Lessons from The Rich

🔍 Deep Dive: What the Rich Wish They Had Known Sooner

When I say “rich,” I don’t mean the ultra-wealthy.

I mean financially successful people—the ones using their money to live a rich life.

They’re not consumed by the cost of a meal out. Their investment accounts are healthy. They’re financially solid and balanced.

Because that’s what a rich life actually looks like.

1️⃣ The Benefits of Investing Early

There’s one thing all financially successful people understand the importance of:

 📈 Investing early, and taking action.

For example, when I was younger:

• I had no idea what an IRA or an HSA was, or how they worked.

• I had no idea what an index fund was.

• Retirement seemed far off.

• I thought I had plenty of time to figure it out.

This is a common mindset, and it also leads to costly mistakes.

Investing early and often is crucial to building wealth and financial freedom.

This is because investments compound over time, making time in the market incredibly important.

For example, here’s the difference having just 5 more years in the market can make:

This doesn’t mean you’re doomed if you haven’t started investing yet. But if you haven’t started investing yet, now is the time. As they say: “The best time to start investing is 20 years ago, and the second best time is now.”

The lesson: Start investing today, even if it’s a small amount of money—it’s the simplest way to build wealth. Even small contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts can compound to substantial wealth over time.

2️⃣ Effort Compounds Like Money

Investing $100 per month seems meaningless at first.

Until it compounds.

👉 Effort is the same way.

When I started my first business, it required massive amounts of effort with zero immediate return. But that consistent effort compounds just like investments do—only in this case, you gain skills, knowledge, and experience.

The rich know that:

💰 Skills = money
💰 Knowledge = money
💰 Experience = money

The lesson: Invest both your money and effort consistently.

The most successful people bring their best selves to every task, whether it’s a day job, a new business, or something as simple as driving Uber. By consistently striving for excellence in everything you do, you’ll soon attract bigger and more frequent opportunities. This creates an upward cycle that steadily grows your wealth.

3️⃣ The Formula for Career Success

This one’s more of a life lesson, but it goes hand-in-hand with #2.

✨ Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it, and do it well.

That’s it.

Show up reliably. Execute consistently. Deliver quality work every day.

Why is this a wealth hack?

Because most people don’t do it.

I was surprised to hear this sentiment often from the rich people I’ve spoken to. But it makes sense.

Simply showing up and being reliable puts you ahead of 99% of the population. Most workplaces are filled with people who:

• Commit to deadlines they miss

• Deliver subpar or incomplete work

• Show up late or inconsistently

• Make excuses rather than solutions

The lesson: Be reliable. Opportunities and income will flow to you.

4️⃣ The Happiness Plateau

This one might surprise you, but it’s a widely shared sentiment amongst rich people.

🤔 More money ≠ more happiness.

Money is never the “end goal”. People want what money can do for them, or at least what they think it will do for them.

A 2010 study found that happiness increases with more income up until roughly $70k per year. More recent studies have set this mark around $100k, but the exact amount isn’t important.

The important takeaway is that money gives you two things: freedom and choice. And after a certain point, more money doesn’t continue to enrich your life. Instead, the “rich” focus on finding happiness outside the balance in their bank account.

You should ask yourself: is your money helping you live the life you want? The largest benefits of wealth come from reducing stress, living comfortably, and freeing up your time.

The lesson: Know what kind of life you want to live, and how much you need to make to afford it. Then aim for that number, not some arbitrary income you think will make you happy.

Put It Into Practice

Financially successful people aren’t necessarily smarter than anyone else. They simply learned these four lessons, and acted on them. Now you can too.

This week, identify where you can apply one of the above lessons.

For example:

1️⃣ Start investing.

2️⃣ Redirect your effort to something that compounds.

3️⃣ Become more reliable.

4️⃣ Calculate your “enough” number.

💵 Budget Breakdown: Draining Your Savings to Pay Off Debt

We have an interesting budget breakdown this week.

This is Meg. Here’s the TLDR of her situation:

• Meg had a goal to pay off her credit card debt by the end of June.

• Due to life circumstances the past few months, she won’t hit that goal.

• …unless she uses her savings to pay it off.

• This would completely drain her savings.

She’s stuck choosing between two options:

A. Use the savings to pay off the debt. She’ll be vulnerable for a few months while building her savings back up, but she’ll be debt free.

B. Stay consistent and keep paying off her debt at a manageable pace.

If she stays on her current course, she estimates she can pay off her credit cards in 5 months. During that time, she’d pay around $500 in interest.

Right now, she’s leaning towards not using her savings. She feels like it’ll make her more vulnerable to taking on debt if an emergency happened before she replenishes her savings.

She has one 0% APR card, but the offer expires at the end of June. To avoid getting hit with the interest from the past year, she’s debating paying the card off in full at the very least.

Some commenters have suggested a balance transfer card, but Meg doesn’t want more cards. It would lower the average age of her accounts, and she doesn’t feel comfortable with that.

Here are my thoughts:

• Draining her savings is risky, especially in a tough economy like we’re in now.

• The amount of interest she’d accrue over the next several months isn’t that much in the big picture.

My recommendation: she should stay on course, keep her savings, and continue making regular payments until she pays her debt off.

Just like you learned earlier today, consistency applied over long periods of time is what builds wealth. That applies here too.

🔗 Quick Links

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