It is our parents’ responsibility to teach us about the ways of the world. When we come into this world we know absolutely nothing. They teach us how to talk and how to walk. They teach us how to act in society and help us to find our first job. They basically teach us everything until we are old enough to learn ourselves. It is for this reason that we are formed in many ways by the knowledge and perspective of our parents. If your parents don’t care about recycling they are not going to teach you about it and you will grow up not caring about it either (unless something or someone changes your mind). This is the reason that most of our parents never taught us the secret of how to get rich quick; because they are not rich themselves so they don’t know. With this mind, we spoke to some self-made millionaires and asked what advice they give their kids about how to get rich.
Don’t be self-entitled
The most important thing for rich parents is to teach their children that nothing comes easy. Of course, that is a tougher task for rich parents because the reality is that for those kids most things do come easy. Yet the parents we spoke to said that they do their best to raise their kids to make it on their own and to look at the world as a place that is not giving anything away. If you want something you have to work hard and get it yourself.
You should be wealthy
One thing that rich parents teach their kids that most parents don’t is that they deserve to be wealthy. The average parent teaches their child that they deserve nothing and should work hard but rich parents appear to tell their kids that they do deserve a good life. This may sound cocky or spoilt but actually what they mean is that in a capitalist society everyone can be wealthy if they just go out there and grab the opportunity.
Wealth matters
While the average parent tells their kid that “money can’t buy happiness” and “money isn’t the most important thing in life” rich parents tell their kids that money matters. Money has the power to get your freedom in life. Freedom to be the person you want to be, freedom to change the world, and freedom to help people. Making money is the best way to make life easier, it is as simple as that.
Find solutions
The best lesson we heard from the self-made millionaires that we spoke to was on how to make money. On more than one occasion those we spoke to said that money is easily made if you can solve a problem. Simply identify something that is wrong in the world and offer a solution. If people see the problem is being solved, they will purchase it. If the problem is very big it may take a lot of work but the return will be higher. If the problem is small it may be easy to do and could still make a lot of money.
It is clear that the advice that rich people (who worked hard to make their money) give their kids is very different from those of us living within our means. This does not mean that the advice your parents give you is wrong or that the advice the rich people give is wrong either. Each is providing information on how to be happy and both likely have a lot of experience with happiness. While the rich people likely found that it was easier to be happy when they had money, your parents may have found that happiness found them when they stopped chasing money. Whatever way you decide to tackle life pursue happiness first.
