If you look at all the wealthy people out there today, I'm talking about those with real wealth, most do not work for someone. They have a business or other assets creating an income.

A lot of people with jobs look wealthy. They drive nice cars, live in big houses and wear nice clothes. But as the authors of The Millionaire Next Door discovered, most of these people aren't wealthy, are in debt, have a job and are living paycheck to paycheck.

 

The problem with having a job is that you have little control. You get taxed heavily, it's hard to make substantially more money and you could lose your job at any moment. Sure you can live below your means and put money into investments but you're not really going to make a big dent on the wealth scale.

 

To become rich, you need to have one or more assets such as a business generating cash flow. Starting a business can be as simple as finding a need, validating that need and creating a solution. While you create your assets, having a job is a good idea to stay afloat. You can focus time on your assets outside of work hours and one day, it might just replace your income.

This happened to me when I took a 12-month maternity leave contract at a local college. The job was easy. The lady I had replaced was not very good at her job and I was able to complete all her tasks and have a lot of free time. So I used this free time to build my software business. By the time I left that job, my wife and I were able to purchase our first investment property plus my software business was earning more money than my job. Taking the job got me through what could have been a tough time financially.

-Ben