I would like to edit the topic question: How can I get rich on my own while I am still young? One can get rich through inheritance as well. Therefore, I’m not considering inherited wealth. How do you create wealth on your own? It’s not easy. You will have to work really hard. If luck favors, you will be rich sooner. Luck, I mean favorable conditions.
The difficult part: The rule of compound rate of growth and the initial point of your trajectory.
Zero never gives you growth. Whatever the rate of growth you apply zero always remains zero. First, you have to enter into the positive zone. The initial amount is the biggest impact on your wealth. Therefore, you have to earn this big initial amount at the earliest. For example, you invest $1 at a compound rate of 10%, approximately after 14 years it will become $4, at the end of 21.5 years it will become $8. You will be rich by $8. At the same time, if your initial investment is $1,000,000, you will get $8,000,000 at the end of 21.5 years at 10% compound rate (800% of initial investment). The co-ordinate point from where your trajectory takes place is very important.
Wise investment will make you rich:
If you are able to get a higher rate of growth you will get rich sooner. In the previous example we considered only 10% compounded growth. In fact, you can get higher rate if you invest your money wisely. When I was young I invested in a mutual fund (tax scheme, lock-in period of 3 years) an amount of $5000 in order to get tax relief. After 3 years, the NAV was 500% of the initial offer price. I got $25,000. Had I invested more on this investment I would have been rich at 28. That was a favorable time in life. It’s rare in life. You may get this kind of favorable conditions 3 or 4 times in your life. 3 or 4, because you missed some in the past and you might miss some more in the future. Identifying such conditions is the key to become rich. In general, young people will miss out the first chance or even more as I missed. You will miss out early chances if your mind is engaged in non-financial activities. Only experience will teach you.
Short term investments will not make you richer:
Time is another important deciding factor. Accumulation takes its own time. Time and higher rate of compounded growth rate will make you rich. If you want to be rich in 7 years, then the growth rate has to be much higher. If your target is $ 1,000,000,000 and now you have only $100, then every year it has to grow 10 times in order to reach your target. That is an extraordinary growth rate. So it is quite difficult to become a billionaire with an investment of $100. The probability is very, very low. Therefore, don’t set an unrealistic target. Allow time to accumulate your wealth.
People surrounding you is another important factor:
99% of the people surrounding you will make you to spend your money. My dad asked me money to invest in plantain crop. I gave him the money he asked for. After 1 year he told me that the entire plantain crop was flattened by the monsoon wind. The return he got was zero. My money was also gone in the wind.
My uncle advised me to buy a car when I was 25. I did not have enough money to buy a car. I had to borrow money. I would have got a bank loan easily. Somehow, I postponed the idea of buying a car at that time which was really an unwanted thing. That decision was good and made me richer now.
One of my neighbors was ready to sell his house and offered me a price. I did not have money at that time. I had only half of the money. I would have got a bank loan for the remaining amount. Somehow, I declined the offer. That was really, really a bad decision I made in my life. That investment would have fetched me 100000% profit by now. This is another favorable condition that I missed out.
Do no invest in stock market without learning the basics
Once I bought 100 share of a company(IT). Each share costed me 1200. Within 6 months, the market price reached 3600. I did not sell it thinking that it was a value stock. I decided to hold long. The next month, it started coming down due to some head wind. The entire stock market was nose diving. My stock reached to the bottom of issued price of 40 or 45. I lost all my money. Yet, I did not sell it because there was nothing to lose more. I waited, and waited for 7 years patiently to see the price going up to 85. During this period, the company had been correcting and consolidating its market share. I bought more shares of the same company. After 10 years, now it is trading at its previous peak.
Another stock that I invested along with the above mentioned at around 45 had not climbed even to 100 in the initial 10 year period. In the next 3 years, it climbed to 250. In the following 3 years, it crossed 1000 and now trading at around 1500.
Yet, there are other stocks that had never been able to raise their head after the collapse.
This is how stocks behave in the market. There are reasons why they behave so. You have to learn the basics.
My advice is a mindful living. Study your surroundings and look for favorable conditions. Invest time and money to improve yourself which will always help you. One favorable condition is enough to make you rich. Be mindful. Don’t miss it.