
The solution isn’t to deprive yourself of things you want and save money. No. It’s to get better at getting your pleasure from resources, people, and experiences that are free.
Most of the things you think money can buy you are a lie sold to you by clever marketing that seeks to exploit your insecurities and amplify your pain levels.
The ultimate form of wealth, for me, is a Saturday in the park with my 1 year old daughter — and it costs $0.
Rule #7 — Don’t worry about people judging you for wanting to become wealthy
This is a real thing.
Some people don’t make more money because they’re worried how they’ll be perceived. They think strangers will believe they’re evil.
The cool kids in society have somehow convinced the masses that wanting to make more money is evil. That’s toxic capitalism at play. I don’t buy it. All these virtue-signallers are just trying to get more TikTok ‘likes.’
They don’t really believe making more money is evil. Or that making money online is a pyramid scheme or a get-rich-quick scam.
Forget how you look. Forget about the critics.
The only people who’ll mock you for making more money are the ones who wish they could do the same. The haters want what you have. Never forget.
Rule #8 — Real estate agents have misaligned incentives
The path to wealth will always involve real estate. Read that again.
Even if it’s just buying yourself a family home. When I bought my current home I saved about $150,000 by putting in an early offer and making sure the home didn’t go to auction.
The real estate agent knew the house was worth more money but didn’t force me to pay more. Why?
His commission was based on a percentage. Getting an extra $150k out of me only made him a tiny bit more commission. It was easier for him to quickly flip the house, not do open for inspections & move to the next sale.
I made money because of his laziness. The original owner got robbed blind. Ohhh well. Real estate agents work for themselves, not you.
Understand incentives and you’ll understand the world.
Rule #9 — Clearing brain fog is the secret to more money
Wait, what?
Yep, let’s end on this whacky rule. To make more money you need more energy. If you eat crap every day then you won’t have the energy to work hard and execute. And if you deal with customers while experiencing low energy they’ll secretly be repelled by you.
Low energy also makes you more likely to get frustrated and blow up at the tiniest financial problem.
A crypto bro named Alex Becker wakes up at 3 AM. He’s a weirdo and not my type. But he says eating a low-inflammation diet helped remove his brain fog, which let him work more hours.
Energy = Wealth
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered financial, tax or legal advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
