Eliminating The Myths About Getting Rich (an excerpt)

Feb. 17, 2017

Here’s a short excerpt from my upcoming book, The Inevitability Of Getting Rich: An Interview With A Master.

Eliminating the Myths About Getting Rich

I’ve seen a lot of rich people in my life, mostly on television, and I’ve read about a lot of rich people. Somehow it seems far away, like something that can never happen to a “regular” person.

There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches. Once these laws are learned and obeyed by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.

Whoa. Mathematical certainty? Can you explain that a little more?

Every man or woman who does this will certainly get rich. For the science herein applied is an exact science, and failure is impossible.

Are you serious? What about the person who’s born in a poor environment? Failure is impossible for someone stuck in a bad situation?

Getting rich is not a matter of environment. For, if it were, all the people in certain neighborhoods would become wealthy. The people of one city would all be rich, while those of other towns would all be poor. But everywhere we see rich and poor living side by side, in the same environment, and often engaged in the same vocations.

Hmm.

When two men are in the same locality, and in the same business, and one gets rich while the other remains poor, it shows that getting rich is not, primarily, a matter of environment.

Okay, but you have to admit that some situations are better than others.

Some environments may be more favorable than others, but when two men in the same business are in the same neighborhood, and one gets rich while the other fails, it indicates that getting rich is the result of doing things a Certain Way.

But what if a person lives on a desert island? That has to matter.

Location counts for something. One would not to the heart of the Sahara and expect to do successful business. Getting rich involved dealing with people, and of being where there are people to deal with. But that is about as far as environment goes.

Then what about talent? Doesn’t talent have a lot to do with someone getting rich?

The ability to do things in this certain way is not due solely to the possession of talent, for many people who have great talent remain poor, while other who have very little talent get rich. Studying the people who have gotten rich, we find that they are an average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and abilities than other men.

But doesn’t a good “money sense” play into this somehow? I feel like I’ve read many examples of really rich people being smart with their money. Saving, for example. Aren’t the people who save money and live frugal lives the ones who end up getting rich? Warren Buffett talks about this all the time.

Getting rich is not the result of saving, or “thrift”. Many penny-pinching people are poor, while free spenders often get rich.

How about willpower? What’s the quote I’m thinking of…something like, “You have to be willing to do what the other guy won’t.” Aren’t rich people the brave ones who do the things others are afraid to do?

Getting rich isn’t due to doing things which others fail to do. For two men in the same business often do things almost exactly the same things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or becomes bankrupt.

You’re shooting down all my reasons.

Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich. Intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich. Physically strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.

Then what does matter?

Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of course, essential. But insofar as natural ability is concerned, any man or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly get rich.

My book is called The Inevitability of Becoming Rich, and you can find that here.