From Broke To Rich: How To Build Wealth

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How to go from broke to rich. The first thing you should know is that over 80% of millionaires did so in their own lifetime. This means that most of the wealthy grew up poor or middle class and didn’t have a wealthy mindset from birth. They weren’t raised wealthy.

10 years ago I had a negative $105k net worth. In the summer of 2022, my net worth was over $600k. How in the world can anyone move $700k in a decade? And I made a lot of mistakes and didn’t really double down in some areas I should have in life. Too many shiny objects don’t get you where you want in life.

What did they do differently to achieve such success? We will cover the first steps you will need to do to put yourself on that trajectory in life.

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These ideas are based on my personal experience and opinion and should not be considered professional financial investment advice. Furthermore, the ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

How To Go From Broke To Rich

In today’s economy, it’s hard to get ahead financially. Wages have been stagnant for over 40 years and the cost of living is rising. But there are those who have found a way to build wealth by prioritizing their lives correctly.

Let’s define a couple of terms first.

Broke assumes that you are living paycheck to paycheck – no matter how much you make. Your life expenses equal or exceed your income. That means that those in that position are one bad event happening that could cause total disaster and not just financially.

Rich assumes that you have the ability to live for years (maybe indefinitely) without the need for an active income.

Here are the steps you will need to follow to move from a broke person to a wealthy person. At the end of this article, I will give you a link to learn how to take the next steps to become wealthy.

The Mindset of a Wealthy Person

When you see problems do you see opportunities to excel or help others? Or do you see roadblocks instead?

The wealthy person sees everything in terms of options and choices. If there is a roadblock a wealthy person sees a choice.

Do I pivot away from this and do something else or do I charge through it? What is the return on investment on moving on vs charging through it?

A wealthy person also uses experts to advise them on what to do in life. They don’t blindly listen to others, they use others for their knowledge and expertise but in the end, they make their own decisions.

If you want to learn more about a wealthy mindset see my article below in the green box below.

Fix Your Mindset

The reason that most people have built wealth in life is that they have fixed their mindset.

Less than 20% of millionaires were born rich. That means that you could create that level of wealth in your life, but you need to start with the best asset you have: Your Mind.

Click here to read What is a rich mindset and how to get it.

Cut Your Expenses

The first step in moving from broke to rich is to take note of all of your expenses and see what can be removed.

I want to state something that all the financial gurus will tell you that I think is utter BS. Don’t give up the small things in life that make you feel human or give you pleasure.

In fact, I want you to think about how to do more of those small treats for yourself, but in a very specific way.

How To Change Your Habits Effectively

When beginning anything new, you will need to change your behaviors and until you do the new behavior for 60 to 90 days you are vulnerable to quitting.

So how do you stick to it?

Create a list of things you spend money on – give yourself a small treat. For some that could be a cup of coffee, a piece of chocolate, reading a chapter in their favorite book, or calling a friend.

After the reward for listing out your expenses look at them. Make notes on those that can be removed with little to no impact on your life. Now give yourself a small reward.

Then go cut out all of those unneeded expenses. Cancel those subscriptions / cut out those brand foods that taste the same as the generic / etc. Your list will be different. Now give yourself a small reward.

Keep doing this with bigger and bigger actions. Each time you get a small reward. Once you have achieved your goal then give yourself a bigger reward that could be going out to dinner with a friend or your family, buying nice food to make at home, taking a cheap trip to see the leaves change color in the fall, hanging out with friends at a park, or buy that new paperback you want to read.

If you want more ideas on how to cut your expenses see my article on how to save $3000 in 3 months below. You can use these ideas to save any amount of money and in any amount of time (depending on your means and your willingness).

This method teaches you to actually enjoy hard work. It is something you should incorporate into all areas of life. Want to lose weight? Great what can be a healthy reward? Want to quit an addiction? Great what can be a healthy reward for going without that cigarette or drink? Want to start a business? Great, what are the steps you need to do today, and what small reward will you get for accomplishing it?

For example, I will get to go for a walk outside once this article is written. I know for many that may not sound like a reward, but for me, it helps me reconnect to myself and I get to exercise.

Need to Save More Money?

Would you like to know how to save $3000 in 3 months or 6 months?

Maybe you are just looking to develop good habits to have an emergency fund to stop living on credit card debt.

Check out my article for many easy-to-use tips, regardless of your income, to save money in the long haul that doesn’t look like “Just use door dash.”

Click here to learn how to save $3000 in 3 months.

Saving Your Money

The next step after cutting expenses is to start to save the money you are no longer spending to build up a $1k emergency fund.

You need an emergency fund so that if something comes up you won’t go further into debt.

After you have $1k in an emergency fund you can start to then split this cash into two funds.

1) 6 months of expenses in a savings account

2) Investing your money (more on this below)

The rich will save more than half of their income.

Now I know that isn’t possible for most people. However, you need to start saving something and then slowly build over time. And most people are living without these safety nets. How many months could you live without going into debt or draining your retirement accounts if you lost your job?

That is why our first goal is to cut expenses and then move those savings into your emergency fund. Once that is funded you need to focus on building wealth and killing the risk that you would be financially screwed if you are laid off.

Financial independence is attainable if you manage your cash flow.

Investing Your Money

If you have a 401k at your job you should be taking full advantage of any company matching that your employer offers. This is FREE money so take it.

After that, if you are eligible to take an IRA then fully fund that next.

Then go back and fund the rest of your 401k.

If you don’t know what to invest in I would recommend that you read the article in the green box below to know how to invest in the biggest companies in America and the world with the lowest fees.

Where Is Your Money?

Most people don’t know what they are invested in when they start a new job and open up a 401k.

Do you know exactly what the fund or funds you are investing in even are?

How much are you spending on fees?

What if there was a way to invest in the biggest companies in the world easily and with fees less than 0.1%?

Click here to read how to invest on autopilot to learn more.

If you have fully maxed out all of your investment opportunities it may be time to invest back into yourself and learn how to make more money.

How to Make More Money

There are a ton of ways to make more money in life. For those of us in a corporate 6 figure environment, the first path may be to get more certifications and learn new skills. I have found that when I was in my 20s and 30s it was easier to get those skills and then move companies for higher pay. Now that I am in my 40s I have received promotions that have kept me in place.

I will also state that the grass isn’t always greener and I have made some horrible jumps without realizing it. Money isn’t everything. A good boss and a good environment are worth a lot of money every year.

That said, there is a certain amount of money you need to make to be comfortable. Once you make $75,000 a year they say that the curve for happiness and money made tends to separate. I will say that I don’t completely agree with that, but yeah if you don’t make enough to stop living paycheck to paycheck (not because you spend a shit ton of money, but because you are actually broke) then more money is worth a lot of BS at a job.

Just don’t stop moving.

Don’t stagnate.

If you haven’t made 6 figures yet and you are in tech – double down on your skills and don’t get comfortable.

If you aren’t in tech and you aren’t making 6 figures then ask yourself how far can you go in your career. If not far is it worth it?

Don’t let fear stop you. Again reward yourself for taking chances and taking risks. You WILL condition yourself to love hard work. To love taking chances and not mind risks as much.

If you are in a place where you are thinking, “You know I am not sure I want to deep dive into my career.” Then I would suggest you learn new skills and learn new things.

I would highly suggest learning how internet businesses work.

If you are determined and have the drive to start your own online business I encourage you to watch this video to learn how you could create a profitable business from a friend of mine click here.

It is amazing training and the video will give you an introduction to how things work for free, but frankly, the $7 fifteen-day training can help those of you that are committed to taking some risk, making changes, and learning a ton.

Are you living your best life or are you stressed about paying the bills?

In this quick 2-page PDF, I cover 5 ways you can get your financial life back on track.

I used to live paycheck to paycheck and after years of paying off debt and maximizing my investments I am now able to save and invest more than 45% of my wife and I’s gross pay.

This allows me to live comfortably (not a crazy rich person) and sleep better at night. If you want this let me know where I can send it to you below.

Wow, you read a lot to get here. Can you do me a favor, please? Can you leave a comment if this was helpful to you or if I missed something? Alternatively, it would help me out a lot if you shared this content with those that might need to see it. Thanks, you are the best!

The Key Steps To Go From Broke To Rich

To summarize, do the following:

1) Get your mindset from one of no options to options

2) Cut your unneeded expenses

3) Reward yourself for doing new things and especially for hard things

4) Save money to achieve financial freedom

5) Make more money by doubling down or see if you want to start an online business

About Dwight Scull

I have been married to my wonderful wife, Rebecca, who puts up with me since 1999. I am a proud father to my Gen Z, son, and daughter-in-law. Grandfather to my favorite granddaughter who was born in 2021.

I lost my mom, father-in-law, and 12 others in 2013 and was DEEPLY in debt. I started reading and watching all the financial info I could find.

I chipped away at my debt and went from a negative $105k net worth having one home paid off, no credit card debt, and saving/investing 45%+ of my gross salary.

I used these daily habits to lose 100 pounds and keep it off.

I believe that you can overcome any challenge you face if you just take small daily actions and be consistent with them. It is how you will be financially successful.

Join my free Facebook group to get a ton of free resources to help you get out of debt, learn how to invest your money and work toward having the option of retiring early.

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