"No one could remember a good Samaritan if he had nothing but good intentions. But everyone remembers him because he had money too."
(Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister) (1)
It is said that there are only six ways to obtain money and access to wealth, and it does not go beyond the limits of these six methods: for someone to give you the money as a gift for any reason, to inherit this money, to win it in gambling and lottery halls, to steal it, to marry From this money, to borrow that money, and finally: to make money.
Let us be rational as we quickly look at these methods.
The first three methods, for someone to give you money as a gift, to inherit the money, or to win the lottery, are matters that cannot be rationalized, and are often subject to the criteria of fate completely.
As for the theft of money, if we put aside the moral side of the matter, it is completely useless, as the chances of falling are great, not to mention that you will live a lifetime of anxiety from the moment your act is exposed, which will lead you to prison.
As for marriage with money - meaning marriage to the wealthy and wealthy - it may seem attractive, but it is undoubtedly fraught with problems, not to mention many personal concessions that not everyone may be able to make.
Borrowing money may also save you a large amount quickly, but it will burden you for many years in the way of repaying it, in addition to a permanent feeling of siege that cannot be removed until after the debt is paid, otherwise the matter will not differ much from the fate of the money stealer: imprisonment.
So, we have nothing left but the only and last means that attract money, which is "making it", this method that the vast majority of people fight over, and everyone realizes that a very limited number of them are the ones who can create real wealth behind this method, which calls for Re-ask the recurring question: Why do a limited number of people achieve so much wealth and most fail?
Most importantly: how do they achieve it?
Over many years, and with thousands of books, articles, or detailed analyzes that theorize about how to get money and get rich in all its aspects, this topic is still under intense study, not only from those who have already gone through the experience of being rich and decided to transfer their experiences to others, but also from researchers. Academics interested in linking numbers and psychological and social phenomena with the opportunities for wealth and financial liberation that some people achieve rather than others.
Thomas Corley, an American accountant and financial planner, decided to conduct a more in-depth study on this subject, which was published on a number of Western platforms, the most important of which is the economic site "CNBC".
Corley began his "Rich Habits Study" in 2004 and ended it in 2007, following which he asked questions and collected data from 233 people who could be described as wealthy, who came from different backgrounds, backgrounds and economic situations.
What is distinctive and different about this study are three points: The first is that it did not target billionaires or high net worth individuals as much as it was targeting the rich who have reached wealth of several millions, the wealthy who can be described as millionaires or "Multi-Millionaires", which makes things more realistic for the reader.
The second is that although it was conducted in America, its general principles can be generalized to all countries of the world with different numbers according to economic conditions.
And the third and most important thing is that the man classified all the results into 4 methods, including the basic pathways to reach the title of millionaire, some of these methods are easy - as far as the description of the study - and some of them are difficult and involve high risk.
(2, 3, 4, 5)
It can be said that we are talking here about the traditional way of harvesting wealth, a path that Corley described as the easiest way, apparently because it does not require exceptional skills as much as it requires a full immersion in the long-breath strategy of financial dealings.
According to Corley's study, about 22% of the wealthy segment in his study were able to reach their million wealth by walking this way.
According to the study, the "saving and investment" path allowed some to reach the first million at the end of the thirties, and to achieve several million by the mid-fifties, while others took more than 30 years to join the millionaires' club.
This path is governed by an integrated lifestyle that can be described as a delicate balance in the aspects of saving, spending and financial investment.
Corley does not link in his study between this path and certain jobs for its owners, but he pointed out that the preference in this model is always given to people who started their career early, and whose jobs fall under what can be described as "middle class jobs", taking into account the differences between countries and wages. around the world.
It can be said that the way of saving and investment is shared by those traveling in it in constant characteristics, the first of which is that they prefer to give up many entertainment matters in their lives in exchange for seeking to save money, and that saving is always a preference over spending.
The study says that they save at least 20% of their income steadily, whatever the circumstances, and then begin to invest their savings early in low-risk investment systems, such as bank investments, savings and insurance pools, and long-term retirement plans.
But although this path seems easy, typical and paved, it does not suit everyone because it is also long and slow and requires a steady and long-term commitment regarding financial dealings, and a steady lifestyle that cannot be broken most of the time.
In Naguib Mahfouz’s short and famous story "Hazrat the Respected," Othman Bayoumi - the protagonist of the novel - gives us a short example of what is meant here is the march of the pursuit of wealth through career progression.
In the novel, Nidal, a young black-haired young man, begins his career as a government employee in a very humble degree, to go through a long and arduous journey of career hierarchies in his company, until he reaches the highest position in it as the general manager, with his hair covered in white.
In this process, the conditions of the low-ranking employee improves and eventually creates a pattern of wealth.
This path, described by Tom Corley as "The Company Climbers Path", are those people who start a promising career and devote all their energies to the goal of career advancement in the company ladder to reach its highest executive ranks that usually guarantee them a high financial return, and guarantees. Distinguished social.
Corley concluded in his survey that 31% of millionaires who were surveyed belonged to this category, as it took about 22 years to reach the fortune of millions behind this path, and the main reason for their accumulation of wealth was that they obtained compensation, partnerships and large bonuses from their companies that They reached the highest positions in it.
This path not only requires functional or creative excellence, continuous work for long hours and sacrifice of great entertainment aspects, but the climber also needs to develop the skills of building extensive relationships (Networking), as relationships are one of the most means that allow them to move up the career ladder.
Of course, the governing condition for the success of those traveling on this path remains that they join financially prosperous institutions in the first place, in a way that brings them financial growth in all degrees of their career development.
In Western literature, they are called "Virtuoso", a term similar to the slang Arabic nomenclature to describe an experienced and highly creative person skilled in his field as a "teacher". We are here talking through teachers who have reached a great deal of experience, skill and effectiveness in their fields, which has reflected on the formation of their wealth a great reflection in the stages of their lives, regardless of the field in which they excel. (6)
The best expression of this path was exemplified by that scene in the movie "Margin Call", when a senior executive of the company was summoned to save it from an imminent danger, and this expert asked a question to one of the young employees, saying: Are you interested to know why I am earning so much The massive amount of money?
And when the young employee answered him yes, the professional executive told him: I make all this money for one thing, one thing only, that I have the ability to accurately guess the path of this company within a week, a month and a year from now.
(7)
According to Corley, about 19% of the millionaires surveyed managed to access their millionaires through this path, which he called the "Virtuosos Path", those people who are paid a lot of money for their knowledge and experience in a particular field, and have knowledge. The expertise needed to make their opinions represent effective insights and solutions for individuals, companies and groups.
This road can definitely not be described as easy, and it may take more than 20 years for its owners to reach millions of riches, according to the study.
The study mentioned examples of these experts which included university academic professors, experts in the medical and legal sectors, as well as experts in the fields of business, public relations or mentors (Mentors) in the business world.
These models took their owners for many years of academic or self-learning and gaining experience without the condition that they had a natural intelligence or exceptional excellence at the beginning of their lives.
This road, while being one of the most attractive paths to wealth for its owners, is also one of the most stressful, as it requires a large investment of money and time from its owners in their fields, which leads to achieving gradual benefits over long periods of time that may reach 20 years.
Corley also described it as the "hard way" and "fastest way" at the same time.
The most difficult way to create wealth, considering that it requires an exceptional amount of persistence that is not comparable to all of the above methods, and the fastest way because its results in creating wealth are faster than other methods.
The road described by one of their respondents is like walking every morning through hell.
The study says that 28% of the people surveyed are classified into this group, with an average wealth of $ 7.4 million, which is much more than the average wealth of millions reached by other groups.
It also says that this sample was able to reach millions in a period of 12 years on average, which is also a much shorter period than other groups that take at least 20 years to reach wealth.
The study illustrated several models for those who go through this path and enumerated examples of it, between an entrepreneur who decided to launch his start-up company, passing through a writer who spends years sewing the events of his creative novel, and not a musical artist who creates different types of music, or a football player who spends his entire day training, or A professional actor who starts and ends his day with acting exercises in front of the camera. In other words, everything that is outside the usual traditional pattern of business of an institutional, academic or educational character, the achievement of which requires a lot of commitment to work and self-development.
Corley's study also reported that the average working hours of people it categorized as being in the Dreamers' Road Camp are estimated at 61 hours per week, especially in the early years of the start of their entrepreneurial journey.
It also indicated that 27% of the people who reached the million wealth behind this road failed at least once in their way until they were able to achieve good results.
Later on, most of those walking along this path stated that they had resorted to the traditional "saving and investment" path to increase their profits from their creative careers.
In the end, it can be said that the common point on which this study agrees with other literature over the years is that the acquisition of wealth is like anything else subject to personal differences, levels of individual endurance, way of thinking, and perseverance of each person in their pursuit of it, and that the path you decided to take after Reading this report may not be appropriate for another reader reading the same lines at the same moment.
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Sources:
Quote - Margaret Thatcher
Rich Habits Study - Background and Methodology
There are 4 main paths to becoming a millionaire-and this is the easiest one, says money expert
This is the fastest path to becoming a millionaire-but it's also the hardest, says money expert
'Rich Habits' author: There is no one right way to build wealth-and that's great news
Virtuoso
Margin Call 2011