If you are wondering how to build wealth, then this article will give you a good overview of the 3 typical ways you can build wealth quickly. These aren't difficult to understand and others have made their millions by excelling at one of these choices.
Who doesn't dream of marching into their boss' office one day and resigning without caring about the financial repercussions? Well, you can only do so if you have acquired sufficient assets (wealth) through which you can generate a future income to replace your current earned income. By the way, as a rule of thumb I don’t recommend you hand in your resignation unless you have at least 1 and ideally 2 years living expenses put away in liquid assets.
Simply put, to become wealthy over time you basically need to make, save and invest money wisely. The smarter you are at doing this the faster you become wealthy. Assuming you’ve read my other articles on How to Get Rich (the making of and management of money) then you are ready to look at the 3 most common wealth building strategies of the super wealthy.
1. Investing in Paper Assets (Stocks, Bonds, Funds, Currency)
Investing in “paper assets” is a great way to start building wealth. It teaches you the principals of money management, capital, rates of returns, risk etc. You can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and foreign exchange ("forex"). Each of these options presents various levels of risk and reward and requires thorough research before you start. You don’t necessarily have to read the Wall Street journal daily or subscribe to Fortune magazine in order to be a good stock investor. But you should at least get trained by an expert or have access to wholly independent financial advice from an experienced investor.
To help you get started, a basic overview of the paper assets investment landscape goes like this: There are 2 types of investments; ownership investments in which you own part of the asset (a stock is a good example) and loan investments in which you lend money to someone and they pay you interest (a bond is a good example). In many cases, you are looking for growth investments and those are ownership-type investments. (Bonds rarely provide a way to make you wealthy. Rather, they are a way to protect your wealth once you have it). Warren Buffett is a great example of someone who created massive wealth through investing in paper assets.
2. Investing in Real Estate
Real estate is another great way to build wealth. With real estate, you typically buy a property and then make money through selling it eventually for a much higher value than its purchase price and/or becoming a landlord and letting the property. One of the advantages of real estate investing is using the principle of leverage (i.e. a mortgage) to buy an asset that you otherwise couldn’t’t afford. Leverage isn’t commonly available in paper assets investing (although you can buy on margin but this can be risky if you don’t know what you’re doing!).
Real estate investing can be focused on either residential, commercial or land.
Wealth building through real estate involves buying and selling a property – sometimes referred to as "flipping" or “trading” and often involves "rehabbing" a property (i.e. fixing it up)– to give the fastest and best rate of return.. However, landlording is a more standard approach that requires more time to build wealth, generating a small income in the meantime from the rental income after subtracting all expenses. Want to know how to build wealth quickly with real estate? Consider buying a distressed property using leverage, fixing it up, and selling it again quickly. However, watch for market fluctuations in supply and demand and availability of capital in order to use this strategy effectively. Donald Trump is a great example of someone who created massive wealth through real estate investing.
3. Starting, or Owning a Business
Starting, or owning a business is another common wealth-building strategy. Starting a business doesn't always make you really wealthy right away. It takes time and energy to build the income of a business and its capital value, but it can make you wealthy over time if managed effectively. Therefore, if you have previous experience of running a business it can sometime makes more sense to buy an existing business and simply run it better.
Want to know how to build wealth starting or owning a business? Find something that you love to do and that solves the needs of a target market. Then sell that product or service through relentless marketing and sales. Create efficient systems to sell more, more often. And work towards growing the value of your business by making it less dependent on you so that you can eventually sell it to a new owner. Bill Gates is a great example of someone who created serious wealth by starting a business.
Whatever way you chose to start building wealth, always remember those words from the mouth of antihero Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street…“Money never sleeps pal”.
Different asset class values will shift in time (daily/monthly/annually) and according to market cycles. It’s also a good idea to scrutinize your assets and then take steps to rebalance your portfolio periodically. You also need to match risk to what stage you are in life. So, want to know how to build wealth quickly? It's simple: Take your hard-ea
ed money, save as much as you can as you go and then choose a strategy (from above) and consistently, month by month, year by year, apply yourself to these wealth building strategies.
Remember, building wealth doesn’t happen ove
ight. But with education, time, diligence, research and hard work, you can go from wondering how to build wealth to actually becoming wealthy and enjoying your millions! Mastering wealth building will ensure that money you earn isn’t flitted away carelessly and that you get to secure your financial independence!