How to Get Rich, by Felix Dennis

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Let me ask you a question.

If you can actually count your money, are you truly rich?

The author of todayā€™s book built a $600,000,000 publishing empire, spent approximately $100M of it on various ā€œunsavoryā€ activities, and wrote thousands of poems (yes, poems), before dying of throat cancer in 2014.

By the end of it, he honestly couldnā€™t tell you how much money he had; his team of accountants and advisors would all come up with different numbers, the ā€œrich listā€ journalists would all venture guesses - but nobody really knew for sure.

In the words of the art collector and oil billionaire John Paul Getty: ā€˜If you can actually count your money, you are not really a rich man.ā€™ā€

So yes, he then wrote a book entitled How to Get Rich, but the main question he brings up himself repeatedly in the book is:

Was it all worth it?

How to Get Rich is a business book - and a tremendously valuable one at that - but Dennisā€™s deep regret over how much time and energy he devoted to piling up way more money than he would ever need is palpable on nearly every page.

While reading it, you get the sense that he had a ton of painful regrets, and if you read between the lines, you almost feel his hands on your shoulders, shaking you and yelling:

ā€œDonā€™t do it! Donā€™t do it! Itā€™s a trap!ā€

He finally relents, of course, and tells you exactly how to get rich (honestly, this book could literally be worth millions to you), but you also canā€™t say that he didnā€™t warn you.

Below, I share a short summary of How to Get Rich, as well as my best book notes, along with some additional recommended reading.

Itā€™s an absolutely phenomenal, unforgettable book, and one of my top favorites, but I also canā€™t say that I want to end up like him!

Anyway, if youā€™re looking for a book that will teach you exactly how to get rich AF, and if youā€™re willing to go against the advice of a regretful, lonely man who has been to the end of that road and has seen for himself whither it leads, then you might want to readā€¦

My summary of this book and all my notes are available on Patreon, as well as my personal notes from more than 1,250+ other books. Updated monthly.

The support Iā€™ve received on Patreon over the years has been nothing less than incredible and I just want to quickly mention two of my biggest supporters by name:

Jeremy Steingraber and Will Ramadan (KnowleDJ)!

Iā€™ve been working 12- to 16-hour days for long stretches to build my business and grow my impact, putting in long, tough hours at the gym (and the library), and my Patreon supporters are among those who make it all worth it.

They make my days brighter, and the weights lighter.

I didnā€™t try to make that rhyme, but here we are!

Anyway, there are plenty of other cool rewards available there too, but the main thing is that you get more than 1,250+ summaries and thousands of pages of book notes for just $1! Also organized by year and by book.

Theyā€™re updated monthly with all the new books Iā€™ve been reading and taking notes on, although, to be completely honest (as usual), Iā€™m still a bit behind on my notes and working hard to catch up.

You can always just preview my notes here on this page though before you make that $1 leap :)

Now, letā€™s get back to todayā€™s book!

From college dropout to centimillionaire publishing magnate, all the while harboring an immense love and talent for poetry and the written word, Felix Dennis certainly has the credentials to write a book like this.

But thereā€™s also something tragic about the overall tone of How to Get Rich - tinged with regret as it is - and he actually spends a fairly large portion of the book trying to convince you not to get rich.

It can be extremely difficult, itā€™s uncertain, it takes a long time, it can ruin your relationships, alienate you from the people you work with, and on and on.

He speaks from personal experience, having amassed personal wealth in the area between $600ā€“900M (rich people know how much money they have, but wealthy people are never entirely sure), and you get the sense that heā€™s suffered all those losses and more.

In fact, he straight up tells you as much, and interspersed with all this great advice about running companies and amassing wealth, he keeps coming back to the question of ā€œDo you really want to do this?ā€

The answer is non-obvious and shouldnā€™t be rushed. Read this book first and ask yourself whether youā€™re willing to pay the price he paid.

All told, this is one of the very best books I read in 2023, and probably one of my favorites of all time. 

I learned a tremendous amount about growing and running a profitable business, but itā€™s a very special book for many other reasons as well, and one that Iā€™ll not soon forget.

ā€œWhy would a rich person waste time writing a book to help other people get rich? Two reasons. Because I enjoy writing something I feel I know about. And because I believe that almost anyone of reasonable intelligence can become rich, given sufficient motivation and application.

It also helps that I am writing while sipping a very fine wine indeed (a Chateau dā€™Yquem 1986 if you really want to know), nibbling on fresh smoked conch tidbits, ensconced by a window with one of the most beautiful views on earth.ā€

ā€œPeople who grow rich almost always improve their sex life. More people want to have sex with them. Thatā€™s just the way human beings work.ā€

ā€œIf I had my time again, knowing what I know today, I would dedicate myself to making just enough to live comfortably (say $60 or $80 million), as quickly as I could - hopefully by the time I was thirty-five years old. I would then cash out immediately and retire to write poetry and plant trees.ā€

ā€œItā€™s no excuse, but making money is a drug. Not the money itself. The making of the money. This sounds like so much hoopla, but itā€™s true, all the same. Nobody believed that exercise could prove addictive until science stepped in and discovered ā€˜endorphinsā€™ or whatever the damn things are called. And making money, I assure you, is a hell of a lot more of a rush than jogging.ā€

ā€œTo sum up then, if you wish to be rich, you must grow a carapace. A mental armor. Not so thick as to blind you to well-constructed criticism and advice, especially from those you trust. Nor so thick as to cut you off from friends and family. But thick enough to shrug off the inevitable sniggering and malicious mockery that will follow your inevitable failures, not to mention the poorly hidden envy that will accompany your eventual success.ā€

ā€œIf you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich.ā€

ā€œā€˜Never give inā€™ is a useful catchphrase. But donā€™t take it too literally. We must all surrender at some time, to love, or desire, or death. You will be forced into the last of these, and a fool if you never surrender to the first.

But never give in easily. If you can, attempt one step farther along the road than appears sensible before giving in.

ā€˜Persistenceā€™ is a vital attribute for those who wish to become rich, or who wish to achieve anything worthwhile for that matter. As is the ability to acknowledge that one has made a mistake and that a new plan of action must now be made. Any such acknowledgement is not a weakness, it is a sign of clear thinking. In its way, it is a kind of persistence in itself.

Try, try, try again, does not mean doing what has already failed, over and over again. Quitting is not dishonorable. Quitting when you believe you can still succeed is. You must keep the faith.

Belief in yourself and faith in your project can move mountains. But not if you insist on trying to scale the mountain by an impossible route which has already failed.ā€

ā€œIā€™m fully aware that this isnā€™t a book about becoming a worthwhile human being. As I keep attempting to drum into you, riches arenā€™t particularly worthwhile in themselves in any case. They donā€™t make anyone a better person, at least as far as I have seen.

But listening continuously, listening and learning, is one of the vital components for those of you who wish to be rich. What you choose to do with your loot is up to you. But listen and learn if you want to be rich!ā€

ā€œIf you chase money desperately in the earnest belief that you can never be happy without it and seriously think that the chase is a meaningful occupation, I doubt very much you will succeed. You have to be fiercely determined, true. But an appreciation of the absurdity of the chase helps enormously.ā€

ā€œWould I give my brother all the money I ever made if he needed it? Yes, I would. But I will not give him a share in my company! Because ownership isnā€™t the important thing. If you want to be rich, itā€™s the only thing.ā€

ā€œIf you own a company and that companyā€™s purpose is to make you wealthy, you will be content, delighted even, for any amount of glory to go to anyone who works there, providing you get the money.ā€

ā€œThere is no fortress so strong that money cannot take it.ā€

ā€œNobody ever got poor by listening.ā€

ā€œIf you will not believe in yourself, then why should anyone else? Without self-belief, nothing can be accomplished. With it, nothing is impossible. It is as brutal and as black and white as that. If you take no other memory from this book, then take that single thought. It was worth a damn sight more than the price you paid for it.ā€

Currently, I donā€™t have a complete breakdown of How to Get Rich published on the Stairway to Wisdom (my library of expert book breakdowns), but below Iā€™ve listed some similar breakdowns that you may enjoy instead.

When you become a member of the Stairway to Wisdom, youā€™ll gain access to more than 100+ book breakdowns like these ones here, as well as a premium weekly newsletter that will help you build the kind of life for yourself that youā€™ll love living.

By wanting to become rich, you are also saying that you want to accept the challenge to be better at making money than 99 percent of the people on this planet. Just by attempting this, you are going to have to accept the fact that you must not just be good, you must be incredible. Are you ready?

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Never before collected in one place, this book is a valuable repository of the transformative wisdom of investing icon Naval Ravikant. He shares everything he knows about wealth and happiness, as well as what he believes is one of the most important skills.

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Doing well in school has very little to do with how successful you become. In this new economy, the biggest factor in your success will not be abstract, academic learning but whether you develop the real-life success skills evinced by the people on these pages, and how early you do.

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Until next timeā€¦happy reading!

All the best,

Matt Karamazov

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