Thread by @davidmullings

A #thread about the way you think about money and wealth

As a member of a family office association for the last 5 years, I get to spend a fair amount of time with ultra-wealthy people. Thankfully I was never raised to think of rich people as evil or mean nor did I feel entitled to their money.

A few years ago I attended the car show in Miami with my brother and we saw a really nice Nissan GTR. The owner was there and while other people fixated on how much it cost him or what mods he put on it, we asked him what he did for a living that allowed him to afford it.

Turns out that he OWNED the tuning shop that outfitted the car and now he uses the car to get business.

Smart guy.

He built his shop over a 10-year stretch. Someone is going to judge him for spending US$180k on a “depreciating asset” and he is going to laugh.

I’m close to one family office that is north of US$3 billion net worth. I never forgot my last sit-down with the patriarch of the family.

I flew to visit for the weekend and discuss business. He picked me up at the airport in a Kia Soul and drove me to his house.

I was surprised when we reached the house...nice but not massive...and there was a SECOND Kia Soul in the driveway.

No Range Rovers, etc.

I was shown my room and the next day we sat on the verandah to chat about life and money. This is when I got the real knowledge...

I pointed out the car surprises and the fact that he had an Apple Watch just like me instead of a Patek Phillipe or some other fancy watch that’s not a Rolex.

The patriarch said that he enjoyed fancy things every now and then but happiness didn’t come from things.

He told me the story of how the year before, he had given his family office staff bonuses in the US$30k range and told them to not spend off the money buying fancy cars but should invest the money for the long-term because they all had kids that would eventually go to university.

Many listened but one person ran out and bought a fancy new BMW.

He was showing up at the office with a car fancier than the boss and the son of the boss. The billionaire family. 🧐

The wife of the worker eventually lost her job and they couldn’t maintain the lifestyle.

Most of us who grow up Upper Middle-Class and lower are taught to “live within your means” and that is correct.

However, it is only HALF of the equation.

You are also supposed to INCREASE your means.

Education is the way that most people climb the social ladder and create generational wealth.

Education is not only formal and the informal education is probably more valuable if you ask any successful entrepreneur or business owner.

The family I spend time with are teaching their kids about money and financial literacy from 6 years old. They are teaching them about giving back to society and charity as well.

They teach their kids to think bigger, persevere, treat people with respect, don’t judge.

This is why a brown Jamaican like me gets to become their friend and get advice, get access to deals and their network - I am not judging them and they are not judging me,

I respect their work ethic and don’t suppose to tell them how to spend their money.

One of my past investors told me how he raised money for his fund and it revealed how ultra-wealthy people think differently from almost everyone else.

He approached a successful single digit millionaire for an investment into his fund - US$250k to manage for him...

The guy asked my investor what kind of watch he had on and what kind of car he drove.

It was a basic watch and a Japanese car. He said that he was just starting out the firm but had done well at a small scale with money from his professors.

This person turned him down by saying that he drove a better car and had a better watch so he knew better when it came to making money so come back when he had shown that he could make money.

This is a true story.

Some people care more about the name brand on the clothes you wear, care more about the car you drive and the watch you have than your plan, your idea and your drive.

That’s life. You have nothing to prove to them. Just do you.

My investor went back over a year later to meet with the same guy, after raising money from wealthier people who liked the investment strategy and had invested.

He showed up in a Maserati Quattroporte and was wearing a fancy watch. The guy invested more than the US$300k.

The Maserati was bought used for less than $50k (over 50,000 miles) and the watch was bought from a pawn shop (people pawn their fancy watches all the time since some can’t actually afford them).

Image matters too much to some people but it’s life.

Our brains create shortcuts because we are so overloaded with information. We are driving our usual path but going somewhere else and we instinctively turn to go home. You know it’s happened to you.

If you aren’t raised around wealthy people then you are often taught false things about wealthy people and their habits.

Hollywood has us believing they all wear fancy watches, drive a ton of fancy cars, have huge houses and dress fancy.

We also believe they invest differently

I love Warren Buffett but the stories that talk about his ordinary Cadillac and his spending habits are half-true.

His wife lived in a mansion in California, Berkshire had a private jet for Buffett to use and so forth.

Bill Gates is his great friend and you can Google his house

Last week I attended a gala in Orlando with the theme Casino Royale and we were given 10 free chips for Blackjack, each representing $100. At the end of the playing period we would be given raffle tickets for each $100 chip.

We were told to play.

My table had 4 of us and I decided that I was going to play to grow the money rather than hoard the chips.

I kept betting whatever I won so when I won the first $100, I left it there and bet $200. My colleagues would take their chips off the table and only bet the $100.

I was curious and asked them why they wouldn’t bet more to win more and they all said that they didn’t want to lose money.

I tried to explain that you didn’t have it before and you were quite fine and they should take a little risk, especially since it wasn’t even real money!

An hour later I was the only one at the table with a $5000 chip, a few $1000 chips, more $500 chips and barely any $100 chips.

A colleague was showing off to people how well I did and he asked me how I did it - “I kept betting what I won, when I won”

Most people are raised with a Scarcity Mindset - they want to save every penny, not spend it and try to hold on to what they have.

The wealthiest people I meet have an Abundance Mindset - they want to sow more seeds.

Farmers understand this intuitively: Plant a few crops, reap what you sow, use some of the earnings to plant more crops.

If you save everything from Crop 1 and never re-invest then you only reap once.

You have to invest in the next crop and it can be bigger if you reinvest more

So when I see someone with 5 cars, I don’t judge them. I ask them HOW they did it. I will probably learn something from them, or learn what NOT to do.

Either way it’s their money to spend as they like. I never assume that they are being less than smart with their money.

This past February I laid in a hospital bed for 10 days and I had a few regrets but one regret I did NOT have was owning a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX in my 20s.

It was my dream car then and I got to experience it. My life insurance policy was always going to take care of fam

The older you get is the more you are supposed to realize that money is merely a tool. It is not the end result.

Buy memories that YOU will enjoy. That could mean a bunch of cars, houses, donating to charity, paying for school exams for a bunch of kids, whatever makes YOU happy

The happy wealthy people that I know are buying expensive things every now and then, they own depreciating assets that their income is paying for and they aren’t paying attention to what other people are saying about them.

They are not talking about other people.

I challenge you to look at the lease payment for YOUR dream car or dream house so that you know how much you need to make in order to afford it.

Then figure out which how much you need to invest to have your passive income pay for it. Then figure out how to EARN that money.

I don’t look at things and think “that’s too expensive” but instead look at it and think “what problem do I need to solve that will allow me to earn enough to invest and use the income to pay for that item or do something else with that money?

Always remember that wealthy people own a lot of depreciating assets:

- private jets
- cars
- fancy suits
- expensive handbags

They also spend a ton of money on luxury travel.

Not everything pays a financial dividend. A happiness dividend is just as good.

Watch this video by @DouglasKruger “How to escape from poverty: Is your thinking keeping you poor?”



#wealthcreation #mindset

And kindly give the book “Think and Grow Rich” to your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, godsons and goddaughters this Christmas.

Tell them to think bigger and and aim higher.

Mindset matters.

This book changed the way I thought about investing time because it woke me up to how few chances you actually have before it’s too late: amazon.com/40-Chances-Fin…

“all farmers get 40 growing seasons in their lifetime, giving them just 40 chances to improve”

We are all farmers in our own way. Between age 20 and 60 are your prime earning years.

How many growing seasons have you wasted and not thought about it that way?

If you still need help to adjust your mindset to one of abundance then watch this TedX video:

How much does it cost you to work? -