The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Discover the Ten Key Principles to Build True Wealth
(Surprise! It’s About A Lot More Than Just Making Money)
Key Ideas
1. How you can build wealth automatically with the least amount of effort.
2. How “environments” and habits can literally pull you toward your wealth goals.
3. 6 different types of leverage to build your wealth.
Page 1 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
True wealth is about a lot more than just growing your net worth.
Yes, it’s true that financial independence is all about money, but living a
wealthy life isn’t. This distinction is critical.
We’ve all seen rich people who are miserable, and poor people who are
happy. Research even shows the relationship between money and
happiness is small.
Below are the key ten principles that will help you achieve true wealth — both
financially and personally.
1st Wealth Building Principle: Get Deeply
Motivated
Money is a shallow motivator — too shallow to drive you deep enough to
achieve success.
The problem is financial wealth is an external goal with benefits limited to
the world outside of you. Money buys things, but money doesn’t buy
happiness. It can build you a prettier prison, but it can’t get you out of prison.
The inherent limits of external goals (fancy houses, cars, and big bank
accounts) similarly limits how motivated you will be when pursuing them.
To succeed in building wealth, you want to be driven by internal goals deeper
than just the external trappings of wealth.
Page 2 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
You want a cause that will bring transformation to your life and drive you
deep enough to overcome all the obstacles that stand between you and
financial freedom.
Internally-driven goals that might focus your attention long enough to
succeed include the following:
1. Freedom: Break loose from the shackles of daily labor so that you have
more time to grow, create, and live to your fullest potential.
2. Charity: The more you have the more you can give. Charitable
foundations created by wealthy families often provide the financial
muscle to empower great social and environmental causes.
3. Growth: When you have financial freedom, you also have more time to
pursue personal freedom. The wealth in your external world becomes a
mirror to the wealth in your internal world. The principles that lead to
financial wealth can also lead to true wealth by affecting other areas of
your life.
4. Leadership: Grow your own wealth ethically and joyfully so that you
can lead by example for friends and family to rise above the bonds of
financial mediocrity and follow in your footsteps.
The reason deeper causes are essential is because building wealth isn’t
easy.
You will encounter many problems that must be overcome along your
journey to financial freedom. You will pay a price to reach your goal.
To stay the course long enough to succeed, you must be motivated by a
commitment that runs deeper than just the lifestyle that money can buy.
Page 3 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
2nd Wealth Building Principle: Give More
Value Than You Take
Adding value to the world by giving more than you receive makes everyone
better off. That’s how you build true wealth. You improve others lives by
improving your own.
Sure, history is replete with people who have amassed financial empires by
exploiting others or the environment, but taking value can never lead to
happiness or fulfillment.
Exploitation may bring riches, but giving value brings happiness and
fulfillment as well as riches — and that’s true wealth.
By giving more value than you receive, success becomes a measure of how
much you’ve given. The wealthier you become, the more you are giving to
others.
It’s a rewarding way to live.
“From what we get in life, we make a living. From what we give, we make a
life.” – Arthur Ashe
Page 4 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
3rd Wealth Building Principle: Live With
100% Integrity
Never do or say anything that wouldn’t make your Mother and Father proud.
Don’t cause harm, encroach on others property, violate moral law, or damage
the environment. Don’t lie, insult, or cheat in pursuit of financial wealth.
Heck, don’t even stretch the truth. It just isn’t worth it.
The rule is simple: if it doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t. If you don’t feel
comfortable telling your spouse, children, and parents what you are doing,
then you probably shouldn’t do it.
Never choose expediency over integrity because no amount of financial
wealth can replace a good night’s sleep, a clear conscience, and a peaceful
mind.
4th Wealth Building Principle: Be
Courageous
Humans are social animals which makes us cautious to venture
independently. Yet, wealth doesn’t come from following the crowd. It results
from doing what others won’t so you can have what others never will.
It takes courage to be a self-starter and be self-responsible. It takes courage
to walk new paths and develop new skills. It takes courage to stand out from
the crowd. It takes courage to put out the extra effort when others don’t.
Page 5 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
In short, it takes courage to build wealth.
It may be true that the nail that stands up is the nail that gets hammered
down, but it’s equally true that the nail that never got driven is the nail that
didn’t fulfill its purpose.
Live with courage so you can live fully and experience true wealth.
5th Wealth Building Principle: Be Disciplined
Wealth is the cumulative result of many little things added together and
compounded over a lifetime. That means your daily habits will make or break
your success.
Saving, investing, reinvesting, and growing your financial and business
intelligence are all essential wealth building habits that require persistent
and consistent effort.
In other words, wealth building requires discipline.
Without discipline, you risk falling prey to the number one wealth killer:
procrastination. You must begin the right habits today without delay. It takes
discipline to overcome procrastination by starting today and persisting
tomorrow.
Another obstacle to disciplined, daily habits is “magical thinking.” This is the
false belief that financial security will magically appear out of thin air without
a specific plan or action causing it.
Page 6 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Wealth happens because you do what it takes to make it happen. The
appearance of “instant wealth” actually stands on the foundation of years of
disciplined, daily habits. Luck comes to those who make their own breaks.
6th Wealth Building Principle: Avoid
Conspicuous Consumption
The illusory carrot for building wealth is the attraction of a “more, better,
different” lifestyle.
This myth is perpetuated by brokerage ads filled with sailboats, European
vacations, and perfectly manicured golf resorts. The problem is
consumerism causes your limited resources to be directed toward lifestyle
and away from building wealth.
They are competing demands for the same scarce resources – and only one
can win the battle.
“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires, seek discipline and find
your liberty.” – Frank Herbert
The reality is wealth is a form of delayed gratification. Wealth builders live
modestly byspending less than they can afford (in money, time, and energy),
so they can invest the difference for greater value in the future.
They understand happiness doesn’t result from the material trappings of
wealth, because that would only keep them from fulfilling the deeper cause
that drives them to success.
Page 7 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Every day you make a choice between consumption today or wealth for
tomorrow.
The only way to embrace delayed gratification as the most fulfilling
alternative without any sense of sacrifice is to have a motivating cause
deeper than your desire for lifestyle. If lifestyle is your cause, then
consumption becomes the priority — making wealth eternally elusive.
7th Wealth Building Principle: Build
Supportive Environments
If building wealth was easy, then more people would achieve it. Yet, few
succeed in their pursuit of financial freedom even though anyone can put
together a reasonable plan to become wealthy.
The difference is consistent, persistent, focused action. Life provides an
endless stream of distractions to sidetrack your plans for wealth.
The solution is to create a support system that keeps you focused, on track,
and literally draws you toward wealth.
Your family environment, relationships, work environment, financial habits,
daily rituals, and more must be proactively designed to literally pull you
toward wealth by supporting and reinforcing your plans.
You must structure your life to support a wealthy outcome. It’s the path of
least resistance.
Page 8 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Financial Mentor’s coaching and educational products can help you re-
design your life to achieve financial freedom. You can either direct your daily
life to achieve your goals, or you can passively allow your days to be filled
with alternatives.
You either get the results you choose, or you get the results that are given to
you. Which path will you follow?
8th Wealth Building Principle: Apply
Leverage To Build Wealth
Leverage is the essential success principle that builds wealth. You won’t get
wealthy by trading time for money, and you can’t do it all yourself.
Building wealth requires you to work smarter rather than harder by applying
the following principles of leverage:
1. Financial Leverage: Other people’s money so that you’re not limited by
your own pocketbook.
2. Time Leverage: Other people’s time so that you’re not limited to 24
hours in a day.
3. Systems and Technology Leverage: Other people’s systems and
technology so that you can get more done with less effort.
4. Marketing Leverage: Other people’s magazines, newsletters, radio
shows, and databases so that you can communicate to millions with
no more effort than is required to communicate one-on-one.
5. Network Leverage: Other people’s resources and connections so that
you can expand beyond your own.
Page 9 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
6. Knowledge Leverage: Other people’s talents, expertise, and experience
so that you can utilize greater knowledge than you will ever possess.
Leverage allows you to build more wealth than you could ever achieve alone
by utilizing resources that extend beyond your own. It allows you to grow
wealth without being restricted by your personal limitations.
Leverage is the principle that separates those who successfully attain wealth
from those who don’t. It’s just that simple.
If you aren’t using leverage, then you’re working harder than you should to
earn less than you deserve — and that isn’t going to make you wealthy.
9th Wealth Building Principle: Treat Your
Wealth Like A Business (Because It Is)
You wouldn’t build a business without a business plan. Why should building
wealth be any different?
Design your wealth plan based on proven business principles that lead to
success. These principles include competitive advantage, leverage, accurate
record keeping, and accountability– just to name a few.
Run your money like a business, because that’s exactly what it is: a personal
financial management business.
Additionally, your personalized wealth building plan should take into account
your unique skills, interests, and resources while incorporating the Ten
Page 10 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Commandments to Wealth, successful investment principles, and much
more.
When complete, your wealth plan will be tailor-fitted to your unique life
situation, while honoring the proven success principles that no wealth plan is
complete without.
Run your money like the business it is. Anything less will slow your journey
to wealth.
10th Wealth Building Principle: Steward
Your Wealth
“If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known
how he employs it.” – Socrates
Wealth is your servant, and you are a servant to your wealth. Money is little
more than a tool that comes with a responsibility to use it wisely.
The rich man is a fool who dies without arranging his affairs to assure that
his wealth does good during his lifetime and after his passing.
Through your legacy of wealth, you have the opportunity to bless yourself
and your family’s life now and in the future. And you can go beyond that by
expanding the circle to include the lives of all who follow you.
As a successful wealth builder, you’ll be in the unique position to organize
charities that can do great social good. The fact that you can’t take it with
you means wealth is a gift to be given.
Page 11 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
Always understand that wealth isn’t something you possess, but a flow
which has found a temporary parking place under your stewardship.
Eventually this stewardship will move to others as all things must pass
(including you). The wealth builder’s solemn responsibility is to use this
temporarily gifted power wisely so that it creates maximum benefit for all
those who are touched by what you created in your lifetime.
In Summary…
There are ten key wealth building principles that lead to true wealth, not just
monetary wealth. The objective is not just to become rich, but to build a
balanced, fulfilling, wealthy life.
These ten key principles will help keep you on track:
1. Build Wealth For A Deep Cause: Money alone is too shallow a goal to
motivate you to overcome all the obstacles that stand between you
and wealth. When you find a deeper goal like freedom, growth,
creativity, or charity, then you’ll have the internal motivation to persist
and succeed.
2. Give More Value Than You Take: When you give value then your
financial success becomes a measure of how much you have given to
the world. It’s a satisfying way to live.
3. Live with 100% Integrity: Integrity is non-negotiable because no
amount of money can replace a good night’s sleep, a clear conscience,
and a peaceful mind.
4. Be Courageous: Wealth results from doing what others won’t so you
can have what others never will.
Page 12 of 13
The Ten Commandments of
Wealth Building
5. Be Disciplined: Life will conspire to distract you from achieving your
goal. Only the disciplined will stay the course with consistent enough
action to get results.
6. Avoid Conspicuous Consumption: Nobody ever spent their way to
financial freedom. Every day you make a choice between consumption
today or wealth for tomorrow.
7. Build Supportive Environments: The path of least resistance to wealth
is paved by supportive environments that literally pull you toward the
goal.
8. Apply Leverage: Leverage is what separates those who achieve wealth
from those who don’t. You can’t reach the goal by trading time for
money, and you can’t do it all yourself. You need leverage.
9. Treat Your Wealth Like A Business: As a wealth builder, you’re in the
personal financial management business and must manage your net
worth just like an executive manages a successful business.
10. Steward Your Wealth: Money is little more than a tool that comes with
the responsibility to use it wisely. It’s not something you possess, but
something that passes through you and must be given back.
After all, isn’t life too short to settle for anything less?
“Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come
back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.” – H.L. Mencken
Page 13 of 13
