When You Get Rich, Tell NO ONE

I want you to imagine that you suddenly became rich overnight. Maybe one of your investments went to the moon, a side hustle you started took off, you got a large inheritance, or you won the lottery. Believe it or not, many of you will find yourself in one of these scenarios, so this article was recommended to you for a reason. I mean, let’s take the most unlikely option, winning the lottery. This channel’s had over 1.5 billion views. Statistically, that’s enough that a few of you have already won the jackpot on the lottery. And the odds say at least a couple more of you watching right now will win in the future.

So, that’s a good thing, right? Well, actually, when you suddenly get rich, you’re far more likely to lose friends and family, have a greater risk of substance abuse, and finally, divorce. Most people who get rich fast have never actually built wealth before and have absolutely no idea how to manage everything. So here are the seven things you need to do when you suddenly get rich, from a millionaire businessman.

1. Tell No One (Be Stealth Rich)

I know it might be tempting to go screaming it from the rooftops and rubbing it in your enemies’ faces, but the absolute best move is staying as quiet as possible and telling no one. Privacy is really your main priority at this point. You want to be what is known as stealth rich. A guy called Jack Whittaker won $314.9 million from the Powerball in 2002. At the time, it was the largest jackpot ever won by a single ticket. He was the opposite of stealth rich. He went around telling everyone and even became famous for giving money to strangers that asked him for help. He gave away millions to the church and even bought his friends new cars and houses.

Now, you’re probably thinking he sounds like a lovely guy, maybe a bit silly, but he had a good heart and good things come to kind people. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. His wife divorced him, friends abandoned him, and his granddaughter, who he spoiled with money, tragically died from an overdose. He later admitted that being too much of a nice guy destroyed both his fortune and his family.

So now you understand the importance of being stealth rich, how do you actually do it? Well, even if you keep this as quiet as possible, some people will still suspect you. It’s like those TikToks that say, “I won’t tell anyone when I become rich, but there will be signs.” This means you’ll become far more likely to get robbed, sued, blackmailed, or scammed. Once people know you have a bit of money, they descend like vultures. Trust me, I’ve experienced it. They say this is because money changes people. However, over my years, I’ve realized that money actually just reveals who that person really is. The only person you should tell is an attorney. Make sure you get a good one that specializes in trust and estate planning. A trust can save millions in taxes and provide a healthy layer of privacy.

2. Don’t Quit Working (Just Quit Your Bad Job)

A lot of people will tell you not to quit your job. However, I disagree. If your job isn’t bringing you satisfaction, then quit the job. Don’t quit working, but quit that job. You could even wait for the perfect moment when your boss is pulling a power trip like, “You need to step up your game if you want to continue working here,” and then quit gloriously. But please go and find another job that you actually enjoy, at least for a bit. When people quit working entirely, all they have to think about 24/7 is how they’re going to spend their money. Many end up starting a random business they know nothing about because they’re bored and now have the money to do it. Some people even buy restaurants and end up on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Being rich and bored is a really dangerous situation to be in. The way I’ve always thought of it is, if you’re working, then you’re not spending. So keep your life as normal as possible for at least 6 months. You need to process having all this money and not give into the temptation of spending it.

3. Pay Off High-Interest Debt

You might think this doesn’t matter. You’re rich now, why worry about a few little debts when you could pay it all off if you wanted to? Well, these debts can quickly start eating into your fortune, and before you know it, you’ll be left with nothing. Focus on paying back your highest interest rate debts first. The main culprit here is credit cards. These often have 20 to 30% interest rates, which eat away at your money faster than almost anything else. Then you have car loans and personal loans. These are worth clearing if the rates are high. Finally, you have mortgages. Paying off their house is often one of the first things people do after suddenly becoming rich. However, this might not actually be the best idea. If it’s cheap debt, I’m talking 2 to 3%, it might be smarter to keep it and invest instead. This is because you should be able to get a better return from your investments and that will offset the amount the debt is costing you. So focus on clearing that high-interest debt. It’s a guaranteed return, unlike investing which can go up and down. Paying off debt is the same as earning that interest rate risk-free. So use this as a reset button, and once you’re out of high-interest debt, promise yourself never to fall back into that cycle.

4. Handle Family and Friends (Don’t Lend Money)

When you become rich all of a sudden, the people closest to you often feel entitled to a share of it because in their mind, you didn’t earn it with honest hard work. They’ll start asking for loans that they often don’t intend to pay back or even come up with genius business plans they need you to invest in. Trust me when I say, the fastest way to lose family and friends is to lend them money. Just don’t do it. They may resent you a little in the moment, but they’ll get over it. That’s far better than getting into a messy situation where everyone falls out.

But what if you want to help out family and friends? Well, I have a simple rule. If someone I know asks me for help and they genuinely need it, then I give them the money and don’t expect to ever be paid back. On one condition: they never ask me for money again. “Can I have some money then, Mark?” No, you’re joking, ain’t you? I pay you plenty. I recommend you do the same because you don’t want people using you as their emergency fund. If you help them out once and they know they can come back for more, they’re less likely to be responsible with their own money because they know you’ll just bail them out again. I know this point sounds quite heartless, but it’s really the opposite. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. This will save you far more friendships than just being someone else’s piggy bank.

5. Avoid the Consumer Mindset

When most people get rich quickly, they still have a consumer mindset. They look at the money sat in their bank account and think about all the ways they’s going to spend it. My son’s friend’s family actually won the lottery when he was younger, and his parents went out and bought a new house worth over $10 million, a couple of sports cars, and sent all their kids to private school. Only 2 years later, the dream collapsed. Curtis’s friend was yanked out of private school, sports cars were sold off, and their $10 million home was desperately listed for $6.5 million after bad improvements and crushing debt forced them to sell.

6. Live by the Golden Rule (Never Spend the Principal)

This all happened because they didn’t understand the golden rule: never spend the principal, only the interest. You should be trying to grow a money tree that produces new income every month, not cutting it down for temporary firewood. That’s where your freedom figure comes in. Work out exactly how much income you need each year to live the life you want, then multiply it by 25. So if you want an income of $200,000 per year, you’ll need to invest at least $5 million of your new wealth. The idea is that you’ll never actually have to dip into the $5 million and be able to live on the $200,000 of interest every year. Even if you haven’t received a large sum of money and become instantly rich, it’s still worth working out your freedom figure, as it’s a great target to aim for. The rule of 25 is based on a 4% safe withdrawal rate. I personally aim to grow my money by more than 4% though, just to be safe. That brings us on to…

7. Build an Investment Portfolio

The most common thing I hear is, “Where can I find those kinds of interest rates? My account only gives me 0.5%.” The truth is, you’re not likely to find the kind of interest rates you need for the rule of 25 in an ordinary account. You need to open an investment account. So let’s say you somehow got your hands on that $5 million we talked about earlier, how could you invest it? Well, at this stage, it’s way more about preservation than growth. Of course, this does depend on your age and how much risk you want to take, but here’s an example of how I would consider splitting it up. Remember, I’m not a financial advisor, and this isn’t financial advice.

First of all, I’d put $1 million into a low-cost total stock market index fund, just like this one. It includes over 1,300 different stocks, so it’s very diversified. Its top holdings are big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Alphabet. This is your long-term growth engine and has averaged about 9% per year over the last 20 years, but future returns could be higher or lower. On $1 million, that’s around $90,000 a year.

Second, I’d put $1 million into a low-cost total bond market index fund, such as this one. A bond fund is a pool of loans you give to governments or companies. Instead of owning one bond, you own a basket of many, which pays you regular interest and is generally considered safer than stocks. This should help you with stability in the event of a market crash. Broad bond market indexes have averaged 4% returns per year. On $1 million, that’s $40,000 a year.

Third, I’d put half a million dollars into residential real estate, like single-family homes, and another $500,000 into commercial real estate, like warehouses. I like this split, as residential real estate is great for property appreciation. US housing has historically grown at about 7% annually. So on $500,000, that’s $35,000 a year. Commercial real estate is great for steady cash flow, as tenants normally stay for years and also maintain the property. If you buy right, then this historically gives returns of around 8% per year. So on $500,000, that’s 40k a year.

Fourth, I’d put half a million dollars into blue-chip crypto, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin has been one of the best-performing assets of the last decade, so it makes sense to have it in an investment portfolio. However, it is highly volatile and can go down just as fast as it goes up. So treating it as a 5 to 10% moonshot allocation makes sense. Bitcoin’s last decade saw explosive gains of 49% annually, but past performance doesn’t predict the future. So let’s normalize it to a 10 to 15% range. $500,000 could average roughly 62.5k per year.

Fifth, I’d put $1 million into a high-interest savings account, such as this one from SoFi that offers up to 4.5%. On $1 million, that’s 45k a year. All together, that example portfolio could generate around $312,500 per year in passive income, if markets perform like their long-term averages. But remember, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Conclusion: What Real Wealth Is (Time and Freedom)

The ones paying very close attention will realize that I missed out 500k from that $5 million investment portfolio example. That’s because you should spend that 500k on whatever you like. Call it fun money. I went through this stage and realized that having money isn’t about Lambos or mansions. It’s about never having to do things you don’t want to do. Real wealth is waking up and deciding how to spend your day. Don’t be like those lottery winners who blow it all chasing possessions, not freedom. The rich that stay rich are the ones who buy back their time. Once you’ve secured yourself, think beyond yourself and leave a legacy.