The Rules of Wealth

[Sparky]

Hi everyone

I wrote the below review for my website, but thought it might be just as relevant here (if not more so).

In the Rules of Wealth, Richard Templar sets out 100 rules for of wealth. This is divided into five sections: Thinking Wealthy, Getting Wealthy, Getting Even Wealthier, Staying Wealthy and Sharing Your Wealth. Within each section he sets out the 'rules' of wealth as he sees it. For the most part it is something you already knew, one could almost call it common sense, but making it into 'Rules' sets a standard of everyday behaviour that one needs to align with in order to get wealthy. And I definitely agree with the first part of the book being about 'Thinking Wealthy' because that is the only way to find enduring wealth.

And thats it for my 'review' of the book.

I'm sure you can find a much more thorough review of the book at Amazon. I would, however, like to share with you one super nugget of wisdom I took away from the book.

The last rule of the section 'Thinking Wealthy' is rule 18.

Rule 18: It is harder to manage yourself than it is to manage your money.

Quoting from the book:

"So how well do you know yourself? Pretty well? Not at all? Vaguely? We think we know ourselves until we come to give up smoking, lose weight, get fit, get rich. And then we realise we are lazier, have less willpower, less determination, make less effort, get too easily dissuaded, fall by the wayside too readily.

If I wanted to tuck you under my wing and make you wealthy, the first thing I would need to know is: 'Do you have what it takes to be wealthy? Are you determined enough? Will you work hard enough? Will you stick at it? Do you have backbone? Stamina? Guts? Relentless focus?' You see, if you don't, the chances are you won't succeed."

To tell you why this specific rule had struck a chord with me, I first need to tell you of a little adventure I started recently (1 year ago). Gym. Going to the gym isn't that great achievement, but for me it is. See, I've been putting it off for years, each year making some vague comment/intention to start going to the gym, but then never getting around to it. Then, before I moved to London, I was again making a vague comment to my dad about going to start gym once I'm in London. And my dad just laughed - he said 'Son, you've been saying that since you left the house to go to university and you have never really done it, now have you?' That's when I realised such a vague intention wasn't good enough anymore and I had to COMMIT to gymming. And once I got here and got started, I could not stop, for if I did, then it would be just like all the other times when it was 'also' just another vague commitment, without the willingness to persevere and make it a habit.

And it is in the silence of the gym where I push myself beyond what I 'know' I can do, to that which lies just beyond what I thought I was capable of yesterday. And it is in these moments of pushing myself harder, that I can hear the voice of excuse in my head talking the loudest: '...you've run far enough today, nobody will know you quit before your intended time...' or '...my muscles in my back/leg/arm hurt, why don't you just take it easy this time...' or '...I'm tired, can't I just skip today and come again tomorrow...'. And it is through my commitment to persevere, that I've come to recognize these 'reasons' as the excuses I've used in the past to stop gymming- see, I'd go to gym for a week, and then the following Monday, I'd be just a little bit too tired to go to the gym, maybe I'd go on Wednesday. And so I'd procrastinate and accept my excuses as 'valid'.

So why then does this passage strike a chord with me? Because I'm the person that 'have come to know myself when trying to get fit'. And I see where I've faltered in the past. And since I now have a vague intention of getting rich, the parallels are clear: I need to make that commitment, and not stray from the path despite all the 'valid' 'reasons' I might think of why now (or this place or this opportunity) isn't the right time to do it.

So, The Rules of Wealth, might help you find that little nugget of wisdom, like it did for me, that pours some cold water of reality over your dreams (and makes you more determined to get really wealthy). Or maybe you can just read it as a book of rules and continue to think that rules are meant to be broken - and still do nothing to get wealthy. Either way, The Rules of Wealth is just a book and it is up to each one of us, to make the most of it or any other opportunity that come our way.

Go and break some rules! :driving:

 

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[kimberland]

I found The Rules of Wealth
(or in the U.S., it is titled The Rules Of Money for some unknown reason)
an interesting mix of target markets.
I got the impression that Templar was trying to appeal to everyone
so he'll have the rule about setting aside funds for retirement on one page
and taking equity rather than lending money on another.

I didn't really understand how he broke the sections up either.
In Getting Wealthy, he talks about only buying shares
and then in Get Even Wealthier, he talks about learning how to read a balance sheet.
Jeepers, if you don't know how to read a balance sheet,
DO NOT buy shares.
In Staying Wealthy, he mentions putting something aside for your old age.
Well, if you're wealthy then you're living off investment income
so that something should have been put aside already.

I think there are some great points
(though there is a lack of any shared personal wealth building experience).
It killed a long stop over in Heathrow for me.
I simply wish it had been organized better.

: )