After I Read 40 Books on Money – Here’s What Will Make You Rich

So you want to become a millionaire? And everyone is telling you to read books, but hardly anyone’s got time for that. Luckily, over my many years in business, I’ve read hundreds of books, but there are 40 money-making books that have really stuck with me. So in this article, I’m going to condense all of these books into the core lessons that will actually make you rich.

And no, I’m not just saying this, I have experience doing it. I’ve gone from absolute zero to making tens of millions, and I didn’t make my money on YouTube like most people on here. I made it running real businesses.

So I promise that the things I’m going to share with you today will take you from $0 to $100,000, $100,000 to a million, and a million to $10 million if you apply them correctly.

Level 1: Going from $0 to $100,000

Mastering Your Mindset and Beliefs

First, you need to master your mind. I didn’t come from a wealthy background, and during my youth, I vividly remember people saying the phrase, “Money is the root of all evil”. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind explains how these phrases program us to believe that rich people are the devil. It took me a long time to rid myself of the negative feeling in my stomach when I thought about making money. If I’d have read this book sooner, it would have helped me realize this issue earlier.

Once I got over this hurdle, I had to ask myself, “What is money actually for?” For me, the answer was freedom. The Psychology of Money puts it a little differently and says it’s all about control, but I suppose the goal is the same—to be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. It also touches on how there’s a clear difference between the rich and the wealthy. Wealth is what you don’t see. The car’s not purchased, diamonds not bought, renovations postponed, clothes forgone, and first-class upgrades declined.

Unfortunately, many people don’t even believe that they can become wealthy. I remember my school friend saying things like, “I hope I can get an okay job when I graduate”. They weren’t even hoping for a good one. The Magic of Thinking Big explains that people are setting their finish line too soon, and therefore, never have a shot at being successful. While I don’t believe that thinking big alone will make you successful, it’s certainly the first step.

The Power of Winning and Necessity

I always struggled in school and felt like a failure. Interestingly, when I left and started working in the real world, I found that I kept winning. This was probably because I chose jobs I had an interest in, rather than learning things I didn’t care about at school. The Winner Effect talks about actual studies to back up this phenomenon. The book discusses how positive correlation has been found between successful stock market traders and their testosterone levels. Furthermore, winning increases the testosterone receptors in your brain, which causes you to win more in the future. That’s why it’s important to set those achievable goals and get those little wins every day.

I believe that my struggles in school and my strong drive for success had a positive impact on my life. They left me with no other option but to push forward. Think and Grow Rich tells the story about a great commander. Despite being outnumbered by a far superior enemy, he burned his army’s own ships, leaving them with no escape plan. This forced his soldiers to fight with everything they had, resulting in a miraculous victory against all the odds. It just shows there’s a big difference between wanting to succeed and needing to.

Being comfortable is just as harmful as having an escape plan. During a chat with Andrew Tate, he referred to this as one of the Matrix’s tools. Unscripted also presents this idea. The author argues that society aims to transform us into model citizens, which stands for Mediocre, Obedient, Dependent, Entertained, and Lifeless. Avoiding this fate depends on how well you can manage stress.

The Essence of Success gives us a helpful perspective on this. The book mentions that all the water that forms a fog that’s 100 feet deep and seven city blocks wide can fit into a small glass. Whenever I feel stressed, I like to imagine drinking this water and using it as fuel.

Developing Great Habits

Now you can develop great habits. Stress can also come from factors outside our control. For this reason, I’ve made a conscious effort throughout my life to only focus on things that I can directly impact. Atomic Habits reveals that many people fixate on the end goal, which they have no control over, rather than the process of achieving it, which is completely in their hands. I found the author’s habit stacking technique to be particularly helpful for forming new habits. It involves pairing a new habit with an existing one, so both are completed at the same time.

However, most people just keep putting things off and never form good habits. I know far too many people who just go through the motions without any direction, and before they know it, time has run out. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People stresses the importance of always knowing where you’re going and thinking about how you want to be remembered. I know this provides me with extra motivation. But this is only one part of the equation. The 12 Week Year suggests treating a year as 12 weeks to create a sense of urgency. This really hit home for me as I know I work best under pressure. Although short-term pain is often necessary for long-term gain, it can be difficult to remember this when faced with challenges.

The Art of Getting Things Done emphasizes the importance of not relying on your brain to remember all your tasks. Instead, capture them on a phone or a notepad. This way you can organize your tasks without getting them confused, and you can also be selective with how you spend your time. Essentialism reminds us that for every task we say yes to, we have to say no to many others. Therefore it’s important to value “yes” and not be afraid to say “no”.

Building High-Value Skills

After adopting these habits, you should start building high-value skills. I’ve previously said that I don’t like the advice, “Follow your passion”. However, So Good They Can’t Ignore You takes it one step further. The author interviewed many people who loved their jobs. He found that most of them didn’t initially have a passion for their work; rather, as they improved, their love for their work grew.

So what skills should you start building if you aren’t necessarily following your passion? The Unfair Advantage suggests that to succeed in an unfair world, you need to play to your natural strengths. Find what you’re better at than most people, and lean into it. However, it’s no longer enough to just possess high-value skills. Artificial intelligence is rapidly replacing many jobs. I’m using it more and more in my various businesses to complete simple tasks.

That’s why the idea shared in Mastery is more important than ever. My main takeaway was that you need to develop a unique stack of skills that is nearly impossible to replicate. Steal Like an Artist echoes this point when it suggests to copy from multiple inspirations until you have a mix that is truly original. Having this unique skill stack will give you the ability to earn a high income. However, that still won’t mean you can build wealth without understanding the basics of personal finance.

Understanding Personal Finance and Investing

Assets vs. Liabilities

When I was younger, I had a mentor named Dave who taught me about how the rich manage their money. The biggest lesson I learned, which is also shared in Rich Dad Poor Dad, is that everything we buy is either an asset or a liability. To figure out which one it is, we simply have to ask ourselves: Is it putting money in our pocket, or taking it away?

Of course, if you want to be wealthy, the aim should be to buy as many assets as possible. But lots of people don’t see the value of investing. Let me ask you this: would you rather have $3 million now, or a penny that doubles every day for 31 days? The correct answer is the penny, because it actually turns into $10.7 million. The Compound Effect uses this analogy to demonstrate the power of investing and gaining compound interest.

Smart Investment Strategies

Once most people get their head around this, they get very excited but end up jumping into the markets without really understanding anything. That’s what happened in the pandemic. Everyone thought they knew what they were doing, but it was just a massive bubble waiting to burst. That’s why I’ve always followed the principles laid out in The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. It states that trying to beat the market is a losing game; instead, you should own the entire market. You can do this by investing in something like the S&P 500 or a broad market index fund. Interestingly, over a 35-year period, only 1% of mutual funds could beat the market by 2%. This means that index funds are a clear choice for the average investor.

Although, as I do find them pretty boring, I also like to invest in more interesting stocks with a smaller part of my money. Whenever I do this, I keep in mind that the market is irrational. As The Intelligent Investor puts it, you should imagine a person coming to your door every day called Mr. Market. One day he may offer you $2,000 for your stock, and the next, only $500, even though the company may be doing better than ever. This is because the price of the stock is based on demand and not the actual real-world value. I only buy stocks if I’m prepared to ignore what Mr. Market says for a long time.

Another phrase I live by is, “If you love the store, chances are, you’ll love the stock,” which was shared in One Up On Wall Street. This means if you’ve got a lot of experience of a company or product, you might actually have a bigger advantage than the pros when it comes to investing.

Utilizing Financial Tools (Moomoo)

Before we get to the next level, I have to make one thing clear. Reading books on investing can provide you with theoretical knowledge, but to truly succeed in investing and build wealth, you need to put that knowledge into practice. So, if you are going to invest, you need to make sure that you’re using a tool that provides you with all the necessary information to make informed decisions.

This is where today’s sponsor Moomoo comes in. If you’re interested in building wealth, then you’re really going to want to listen to this. It’s a powerful investing platform founded in Silicon Valley with over 20 million users worldwide. You can trade stocks straight from your laptop, iPad, or smartphone, whether in the United States, Australia, or Singapore. You also don’t have to worry about commission fees and account minimums. I personally really like the free tool they offer, which allows you to see what famous institutions are investing in and what sectors are performing best. As a beginner, you can also practice your trading ideas with a demo account before entering the market. If you sign up today using the link in the description, you can receive up to 15 free stocks, each worth between $3 and $2,000. That’s an amazing deal. These free stocks can help you start building your investment portfolio right away.

Level 2: $100,000 to $1 Million

Shifting to Relative Income

But what does it really mean to be rich? Well, The 4-Hour Workweek explains this best when it says that relative income trumps absolute income. To understand this statement, let me ask you a question. An investment banker earns $500,000 per year working 80 hours a week. On the other hand, an e-commerce entrepreneur earns $40,000 per year but only works 4 hours per week. Who’s richer? If we look solely at absolute income, then the banker is clearly making more money. However, if we consider the time worked, the banker earns $120 per hour, whereas the entrepreneur earns $200 per hour. To take it one step further, the entrepreneur can actually already live the retired life that the banker dreams of, as he can operate from anywhere in the world. I’ll take the entrepreneur route any day of the week.

Finding a Contrary Truth

Zero to One states that the first step to starting a business is betting on a contrary and truth. This is the basis for most successful businesses. For example, Netflix had to bet on the fact that people wanted to binge-watch TV shows at home, and Airbnb had to believe that people would be willing to stay in a stranger’s home. For many people, the biggest hurdle is coming up with an idea. However, this is often easier than you might think.

Disrupt You! outlines an effective method which is to write down three things that annoy you every day and think about how they could be done better. By doing this, you’ll have 90 ideas to consider each month. When you have an idea, don’t be afraid to share it with people that can help you. People tend to be too protective of their plans, but the truth is that an idea alone is usually not that great.

Blue Ocean Strategy

There was an interesting study conducted on 108 new businesses across 30 industries. Out of these, 92 businesses chose to enter red oceans, while 16 adopted a blue ocean strategy. A blue ocean refers to a market that has little to no competition, while a red ocean is named so because of the fierce competitions between competitors. The study found that 39% of profits came from businesses in competitive markets, while 61% of profits came from those that used the blue ocean strategy. Furthermore, these businesses went on to dominate their industries for 10 to 15 years after launch.

A good strategy for creating your own blue ocean is to become oversubscribed. Consider Ferraris. Many people want them, but not everyone can have one. Yet, the people that run Ferrari aren’t losing sleep over this, as they know that this scarcity keeps demand high and the cars highly desired. Every oversubscribed product has people who are willing to buy it, but can’t get their hands on it.

When I’m driving up demand for my products, I always remember the core lesson from Breakthrough Advertising. This book is actually the most expensive book in the article. It states that you can’t manufacture desires. Instead, your job is to create a product that fulfills the market’s already existing desires.

Level 3: $1 Million to $10 Million Plus

Influence, Empathy, and Leadership

Elon Musk wouldn’t be nearly as successful as he is today if he didn’t have the ability to inspire others to make his visions a reality. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is one of the best books on this topic. I’ve been using this principle in my model shops for years, as my employees are encouraged to help customers with quick repairs for free. I know that if we do this, the person’s far more likely to come back in the future and make a much larger purchase. You can use this with anything; just focus on giving value, and eventually, it’ll come back to you.

Dealing with people comes with a lot of headaches. You can’t compromise on your vision, but you also need to make sure that people don’t resent you. Never Split the Difference says you can do this by using something called tactical empathy. The key is to empathize with someone’s situation to get them to empathize with yours. People want to be heard, and as mentioned in How to Win Friends and Influence People, they don’t want to be told they’re wrong.

The reality is, all humans are emotion-led creatures. They tend to make their decisions with this in mind, and then justify their actions with logic. Pitch Anything explains this as having three different brains. The croc brain, which developed when we were mere animals, the midbrain, and the neocortex where we make all of our decisions. Most people try to appeal to the neocortex when they want to sell something, but first you need to break through the croc brain. You can do this by using emotion and making what you’re asking for as simple as possible.

Building Systems and Processes

It may surprise you, but all leaders are pretty calculated people deep down. Reading The 48 Laws of Power opened my eyes to this even more. One of my favorite laws was number 11: “Learn to keep people dependent on you“. This is so true as an employee and a leader. If you can be replaced by someone, you can never truly have power. However, if your future business is dependent on irreplaceable people, it will eventually collapse.

The reason why 80% of new businesses fail is that the person running it does not understand how to build systems and processes. The E-Myth outlines how most people who start businesses are not entrepreneurs, but rather just good at a certain skill. For example, someone who makes good cakes may not necessarily be able to run a successful bakery. These kinds of entrepreneurs often over-invest in their businesses, hoping that one day they will turn a profit. However, what often happens is the income slows down while expenses remain high, leading to the closure of the business and no profit.

That’s why adopting the strategy described in the book Profit First is crucial. The book proposes that entrepreneurs should run their business with the calculation: Sales minus Profit equals Expenses to ensure that they are always profitable.

I believe one of the primary reasons I’ve succeeded in business for so long is by specializing in one specific niche: radio-controlled models. Although it may seem small, I know I can be the best in my field. Good to Great describes this as having a hedgehog mentality. Each day, the fox attempts new tactics to catch the hedgehog, but every time, the hedgehog rolls into a ball, using this tried and tested strategy to avoid being eaten. Being extremely good in one area makes you rich in the long run.

Considering World Events

Up until this point, I haven’t discussed world events as they relate to the bigger picture. This is because I believe that you needn’t worry about them until you have the power to influence them. If you have a considerable amount of wealth, it may be worth reading The Fourth Turning, which suggests that every century consists of around four 25-year historical blocks called the High, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis. Another good one is The Changing World Order, which discusses the idea that every major superpower has its time and eventually declines. These can provide a perspective on how events and trends may impact the economy and society, which can be useful for making informed decisions about investments and business ventures, but aren’t necessarily something to worry about if you haven’t made at least $10 million in my opinion.