Do you dream of getting rich or do you want to be rich?

There is nothing wrong in dreaming of getting rich; except that you will get the dream, not the real thing.

There are three steps to wealth. I am reaching only the first one (so far), and I will speak only about what I know.

The first step to getting rich? A family income of $50.000. It may be more or less, depending on your location.

Why is it the first step? Because from that point you will be able to invest money, that is to say: to make money work for you. Until then, you have to work for money.

Work? Yes! Do not tell yourself anything you would not tell your kids. You know that people who get a degree, or higher diplomas, earn more than people who have never attended college, and more than people who went to college but failed to graduate. There is a lot at stake for you to stay at an elementary level and keep saying: "I know X who was a failure at school and nevertheless he has made it!" The lazy path provides 99.99% of its lovers with debts and broken dreams. The few who actually succeed struggle for 30 years. It would have taken less time and efforts to follow any course!

Choose carefully the domain of knowledge you want to master. It has to meet 3 requirements:

-- You like it. If you cannot stand the idea of meeting the critically ill all day long, drop studying medicine, even if a cancer specialist earns a lot. You do not want to be rich to afford antidepressants.

-- It is of high demand in growing companies: for you to grow as high and quick as the company.

-- Either it is difficult to master or it can be blended with other specialized scope of activities: the narrower the niche, the higher the income.

Avoid the mistake I have made for years: do not work for almost nothing for the only reason that you like what you do. I liked to teach, was a good teacher and knew nothing about the other two requirements. I still like to teach, and I still am a good teacher. The very difference is that now I teach adults who are craving to learn French because they do have a project: to reach the first step of wealth. In their case, they need to master French and to blend it in their specialized scope of activity.

And you? What are you going to choose? Mining and Chinese? Refining and Arabic? Art History and Italian?

The first choice is rather simple: to dream of getting rich or to want to be rich.