1) Income is not wealth

High income households tend to have more wealth than low and middle income households. However income explains only approximately 30% of the variation of wealth among households. What matters is how much of the income is invested. Millionaires invest 20% of their income.

2) Planning is key

Those who build spend twice as many hours per month planning their investments as the non wealthy. Successful accumulators of wealth place the management of my assets before any other activities. Are you regularly planning your investments? You need to be. Are you planning your career to find your dream job. You should be.

3) Love your home

Your choice of accommodation and how often you choose a new home will impact your ability to accumulate wealth. 50% of millionaires have lived in the same house for more than 20 years.

If you live in an expensive home, you will spend a large proportion of your income servicing the debt to repay that high mortgage. Typically it is the individual aspiring to be more wealthy than they are by overstretching themselves living in that expensive home. 90% of millionaires live in homes valued below £1 million. In addition millionaires have a mortgage that is less than one-third of the value of their homes.

4) Saving is like having employees

When you have assets you wake up every morning and have the potential to work for you. Each pound you save is like an employee. Over time those employees grow and become their own source of cash. Success will come when you no longer have to sell your time for money and your assets generate wealth for you.

5) Start small

An army is built one soldier at a time. You don’t need £1,000s to get started saving. Do not suffer from ‘Im too poor’ to save mentality. Each £10 saved is a stone towards the foundation of your financial freedom.

6) Take control of your destiny

The future will be today one day. Don’t postpone building financial freedom for tomorrow – start now! Where you are now is the total of the decisions you have made in the past. Set the stage for your life in the future now.

7) The rich invest

30% of the income of the wealthy go into investments and savings. The wealthy have are not rich because they started rich they are rich because they invested consistently a large proportion of their income.

8) Study the successful

Pick a hero to emulate. Copy the traits you admire and discard the traits you hate. Sometimes we need others to take us by the hand and push us to the next level. By seeing another in the place you want to be it will help you visualize your goals

9) Your family may not have the answers

Our family have a massive impact on our life – especially in those early years. Your mental programming will be dictated early on by your family role models. It can be dangerous to take the advice of those closest to us if those family members have not achieved a level of success in their own lives. Don’t be afraid to break free from the mentality of your family

10) Focus on the journey

Do not be discouraged where you are now. What matters is the commitment you have made to starting the journey to financial freedom. There will be ups and downs. But its better to have a goal and not quite meet it rather than having no goal at all.

11) Avoid credit

If you can eat it or wear it do not put it on a credit card. Use debit cards not credit cards then you will avoid the temptation to spend money you do not have. If nobody gave you money to borrow you would be better off

12) Start your own business

Easier said than done. But over 66% of millionaires are self employed. Think the wealthy inherit their money? Most millionaires have earned their assets themselves. You can never get rich working for someone else. You need to wake up every morning, look in the mirror and know you are looking at the boss!

13) Keep learning

Charlie Munger referring to Warren Buffet: ‘Warren Buffett has become one hell of a lot better investor since the day I met him, and so have I. If we had been frozen at any given stage, with the knowledge we had, the record would have been much worse than it is. So the game is to keep learning, and I don’t think people are going to keep learning who don’t like the learning process.’

14) Create your future

Wealthy people don’t wait on chance they make things happen by choice. You hold the keys to your destiny. Do not look to others for excuses as to why your are behind on your dreams

15) Play to win

The average person plays the money game to take part. The rich play the money game to win. If you aim to be ‘comfortable’ you will never be rich. You have to aim to be rich to be rich.

16) Commitment to wealth

Wanting or wishing to be rich is no good. You have to go all in. Commit fully to being rich. You need mental clarity that there is nothing standing in your way of becoming wealthy.

17) Think big

The wealthy think big. Why settle for £3,000 a month income? Why should £30,000 a month not be possible? Change your mindset from seeing obstacles to seeing opportunities.

18) Take risks

Failure in life is caused not by aiming too high and missing it is when we aim to low and hit. You have to take risks to become wealthy. With risks comes failure. But with no failure there can be no success. Winners have the ability to fail and fail again but continue to move forward and never give up on taking risks – until they achieve success.

19) Admire wealth

Poor people see the wealthy and become jealous. Rich people admire wealth. If you associate negative feelings towards money you will never become rich. The wealthy have worked hard and taken risks in life to achieve their goals. That’s worthy of respect not hatred.

20) Self promote

A poor person will be shy and reserved. Most wealthy people are excellent promoters of themselves. They promote their products and ideas with enthusiasm. You need to do the same to become wealthy.