In todays world, where it is possible for one person to obtain enough money to wipe out some countries entire debt,it is very difficult to establish what rich really is.

It seems that everyone has a different idea as to what rich is and also what sacrifices may have to be made to actually become rich.

During the last few years, I have studied extensively everything I could, that apertains to the obtaining of wealth and what was required to supposedly make you rich. I can tell you that it was like trying to precis War and Peace. There was so much crap written and spoken about getting rich.

Before we go any furthur, we had better establish what rich could really be, and set ourselves some targets, otherwise if we carry on with a vague idea of what we want, and a muddled vision of what being rich is, we will have no chance whatsoever of reaching our goal.

Let me qualify my position, so that you can make a decision now as to whether the information I have for you, is a fit or not.

I have been self employed virtually my whole life, and I have experienced some real highs, and some very traumatic lows, and I know that if I knew then what I know now, things would have been very different.

What I found out a long time ago is that we all have quotes and sayings that we can recite at the drop of a hat, and sometimes when I am speaking people in the audience tend to qualify what I am saying with a similar quote or saying. I am not sure why they do this, but all I can say is that there is a lot of difference between reciting a quote, and actioning what it says.

I had a major programming moment when I was quite young, about 22 from recollection, and that has shaped my life ever since.

It was at a rather posh dinner party, and through a series of situations, I ended up sitting next to Tiny Rowland, who just happened to be one of the richest men in the world at the time. How I got to be sitting next to him is another story and will be explained later.

You may not believe this, but I genuinely did not know who he was when we first sat down, but as the evening went on I realized he was a man of some importance, because everyone kept coming up introducing themselves to him.

I have never really been inhibited from talking naturally to people who supposedly are in a better position than me, but I think I may have altered my conversation had I known who this guy was.

To be honest his conversation was a bit boring to me, because it centered on business and money, two things that at that time in my life were not taking up too much of my time. He didn’t even like The Rolling Stones. We did however have some humorous moments and towards the end of the evening, he asked me what I was doing the next day. I took another sip on my champagne, and said, it depends on how I feel in the morning, If I have a hangover I will stay in bed, and if I feel OK I will get up and decide then.

At this very point in my life, my views on wealth were truly formed. Tiny Rowland looked at me and said “I envy you” Well you could have knocked me down with a feather, I was stunned, this man who (once I knew who he was) I envied and wished I could have his money and be like him, was envious of me.

I thought about that and then enquired why. He said that business controlled him, and he never felt that he had time to do the things that he wanted to even though it appeared that he was, he was always on duty so to speak.

I did not realize until many years later, how much affect that meeting had on my life. I subconsciously at that point decided, not to let business or the corporate world control me. I do actually love business and have set up in excess of 50 of them, but as soon as they start controlling me, I either sell them, or let them go.

I possibly may not be as financially set as some of my peers, but I don’t know many who could put their hand on their heart and say they are as happy as me.

So as you can imagine, I have an awful lot of experience in business, I know the importance of money to live a Worry Free Life, and I, as much as possible, do what I want to do, when I want to do it. The two things that can prevent you from doing that, is the lack of MONEY, and the lack of TIME. And it is TIME that eludes most very wealthy people.

So my story and my advice on helping you lead a life that you enjoy, as opposed to sacrificing things to obtain money, and possibly being quite miserable, may appear a bit off the wall and not conform fully to the pre conceived ideas most people have about wealth, but if your most important vision is to lead a Worry Freee Life, and have the money required to do that, then this information will be very useful for you.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH

As I mentioned earlier, I have read an awful lot on what is written about getting rich, and I have also been in the company of, and befriended some very wealthy people, and it is the studying of these people that has convinced me that the way I structure my life, has benefits that out weigh anything that they do.

Before we go any further, let me clarify my position regards money, I love it and what it allows me to do, but I do not worship it, or have any desires to amass as much as I can at the risk of destroying the life I lead, to get it.

Many of the truly mega wealthy people I meet or read about, given their life again, would not make the sacrifices they have, and would set a target of money that is much less than they have accumulated.

They realize in retrospect that the amount of money you need to live a great life is not as much as many people think, and although this amount at the very start of the scale is still substantial, it is not a figure that would make you feel was an impossible mission.

One of the unfortunate things of obtaining vast amounts of money, is that it demands a lot of your time to keep an eye on it. Many very wealthy people have thought that they can get others to do that, but they realize very quickly that no one can do that job for you. The news is regularly full of situations where an accountant, a friend, a confidante or even a spouse has felt that they could use the money better, and the more you have, the easier it is for people to take it.

Oh dear, what a shame it is, that after struggling and going without for years, and eventually finding yourself at the place you thought you wanted to be, you get surrounded by people that think you are fair game, and that in itself makes you cynical about everyone.

You start wondering who is a genuine person, who is just after your money, can I trust that person, and that makes your new place very lonely, and so you start trying to find people who you knew before you had money, because you know that you have something in common with them, Unfortunately because they have just lived an average life you find them very tame, and socializing in its simplest form, becomes a problem.

Another problem that can arise, if you do not look after yourself on the way to obtaining your fortune, is that when you get there, you still have a mindset that was very frugal on the way through, and you cannot shake that state of mind easily. So there you are in a place that you possibly did not want to be ,with more money than you have ever had in your life, and you are afraid to spend it, because you have not allowed yourself to relax and enjoy it. In fact you now spend a lot of time protecting it, that in itself is a full time job.

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