that reason. I wish I could say I was that smart—smart enough to time my book for just this moment in history—but I’m afraid I’m not. I wrote this book because I wanted to tell the story of the money lessons I learned from my two dads.”
I paused and said, “My book actually represents the exact opposite message of these game shows and lotteries. There is indeed a frenzy today about getting rich quick. While my book is about getting rich, it is not about getting rich quick.”
The commentator nodded and gave me a skeptical grin. “So if you are not part of this get-rich-quick mania, then what are you proposing? Get rich slowly?”
I could feel her sarcasm, and it challenged me. In front of millions of viewers I had to try to keep my cool. So I forced a chuckle in response to her barbed comment and said, “No, my book is not about getting rich quickly or getting rich slowly.” I then smiled and waited for her to ask me the next question. The silence was deafening, but I held my ground as calmly as possible, waiting for her to make the next move.
She smiled and asked, “So what is your book about?”
I grinned and replied, “It’s about the price of getting rich.”
“The price?” she replied. “What do you mean by ‘the price’?”
As she asked the question, the producer signaled to her that we were out of time. She then urged me to hurry with my answer, and I ended the interview by saying, “Most everyone wants to get rich. But the problem is that only a few people are willing to pay the price.”
The TV interview was over. The host thanked me and they cut to the final commercial. I was never able to address what I think the price of becoming rich actually is. This book answers that question.
Who Pays the Price?
One government study tracked people from the ages of 20 to 65. By the time they turned 65 years old, the study found that:
| 1% | were wealthy |
| 4% | were well off |
| 5% | were still working because they had to |
| 54% | were living on support from family or the government |
| 36% | were dead |
In addition, more than 35 percent of that wealthy 1 percent inherited their wealth, as did a large percentage of the 4 percent who were well off.
Yet the question remains: What did the top 5 percent of the rich do that the others did not? What price did the 5 percent pay that the others did not?
Does a Big House Mean You’re Rich?
When I was young, my rich dad drove me past a classmate’s house located in a very wealthy neighborhood. I asked rich dad if my classmate’s dad was rich. Rich dad chuckled and responded, “A high-income job, a big house, nice cars, and lavish vacations do not mean you’re rich. In fact, it could mean exactly the opposite. A lavish lifestyle does not mean you’re smart or well educated. It could mean exactly the opposite.”
Most of us are wise enough to understand what rich dad meant by that statement. Yet I think one of the reasons so many people faithfully play the lottery is because they, too, would like to have a nice big house, expensive cars, and all the other toys that money can buy. While it is possible to gain millions by winning the lottery, in reality, the chances of doing so are extremely slim. Just as a big house does not necessarily mean you’re rich, sitting around watching a game show or betting on your lucky numbers is not the price that most of the top 1 percent paid to become rich.
What Is the Price to Become Rich?
There are many different ways to become rich. Winning the lottery or winning on a game show are just two examples. You can also become rich by being cheap, becoming a crook, or even marrying a wealthy person. Many people actively look for rich people to marry.
Be forewarned: With any method of attaining great wealth, there is a price, and the price is not always measured in money.
The price for watching game shows and betting on the lottery is that the vast majority will never become rich—and that is a very steep price to pay. There are better ways to become rich, with much better odds, but most people are not willing to pay the price. In fact, there are some ways of becoming rich in which the odds are in the person’s favor, almost guaranteeing that a person will become rich, but again the problem is that most people are not willing to pay the price. And that is why, according to the study, only 1 percent actually become rich—in the richest country in the world. They want to be rich, but they are not willing to pay the price.
So what is the price? If I said, “I wish I had the body of a world-class athlete,” most of you would tell me, “Put on your running shoes, run five miles a day, go to the gym for three hours a day, and stop stuffing your face with pizza.” That is what I mean by the price.
And I would probably reply, “Is there another way to have a body like that?” Millions of people would like to have a great body, but few people are willing to pay the price. And that is why they fall for phoney money-making ads that promise, “You will lose weight and still be able to eat all you want. Just take this little magic pill.” Or, “You can look like this gorgeous model without exercise or dieting.” Regardless if it’s money, a sexy body, great relationships, happiness, or whatever we as humans have a desire for, Madison Avenue will come up with an ad campaign that promises the quick and easy way to get what you want. However, most of the products the ads promote do not work, and the people who buy them are not willing to do the hard work themselves or pay the real price.
I often refer to the $385 real estate investment course I purchased from a television infomercial many years ago. I remember sitting at home surfing the channels when I came across this infomercial. The ad encouraged me to come to a free evening seminar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a hotel on Waikiki Beach right next to the condominium where I lived. I called to make my reservation and attended the free seminar. Then I signed up for the $385 weekend seminar. I was still in the Marine Corps at that time, so I invited a fellow Marine pilot to go with me to the weekend seminar. He hated the seminar, called it a complete rip-off, a waste of time, and asked for a refund. Back at the squadron, he said to me, “I knew it was going to be a rip-off. I should never have listened to you.”
My experience was completely different. I left the seminar, took the books and tapes, read and listened to them, and have made millions of dollars from the information I learned at that seminar. As a friend of mine said to me a number of years later, “The problem with your friend was that he was too smart and did not get anything from the course. You were stupid enough to believe the instructor and went out and did what he taught you.”
Today, I continue to recommend that people sign up for seminars to learn the basics of buying real estate, starting a business, investing in stocks, or whatever. I often hear back from the audience, “But what if the course is no good? What if I get ripped off? What if I don’t learn anything? Besides, I don’t want to fix toilets or have midnight phone calls from tenants.” When I hear such comments, I usually reply, “Then it is best that you do not attend the seminar. The seminar will definitely be a rip-off.”
In my experience, many people are looking for the answers that will make their lives better in some way. The problem is that, when they find the answer, they don’t like it—just as I don’t like the answer, “Stop stuffing your face with pizza, and start pumping iron for three hours day.” In other words, until I like the answer I’m getting, I don’t have a prayer of developing the body of a world-class athlete. The reason most people will never become rich is simply because they don’t like the answers they are getting. And in my opinion, it’s more than just the answer they don’t like. It is the price attached to the answer that the person really doesn’t like.
As rich dad said, “Most people want to get rich. They just don’t want to pay the price.”
In this book I discuss the price of becoming rich without being cheap, crooked, or needing to marry a rich person. But there is a price—and as my rich dad often