If you’ve ever navigated to the world of prosperity and wealth building, you’ve probably heard of or at least read about The Rules of Wealth: A personal code for prosperity by Richard Templar.
This book is one of the classics of personal wealth and prosperity, and is definitely one of the books that you should read first if you don’t know the first thing about wealth and how it wholly relates to yourself as a thinking, feeling being.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2006, the book has been reprinted multiple times because of the demand and is now considered a pillar stone reading in prosperity.
Our take of the book is: it’s a hands down, no hold barred inspirational book on building personal wealth.
Other books on wealth are often hard-edged because they’re written by really passionate people who don’t like excuses, but this book somehow softens the transition and helps people understand that wealth building is a process, and it’s a day by day effort.
The Seven Takeaways
The book is of course a set of “rules” that aren’t really rules but more of guiding concepts that are flexible and are meant to be philosophized a little bit so they can apply to everyone’s social status and life conditions. Suffice to say there’s something for everyone in the book.
1. Define your destination
According to the book, you need to first decide on a definition of what being wealthy means to you.
It can be as simple or as complex as you want, but you have to make the concept as concrete as possible.
Only then would you be able to create goals and figure out how to get to your new destination. So the place you are now was a destination, it’s now a matter of transporting yourself to another place, and this is defined by how you perceive wealth.
2. Put in the hours
Templar doesn’t mince words in saying that most people want the wealth, but don’t want to put in the hours. Wealth means working your socks off, and putting in more effort than the next guy.
There really is no shortcut, other than wishing that the wealth will just arrive by accident or chance. He believes that people want this type of wealth route because it’s not “tainted’ by hard work. In short, the real evil here is laziness, or the lack of desire to work for the wealth.
3. Know the difference between price and value
Rule number 15 talks about the difference between these two. Price doesn’t equate to value and vice versa. Something can have high value for you, but little to no value to other people.
The price of something is determined by the capacity of people to pay. An object that is worth thousands of dollars can only become ‘real’ in the sense that it can create wealth for you only if people are willing to shell out the price that you wants. Therefore, what you really need is to do is to start creating value before you think about price.
4. Put yourself in a fantastic place while working
We all know that work can be draining. Many people hate work. But it doesn’t have to be this way anymore.
Hatred of work will only drain you, and the only person who can change this perception is yourself. Therefore, Rule 35 states that you need to “work as if you didn’t need the money.”
This rule is focused on the mindset that you have when earning your bread and butter.
When you are angry and stressed, you become less focused, and less likely to hit upon those eureka moments.
Instead of being angry or stressed, we want you to be relaxed and inspired. Put your heart in what you are doing, even if it means that you will feel inspired to do something that you thought was boring or uninspiring all these years.
5. Develop a keener eye for detail
Developing wealth is actually a game of being an eagle for all the smallest details that can affect your wealth-building efforts. You have to be critical, and your lens has to be as clear as the sky at all times.
Alongside the keen eye for details is the ability to have an open mind while simultaneously being critical of the things that are being offered to you.
We’re talking about loans, interest rates, the works. All the small things add up, and some ‘small things’ aren’t really what they seem. They can have huge repercussions on your life.
Rule 56 is an essential take on a life skill that everyone should never stopped developing past the age of seven – being observant and inquisitive at the same time. Relearn these two and your dreams of wealth will become that much more concrete than ever before.
6. Don’t ignore your hunches
Hunches, also known as instinct, are the agglomeration of your life experiences and the wisdom you have so far. People have uneven quantities of instinct in their lives, because we have different life backgrounds and social statuses.
So all we can ever work with is the type of instinct that we have. Instinct may not be measurable and people struggle to express it, but you must not ignore these.
The mind is giving you a hint based on past experiences, a memory, or a pattern that it remembers. Act on your hunches but make sure that you measure the risk and costs associated with acting upon your hunches.
7. The wise know when to stop
Happiness and wealth are two different things, and knowing when to stop the process of acquiring wealth (whether temporarily or for good) is a good skill to develop.
Why? Because we don’t want to sacrifice your life in exchange for wealth. Eventually, you will hit that level when wealth will appear like a placebo and it is no longer a need, and it becomes an obstacle to happiness. If you hit this place early on, you know what to do. Just remember Rule 88.
