Number two: They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently in ways conducive to building wealth. And I could ask, are you doing that? So many people, you know, it's out to eat at nice restaurants on the weekend, out partying, you know, out going to the casinos, going down to Vegas, gambling. I don't know what you're doing—I'm not making a judgment here—but is what you're doing, how you're spending your time, energy, and money, is it efficient, and is it conducive to building wealth? Because so many Americans, they waste a lot of money. They have to have the newest car.
When I was self-employed, I was driving, I don't know, a 12-year-old car. My employee, who was part-time, was driving a brand-new car, and he had the gall to think I was underpaying him. And I'm like, "You're driving a brand-new car; I'm driving a 12-year-old car." So are you spending your time, energy, and money efficiently, guys?
Thirdly: They believe financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. Again, this is that "keeping up with the Joneses." I think if you do that, keeping up with the Joneses is a good way to go broke quick. Financial independence means that you're not dependent upon an income to meet your needs, you know, support your lifestyle, etc., etc. But displaying a high social status—again, you make $200,000, $500,000 a year, but if you're spending that or more, you're gonna have a hard time creating wealth because you're spending it all. So financial independence—you got to decide, is financial independence important for you? Do you want to keep up with the Joneses and have the nice cars, nice homes, nice clothes, all that stuff?
Fourth: Their parents didn't provide economic outpatient care. That was really kind of talking about, you know, they weren't trust fund babies. You know, a lot of those people, you know, from the very wealthy, they get the money, and they run the family. They dwindle it, or they run the family fortune down. We were at Conrad Mansion in Calispell, Montana, last week, and the son of Conrad—his son had actually gone on a spending spree and dwindled the family fortune down to basically nothing within a few years. That's the type of stuff that we're talking about. So don't do that. So are you doing that? Hopefully, you're not.
Fifth: Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. Think about that. And I want to say—and I don't do this to brag—but my oldest daughter said, "You are in a better financial condition. You have more money in the bank, more money saved up—savings and private equity—than I did when I was your age." So are your adult children economically self-sufficient? That's an important thing to pass along—economic wisdom, financial literacy.
Six: They're proficient in targeting market opportunities. I'm gonna say a couple things about this one. That's either, you know, you're... you don't just have a 401(k), but you are in the market. You get—you seek out competent professional advice. You get a certified financial planner that's fee-only. You have a CPA that knows what they're doing. You're not cheap on that. Those two people can really help you out. And if you have, thirdly, you've got a competent attorney that you can use if you need to. Let you target market opportunities—stock market. Um, talk to somebody that knows what they're doing there. You talk with a certified financial planner. Also, business opportunities—I think market opportunities are also businesses, So you gotta be proficient in targeting market opportunities.
And then seven: They choose the right occupation. Again, I'm semi-retired. I'm not in the workforce per se, but you have to have the right profession in order to do well. If you don't, it's going to be pretty tough. If you're a janitor—nothing against that—or working McDonald's or a lower-paying job, it's going to be really hard to accumulate wealth and achieve financial independence. You have to think and plan right.
I found those really interesting. What was also interesting on this is that, uh, talking about who's the prototypical American multi-millionaire? Well, I'm not going to get into that list; I'll save that for another message. But interestingly, guys, self-employed people make up less than 20% of the workers in America, but they account for two-thirds of the millionaires. Guys, two-thirds of our millionaires are self-employed. Guys, if you're looking—so you might think about that. Being self-employed is probably the way to go. Two-thirds of people that are multi-millionaires are self-employed.
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