Before I go and outline ways how people get rich, let me highlight a few viewpoints about being rich. Pretty much everybody dreams about being rich, despite the saying that money doesn’t buy happiness. I am convinced that, unless you were struggling to survive every day because of lack of money, there is at least some truth in that saying. Don’t get me wrong, there are many advantages about having seemingly endless financial resources. You are freed of financial constraints, you can enjoy awesome vacations, you can get access to high quality services, be it in health care or legal services, and you can allocate more time to areas in your life that you value most, like on your family for example, instead of spending your life being bossed around in a job you hate. Money also means power, and you can use the power to make a positive difference, for example by setting up an orphanage or save the rain forest or whatever you feel most for.

However, there are many caveats to becoming rich. Even when you are able to buy everything you want, you will not necessarily end up happier than an average citizen. Happiness is to a high degree a matter of attitude. Of course different people will act differently when suddenly becoming rich, but my observation is that most people will share at least some of the problems associated with being rich. For the average citizen I would actually only recommend becoming rich if you are a person who has honourable principles based on internalized values, to which you stick to no matter what. You need to be able to stick to them even if temptations are great to act otherwise, because I believe that is what being rich will lead to, great temptations. While the really good people will stay good or even get better when they become rich, and even some people who were not known for their generosity might just discover how rewarding it can be to do good, others will lose sight of what is important in life and become ´bad´.

Here some downsides to becoming filthy rich:

• From a society´s point of view it can be said it is not desirable for specific type of people to become rich. While some people will use the money and the power that comes with it to make a positive difference like Bill Gates for example and many celebrities, there will be others for whom the saying ‘power corrupts’ will apply. These people will use the power to fulfil their own needs regardless of whether they are doing right or wrong, they will not care  if the people around suffer (see also Kohlberg’s stages of moral development)
• Again others will engage in a spending spree and spend more than they can afford leading themselves into debt, creating more problems than they had before they were rich. There are a lot of prominent examples for the latter: Mike Tyson, Elton John, and even Donald Trump were close to bankruptcy at one time, to name a few.
• With respect to the mental health and the health of the soul of people, becoming rich can do damage. In the materialistic society we live in, people already neglect the health of their souls, they suffer from depression and addictions, and lose sight of what really matters in their life. There is a good chance becoming rich will make it worse. This is exacerbated by the fact that when people don’t have to work anymore to fulfil their dreams, they will start becoming bored. Different people react differently to boredom, as mentioned, some people will do drugs, others will live promiscuous lifestyles. People will generally start living more superficial lifestyles, worrying about who has the most expensive car or Gucci outfit in the neighbourhood. And yet other more exotic examples of ’having fun’ are those who pay to pretend to be homeless, prostitutes or street musicians , just for ‘fun’.
• Some will become greedy and become obsessed with money. They will actually never be satisfied with the money they have, always wanting just a little more. They run the risk of forgetting that you can’t take your money with you into the grave, so spending all your live accumulating wealth is not what many would call living a fulfilling life.
• Money can also increase dependence offsetting the added freedom wealth brings to some extent. People who have a lot of money often feel they have a lot to lose, they will become much more dependent on their money to maintain and continue their expensive lifestyle. The rich will likely spend quite some resources protecting their wealth, as there will be others who are after the money, some of which are legitimate as the government through tax for example, and then there are of course just regular thieves at all levels of sophistication.

So, while it may not be as desirable as many think if you are not the right type for the reasons mentioned, I believe becoming rich is not as difficult in today’s world, compared to earlier times where globalisation was less advanced. When I say it is not difficult to get rich, it doesn’t mean that it is so easy that even I have managed to get rich, it just means that in today’s world there are more opportunities for the anybody than there have ever been before. If you have a minimum on talent in one of the following areas and most importantly, if you are determined enough, you can make it (assuming access to education and some other relevant resources, and ideally living in a western capitalistic society).

Having thrown in all the caveats let me outline what I believe the most common ways are to get rich are:

1. Get a well paying job and save regularly. Make sure a certain percentage of your income ends up in your savings account. Don’t spend money on things that you don’t really need. Also take care of yourself to keep your health care costs within limits. The upside of saving regularly is that it is a relatively certain way to accumulate wealth over several decades as the power of compounding takes effect. The downside is that it takes time, depending on your contributions. A lot of time, more than people might want to wait. To speed thing up a little and earn a higher interest, it is often advisable to invest a fraction of the money riskier investments, like bonds and stocks for example. The critical factor however is discipline. If the regular contribution is not done automatically, for example through deduction from your checking account via standing order, you are likely to fail. And last but not least, depending on how much of your investments is made up of riskier invest ents such as stocks, there is always the risk that the economy is in a downturn at the time you would like to cash in and retire early, as we have seen with the financial crisis.

The following two options are the most likely ways to get rich besides regular investing in my opinion, however, they also involve taking risks. But hey, sometimes you just gotta push yourself. We live in a society where the average life span is increasing regularly moving towards 100 years, and I could imagine that many people with old age regret not having taken some risks in their lives. If you succeed the benefits are obvious, if you fail, you at least tried and experienced something, and you get to feel what it is to be alive. Don’t be afraid, dare to live (within healthy limits of course)!

 2. Become an entrepreneur. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and some luck you can make a great amount of money, and be your own boss. It can bring a lot of respect and self-confidence. There are many recent examples of “self made people”, from traditional entrepreneurs like Choco Chanel who has a perfume bearing her name (Chanel No. 5), Steve Jobs who co-founded Apple, or Oprah Winfrey in the broadcasting business who founded Harpo Inc. And I am sure you heard of many web entrepreneurs who founded sites like Facebook, Amazon, or Youtube. The advent of the internet has made it possible to become entrepreneurial with little or no initial investment and a potentially global market.

3. Playing the stock market. The difference between playing the stock market, in other words trading, and investing, is that traders are in for quick gains by frequently buying low and selling high. To maximize profits they take risky bets in for example leveraged positions and derivatives and when they work out, they can make a lot of money in a short amount of time. Of course this risk taking can also lead to big losses. If you want to be successful in the stock market you should have quite a bit of experience before taking risky positions, some technical expertise and know-how, and of course capital. I would also add personality as a factor, you got to have some affinity for risk, no risk no gain. But only risk what you are prepared to lose. You also need nerves of steel, as the wild swings in the volatile investments can turn you into an emotional wreck if you get involved too much. 

Flipping real estate is another option, it usually more long term compared to trading, but also there people made fortunes. However, as the recent financial crisis has shown, you can also get burned there.

If you have some affinity for writing or you believe you have expert knowledge that could be of interest to other people in the world then

4. Write a book or maintain a blog. If you have an expertise in a particular area and some writing skills this might be for you. Although I consider them rare cases as opposed to the norm, there are a few who have made it big blogging and creating websites about topics that they were knowledgeable about  Sometimes when people write articles about getting rich they are trying themselves to become rich by offering you a book or other product that will supposedly help you become rich. There are also a number of examples of people who become rich by writing a story like Harry Potter or writing an autobiography, however, this works better if you already are famous. Chances are you will make some money if you manage to promote your book or get high Google ranking, but it will probably not make you rich. If you enjoy it and believe in your skills and you can find the time however, it should not stop you, because those who don’t try will never find out.

In the end, the best situation is still if you find your true calling and actually manage to make enough money to free yourself from financial constraints, while spending your time on something you enjoy, be it helping others as a physician, be it singing, or be it becoming a pastor writing a book on a religious subject matter. It will also give you a sense of self-actualization, a sense of identity, a need that becomes strong after fulfilling all lower needs like shelter and food according to Maslow’s Hierarchy. So don’t waste any time and find out where you belong!