How to Get Rich!

There are lots of books available which will tell you the details of all sorts of schemes for becoming wealthy: real-estate, stock market, precious metals, etc..  Unfortunately, the single most important detail is usually left out.  Except for people who get rich by the windfall method (lottery, marriage, inheritance, etc.), there is one absolute requirement to becoming wealthy; in fact, it is not just difficult - it is IMPOSSIBLE to become wealthy if you do not follow this one simple rule:

• To become rich you must spend less than your total income.

and an obvious second rule:

• To become rich quickly you must spend A LOT LESS than your total income.

For some of you these rules are simply stating the (ridiculously) obvious; however, from watching the behavior of most Americans, it is quite clear that this is not obvious for the majority.  As soon as their income increases for any reason, their spending increases to match, or even exceed, the new amount.  They get along just fine without the new things they spend the money on, but once they have the money (or available additional credit) they for some reason just can't live without the next new toy, so of course they never get ahead and never "get rich".  These people don't actually want to get rich, what they want is to BE rich, no effort on their part.  They hope some piece of magic will occur and suddenly one day they will be rich!  The simple fact is that even someone working for the US minimum wage can end up with one million dollars at the end of twenty or thirty years by investing carefully and living as frugally as possible.  There are of course many factors that will influence this, but the most important one is your attitude, how important is it for you to achieve your goal?  Are you willing to rent a room the size of a closet to live in?  How about living in the street or sharing the rent on a small house with ten other people?  Work two jobs for sixty or eighty hours a week (though not necessary, this makes it a lot easier)?  How about eating only the most nutritious foods you can buy for each dollar spent?  I ate a lot of liver during my first year attending Oregon State University.  It was the best nutritional value for the dollar at the time.  Though I have always hated liver, it helped me to achieve my goal.  At this point most people will say "I'm not willing to live like that", and they have instantly made failure almost certain.  There are many people who have done all of these things and more in order to achieve a desired goal such as a one million dollar bank account, owning their own business, etc.  There is always a price to be paid in order to acheive any goal worth pursuing, and if you aren't willing  to pay the price, you should hardly be surprised when you fail to achieve the goal.