Blueprint to Riches: 8 Essential Rules to Follow

Crafting a solid financial plan, making savvy investment decisions, and avoiding common pitfalls are essential to building wealth. One can realize their financial goals only through a comprehensive plan offering practical advice and strategies. 

While wealth creation is complex, it is attainable with time and patience. Hence, here are eight strategies on how to get rich.

1. Create a Financial Plan

A financial plan is your personal finance blueprint that gives you a fair idea of how much money you need to become rich and what steps you should take. Ideally, your financial plan should aim at securing financial freedom, a phase that allows you to live your life on your terms without stressing about money. 

It should list your long-term goals (10 or more years), medium-term goals (5-10 years), and short-term goals (less than five years). These goals include significant real estate purchases, cars, home renovations, children’s education, medical expenses, vacations, retirement, and inheritance for posterity. 

A survey found that seven out of 10 people who document a financial plan feel more in control of their finances, and nine out of 10 feel confident that they will reach their financial goals.

2. Spend Less and Maximize Your Income 

Jaspreet Singh, a serial entrepreneur and the host of the Minority Mindset YouTube channel, says, “Becoming wealthy is surprisingly simple. That doesn’t mean it is easy; it’s tough, but only three steps exist. First, you have to spend less than what you make. Second, you have to work to earn more money. And third, you have to invest the money you don’t spend.”

Authors Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez advocate a similar strategy in the form of the “Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE)” movement in their book Your Money or Your Life. The FIRE movement encourages you to live below your means and get creative with making extra cash to save more. 

A few ways to boost your income are to negotiate a pay raise or promotion with your employer, switch to a new job with a high-paying role, work overtime, pursue a side hustle, convert your hobby into a business, or improve your professional skills.

3. Start Investing Early and Consistently

Time is money. The earlier you start investing, the longer your money grows into a sizable corpus through the power of compounding. A few long-term investment vehicles you should consider are:

• 401(k) or any other employee retirement plan at your workplace
• Individual Retirement Plan (IRA)
• High-yield savings accounts
• Individual stocks
• Mutual funds
• Certificate of Deposits (CDs)
• Real estate

Make sure to diversify your money across different investment avenues that move in different directions and are less correlated. Review your investment strategy at regular intervals and rebalance your portfolio as required.

Investing consistently throughout the years is crucial to continuously boost your wealth portfolio. Invest any windfalls you receive and increase your investments by 1%-2% annually. 

Regular investing will also ease the pressure of diverting significant amounts from your budget in later years when you have more responsibilities and financial constraints.

4. Stay Out of Debt

High-interest or unpaid debts can devastate your financial stability and reduce your credit score. An average American spends nearly 10% of their monthly income on debt and cash advance payments. Hence, if you are thinking about how to get rich, you have to stay out of debt.

It is advisable to avoid taking any debt as one of the rules of wealth creation. However, if you have accumulated debts, you should aim to become debt-free through these steps:

• Include debt payments in your monthly budget
• Repay the loans with the highest interest rates (debt avalanche method) or smallest debt amount (debt snowball method)
• If you have a stack of credit cards, bring them down to one or two after paying off the others
• Consolidate multiple debts into one of two larger debts
• Check with the lender if debt refinancing or any other negotiation is possible 

5. Resist Lifestyle Inflation

Lifestyle inflation is when your expenses increase due to an increase in income. You are urged to spend money on a bigger house, a new car, fancy restaurants, designer clothes, and other luxury goods.

Don’t give in to the temptation of lifestyle inflation. Instead, allocate the surplus income towards making more investments or increasing the emergency fund.

Grant Cardone, CEO of Cardone Capital, advises avoiding making big purchases unless you have 2x its price saved up.  

6. Diversify Your Portfolio

Diversifying your portfolio is a cornerstone strategy for building wealth and achieving financial success. By spreading your investments across different asset classes, industries, and regions, you can reduce risk, increase potential returns, and navigate market volatility more effectively. 

Diversification provides stability, flexibility, and peace of mind, allowing you to stay focused on your long-term investment goals while weathering various economic conditions. 

While no investment strategy is foolproof, diversification remains a fundamental principle for investors seeking to optimize their portfolios and enhance their financial well-being over time.

7. Beware of ‘Get Rich Quick’ Schemes

If anyone tells you about a fast and easy way to get rich, it is most likely a fraudulent scheme, and you should not fall victim to it.

Remember that wealth creation is a slow and steady game. It requires a well-formulated financial plan and discipline. 

Most millionaires are made, not born. According to a survey, 79% of millionaires in the U.S. are self-made. They have worked relentlessly and made smart financial decisions to build wealth. 

8. Build Financial Literacy Skills

You can seek professional advice to make your money work harder. However, you should also develop financial literacy skills to align your savings and investments with your financial goals. Read, listen, and watch content on personal finance. 

A few book recommendations are:

• Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki)
• The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel)
• The Intelligent Investor (Benjamin Graham)
• The Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey)
• The Richest Man in Babylon (George Clason)

You can also explore these podcasts:

• Afford Anything
• Planet Money
• Money for the Rest of Us
• So Money

The Netflix documentary series and reality show How to Get Rich also give good insights into money. In this documentary, finance expert Ramit Sethi helps people from different age groups, income brackets, and segments fix their money problems.

Are You Ready To Become Rich?

In conclusion, the path to wealth creation demands disciplined adherence to fundamental principles. 

These eight rules serve as a roadmap: crafting a comprehensive financial plan, living below means while increasing income streams, initiating early and consistent investments, managing debt diligently, resisting the allure of lifestyle inflation, diversifying investment portfolios, and steering clear of “get rich quick” schemes. Supplementing these rules with a commitment to financial literacy fortifies one’s ability to make informed decisions. 

Wealth is not an overnight phenomenon but a result of persistent effort, strategic planning, and prudent choices. By following these guidelines and continuously educating oneself, the journey towards financial abundance becomes not just plausible but probable.