Everyone wants to be rich, but not everyone will get there. So what are the signs that you have what it takes to be wealthy?
In this article, I am going to discuss 13 telltale signs that you will be rich someday. They include having a keen desire to make money, knowing your strengths and capitalizing on them, not being satisfied with an ordinary life (and not caring what other people think) and having the intelligence and drive needed to learn new skills.
I am going to cover each of these (and more) in detail and provide tips along the way on how you can jump start your journey to financial success.
We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get into it!
If you would like to see a condensed version of this article in video format, check out my YouTube video on the topic below.
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The information contained in this post is for informational purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy or invest, and it is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. You should seek the advice of a qualified professional before making any investment or other decisions relating to the topics covered by this article.
1. You Actually Care About Making Money
Our thoughts create our reality – where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.
Peter McWilliams
If you are obsessed with money (or at least care a whole lot about making money), then your chances of becoming rich someday are pretty good. Nothing meaningful happens without intense desire, commitment, and focus (especially something as difficult as becoming rich).
There are many people who say that they don’t care about money. And that’s fine.
But those people aren’t going to become rich. Very few people just stumble onto newfound wealth (unless you win the lottery or get a large inheritance). People who are constantly focused on financial success, who are always learning about it, who get excited when they find a nugget of knowledge that can lead to wealth – these are the people that are going to ultimately become rich.
If this sounds like you and you want to learn some great tips on how to radically improve your financial life, check out my comprehensive guide to personal finance here.
2. You Know Your Strengths and Capitalize on Them
Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.
Marilyn vos Savant
If you are someone who clearly knows their strengths and has figured out how to capitalize on them, you are well on your way to financial success. The key is to focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses or shortcomings.
In school (and even work), everyone is focused on shoring up their weak points. But that’s not what leads to roaring success – it’s the people that know they are exceptionally good at something and continue to hone it until they are world class (or at least better than their immediate competition).
Maybe you aren’t very good at paperwork, but you are an amazing salesperson. Don’t try to get better at paperwork – it’s a waste of time. Keep building on your natural talents and good things will happen. That’s how I ultimately started advancing and succeeding at work.
I am a lawyer who hates (and sucks at) legal research, but I am a pretty good negotiator and problem solver.
I owned my suckiness in legal research and didn’t spend a ton of time and effort to go from a bad researcher to a barely mediocre one. Rather, I made myself valuable to my employer because I became really good at the other stuff. You have to break away from the “model student” mentality of getting all “A”s. In the real world, if you are an A++ in one area that matters, but are a C everywhere else, you can still achieve incredible success.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of people who fail because they only see what they don’t have.
Maybe you are a bright and creative 25 year old who has no money, no connections, and no experience. You may be dejected because you don’t see a path forward. But you should be looking at the tremendous advantages you bring to the table. You are young, you are smart, and you have a ton of time to try different things.
The reality is that most people fail at new business ventures their first time around. But if you can fail and have enough resilience and time to try again (and again), you have a much better chance of hitting it big later on. You hear about these people all the time – they were dismal failures for years and years (until they weren’t).
If you fail big when you are 50, you are in deep trouble. You probably have a spouse and family that depend on you. You can’t take those kinds of massive risks.
But if you fail when you are 20, you can dust yourself off and try again (learning from your mistakes, of course). The people who have the luxury of learning and honing their skills over time are the ones that can achieve massive success.
But I don’t want to discourage my older readers. You may not be able to freely take the same risks as a twenty year old, but you likely have a lot more money, experience, discipline and judgment to make better decisions and invest in better opportunities from the outset.
The key is to focus on what you have and make the most of it. If you do, chances are good that wealth will soon follow.
3. You Set Ambitious Goals and Follow Through
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo
If you are someone who can look beyond their present condition and dream of a radically better financial future, then you may have what it takes to become rich. A lot of people are stuck in the belief that if they are poor, there is nothing they can do about it. They don’t make plans to improve their situation because they think it’s pointless.
But a successful person will have a concrete and ambitious plan for a great future and work backwards from that goal to figure out how they can make it a reality. If you are someone who aims high (and actually follows through to try to make that goal a reality), that’s a powerful sign that you will achieve wealth someday.
4. You Don’t Want an Ordinary Life
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
Jimmy Johnson
Most people are fine living an ordinary life.
But what does that really mean? They will work for 40 or 50 years (if they’re lucky) at a job they might despise. They’ll hope that they never get fired but will live under the constant fear that they might. These days employers are quick to outsource or downsize jobs if it makes economic sense for them to do so.
So these people living ordinary lives will numb themselves by watching TV, zoning out on social media, and “recharging” by taking the occasional vacation. Look, I’m not saying that’s a bad choice. But you are unlikely to achieve extraordinary wealth if you are satisfied with an ordinary life.
In contrast, if you can’t stand the thought of working for someone else for the next 50 years and are willing to do whatever it takes to break out of that ordinary life, then that’s a pretty good sign that you will ultimately land in an extraordinary place.
Want to learn how to break out of the middle class and achieve extraordinary levels of success? Check out my article on how to escape the middle class here.
5. You Are An Independent Thinker
The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. A second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. A first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.
A.A. Milne
Do you get excited when you learn of unconventional ways to make money?
The common wisdom states you should spend less than you earn, sock away 10% of your salary in a 401(k) or IRA, and invest those funds in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds for the next 40 years until you retire. That may work, especially if you do it consistently and start young.
But many rich people get that way by not following the conventional wisdom. They are fine with being ridiculed and breaking away from the crowd. They understand that if you follow the crowd, you will get no further than the crowd.
Whether it’s investing in alternative assets like real estate, starting a business, or growing a side hustle, they don’t let the naysayers sway them from their path. Now, the most successful people don’t do something different just because it’s different – they carefully evaluate whether it’s a wise strategy, whether they are well suited for it, and ultimately whether the risk is worth the reward.
If you have an independent mind and don’t get bogged down by what other people say, that’s a good sign that you have what it takes to be rich someday.
6. You Are Willing To Do What Others Won’t
Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.
Jerry Rice
As we talked about before, most people want to live an ordinary life.
But if you want exceptional results, then you have to be willing to do what others are not. That means constantly learning more about how to make money and honing your skills. It means sacrificing your free time to work on your financial future. It means being frugal in the early days so you can have the capital to invest and grow your wealth.
Most people aren’t willing to do this.
They would rather zone out watching TikTok videos. But if you are the sort of person that is single-mindedly focused on achieving your goals and willing to sacrifice things now to achieve greatness in the future, you have a terrific shot at obtaining exceptional wealth someday.
7. You Can Learn New Skills
A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
In order to succeed in any meaningful enterprise, whether that is a new business, side hustle, or investment strategy, you will need to expand your knowledge and skills. Most are either too afraid or too lazy to step out of their comfort zone and do this.
But if you are the type of person that enjoys a challenge, is not afraid to fail, and loves mastering a skill, then you are well-positioned to become rich. Everything is hard in the beginning – but if you keep at it, everything becomes easy. It’s true for most things in life, including making money.
8. You Have Excellent Judgment
Whenever you’re making an important decision, first ask if it gets you closer to your goals or farther away. If the answer is closer, pull the trigger. If it’s farther away, make a different choice. Conscious choice making is a critical step in making your dreams a reality.
Jillian Michaels
You can be the most ambitious and motivated person in the world, but if you make a lot of bad decisions, you are never going to move closer to your goals.
I have found that one of the key differences between someone who eventually succeeds in life and someone who stalls out is how they make their decisions. If they are future-focused, then they are playing the long game and they act accordingly. If they are not, then their decisions are grounded on what is convenient right now.
Decisions based on the short-term often lead to regret and fewer options for the future – not a good recipe for generating wealth.
9. You Have Self-Control
Rumi
The intelligent desire self-control; children want candy.
This one is pretty obvious, right?
You are not going to achieve great wealth if you can’t control your impulses. That may mean controlling your spending so that you can save more or invest more. It can mean reading a book or article that will get you closer to your financial goals, even though you’d prefer to lay in bed watching a movie. It can mean taking a weekend and developing a business plan for your next great project. It can mean controlling your temper when an important client is treating you unfairly.
We’ve all been faced with one or more of these types of choices. How you control yourself matters. It will allow you to build success (and not ruin what you have built with a hasty or impulsive action).
10. You Are Willing to Take Risks, But You Are Not Reckless
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
Peter F. Drucker
Nothing worthwhile comes without risk. The risk-reward tradeoff states that as potential returns increase so does the risk. It’s why savings account are safe, but pay a pathetic interest rate, while stocks are risky, but can generate attractive returns.
If you want to make real money, you need to be willing to take on some risk. If you are brave enough to take on risk, but smart enough to recognize when a risk is foolish or excessive, then you have a valuable trait that will allow you to become rich.
So how do you make big money without taking on excessive risk?
You need to master the skills needed to be successful in investing or starting a business. This way, you can invest in “high risk” enterprises, but do so in a calculated and responsible way. Here’s an example from my life. I am a real estate investor. I own nine rental properties and manage them myself. This is in addition to my full-time job and my online businesses.
When I look at a property, I know there is some risk in buying that property. The neighborhood can suffer decline, my tenants may not pay the rent, they may trash the place, the heater may break down, etc. I could lose a lot of money.
And if I were a newbie investor, the chances of those things happening would be high because I would probably buy in the wrong neighborhood, be clueless when it comes to screening tenants, etc.
But I have been doing this for over 10 years. I know what neighborhoods to invest in. I know how to screen tenants and keep them happy. I make sure to inspect all of my properties thoroughly before I buy them and I have a team of skilled techs to handle any repairs that do come up. My risk of losing money when I buy a new property now is almost zero.
Once you have attained the knowledge and skill necessary, making money is easy. You have figured out what works – you just need to rinse and repeat. That’s exactly what I did to build up my real estate portfolio, which now generates meaningful cash flow for me every month and has increased my wealth through appreciation and mortgage reduction.
But you have to start somewhere. If you have the courage to take risks and the intelligence to master the knowledge and skills required to make money (and of course learn from mistakes), that’s a great sign that you have what it take to be a financial success.
11. You Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit
Many people who ultimately become rich have an entrepreneurial spirit. They often exhibit this at a young age. For example, as a high schooler, Warren Buffet and his friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine , which they placed in the local barber shop. Soon they owned several machines throughout barber shops in Omaha and sold the business a year later for $1,200.
He knew how to hustle even back then.
So if you have always had an enterprising spirit and a love for business and investing (which you may have had since you were a child), this is a strong sign that you may be rich one day.
Ready to take the next step and start your own business, but don’t know how to get begin. Check out my ultimate beginner’s guide to starting a business. It’ll take you step by step through the process and help you get off the ground.
12. You Don’t Give Up
According to Angela Duckworth, a famous University of Pennsylvania professor, “grit” is a key factor is success. Grit consists of two parts – passion (which means you do not lose interest in something over time) and persistence (which means you don’t easily give up when faced with obstacles).
The road to success and wealth is never easy. You will face obstacles along the path. But if you have the will and determination to continue and persevere when others would throw in the towel, then you may have what it takes to become wealthy someday.
13. You Surround Yourself With People Who Are Successful
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with
Jim Rohn
Most people hang out with others who make them feel comfortable and who treat them kindly and with respect. There’s nothing wrong with that. I am certainly not saying you should abandon current friendships.
But if you are truly committed to making real money in the future, you need to start building a network of people you can learn from. Establish new friendships with people you admire and find mentors who can help you along your financial journey. You will be surprised at what people are willing to share when it comes to information on how they achieved wealth.
Being a legitimate friend or mentee to successful people can yield incredible dividends. But don’t be fake or just try to use people – they will smell that a mile away.
So if you are the type of person who is not afraid to establish new relationships and build a strong financial network, you will find it much easier to obtain real wealth in the future. As the saying goes, your network equals your net worth.
Conclusion
So there you have it – 13 signs that you will be rich someday. If you found this helpful and interesting and would like to learn more about some great strategies to obtain wealth, check out my detailed guides on the following:
