Break Society's Money Rules If You Want to Be a Quiet Millionaire
And never worry about money again
You gotta break society’s money rules because society is broke.
The average person isn’t doing well. Not because they’re stupid. No. But because to stay ahead financially you need to understand how money and financial markets work.
The barrier to entry to figure this out is now so high (by design) that most people are going backward every month.
“Most people do what 'most people' do. This is a huge mistake.
In the US:
- 50% of marriages end in divorce or separation
- 60%+ of the population is obese or overweight
- 70% of people have less than $1k in savings
What most people are doing isn't working. Do Differently.” – Shaan Puri
The simple solution: break society’s money rules.
Here’s how.
1. Save money
Hell no!
Saving money makes the bank rich. The interest they pay you is taxed at a high rate. And the small amount of interest they pay is barely enough to keep up with inflation.
Now, the societal sheep will tell you inflation is 2% every year. LOL. They’re so gullible. That number comes from the government. 2% is their nice-to-have-goal but it sure as f*ck hasn’t been that for the last 5 years.
And whatever inflation number is reported is just a guess. Plus, governments have an incentive to under-report inflation which they regularly do. It’s one way to get more votes in an election.
Here’s the big idea: everyone’s personal inflation rate is different.Once you calculate your personal inflation, you’ll realize interest on your savings is helping you to lose money, not make money.
New rule:
Invest excess cash in financial assets.
2. Give money to friends in need
Last year one of my good friends sent me a message.
“Please urgently put $5000 into this bank account number.”
I thought it was a Nigerian Prince scam from my 2001 AOL email account. I told him no.
Friend: “But you're rich, Timbo.”
Me: “Giving you $5000 isn’t going to solve your problems. What you need is to make more money so this doesn’t happen again.”
Instead of giving him the money I helped him make more money. The last time I lent money was to my best friend. He took the cash, promised to pay it back, and ran. We’re not friends anymore because of it.
I lost my childhood friend because he traded in all our memories for a $1000 night on the town that he can’t even remember due to being so drunk.
New rule:
Never lend money to friends. Help them in other ways.
3. Invest in the S&P 500
The S&P 500 is the top 500 companies in America.
When you buy an S&P 500 index fund you’re diversifying your money across 500 different companies. So you have zero conviction or focus on any one investment.
Yuck.
The average annual return on the S&P500 is 10%.
Once you take off:
The dilution of the global money supply (money printing)
Inflation
Taxes
… you’re getting rich slower than Grandpa Simpson.
You’ll need 40 years, and even then, you won’t make any real F U money. I never understand why people want to get rich slowly. I’m not suggesting you get rich in a month or anything, but waiting decades is a massive waste of time.
When all the gurus parrot “Buy index funds/S&P 500” you should instantly be skeptical. If this cliche advice worked, we’d all be Lambo-driving poodle owners with three romantic partners and a set of Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps.
New rule:
Get a basic financial education. Then do deep research on a handful of stocks you can buy.
(When I did this years ago I invested in Amazon, Nvidia, & Tesla. Turned out well.)
4. Don’t buy Bitcoin, it’s rat poison
That’s what old man Warren Buff-arms Buffett said.
But Warren has been known to miss all the major technological trends. His problem is he’s not open-minded to new ways of doing things.
That’s a dangerous way to live in the modern world, as tech moves faster than Kim Kardashian in a Porsche driving up Hollywood Boulevard.
Bitcoin isn’t rat poison.
In fact, in 2024, Wall Street officially embraced it and allowed it to be traded on the New York stock exchange.
Countries are even buying Bitcoin. Corporations like Microsoft have reportedly been looking to buy it too. And the new U.S. government in power has submitted a bill to congress to set up and acquire a stockpile of Bitcoin.
This isn’t a buy Bitcoin message. No. It’s a “have an open mind” message.
People still fling poo at me online for buying and believing in Bitcoin. They think I care. But I’ve made life-changing money from it, and my kid will eat caviar off the hood of plastic Ferrari toy cars if she wants to. It pays big to avoid broke critics.
Regardless of all that noise, Bitcoin has been the best-performing asset of the last 10 years.
I like Bitcoin because it solves a real problem. There are very few scarce resources. And the ones we have like gold have an uncapped supply.
The two worst scarce resources of all are US dollars and government bonds. They can just infinitely be created at zero cost on a computer screen.
Bitcoin can’t be confiscated either. This is a feature you’ll only care about if you’ve gone broke before like I have.
New rule:
Own scarce assets like Bitcoin. Sell B.S. assets that can be created from nothing.
5. Get a degree
Society loves telling people to get degrees.
In my last job as a glorified recruiter, most of the candidates had degrees. It wasn’t a differentiator. I didn’t call up a hiring manager and go “OH MY GOD. THIS GUY HAS AN MBA DEGREE, YOU BETTER HIRE HIM TODAY!!!”
Hiring managers didn’t care. Degrees weren’t even on their checklist.
A degree typically requires 4 years and $100K+ to get. If you’re going to give up that much time and money you should think about it carefully. Want to be a doctor? Maybe do it. But if you want to get ahead in life in most fields a degree won’t help.
I’ve done business coaching for the past 10 years. No one has ever asked me if I have a degree. They just saw my results and went “I want to achieve what you have in business.” So I coached them to do it.
They got results, they gave me a testimonial, then I used that to get more clients.
New rule:
It’s better to invest $100K in starting a business instead of a college degree.
6. Get a home loan
Owning a home isn’t a dream.
When you die, the house isn’t yours anymore. We’re all renters. You can’t own anything in this life.
Just ask the rich mofo who tried to bury a Bentley next to his grave.
The trouble with huge debt is it gives you stress.
Some of you will say I’m a hypocrite because I do have a home loan. But what people don’t know is I have borrowed $1M from the $3M of debt the bank offered me. I didn’t do it because I wanted their money, I did it because I wanted to access leverage.
I put down a 20% deposit to control an asset that has 5X leverage. It doesn’t cause me stress because I can pay it off at any time.
The bottom line is taking on enormous debt to fake-own a home that the bank really owns is a waste of resources.
Aussies will argue with me. “Real estate only goes up in value, mate.”
Yep, all prices go up in everything if you measure value in a government-issued currency. But as we already discussed, those currencies can be endlessly created and have an unlimited supply.
The reason home mortgages are sweet is because they make members of society slaves. They have to work a job and can’t take much time off because the debt payments don’t stop for sickness, pregnancy, or the death of a loved one.
Owning your own home probably won’t make you a true millionaire. Sorry.
New rule:
Stay the hell away from excessive debt. You’ll be happier in life.
7. Don’t have side hustles in case your boss finds out
When I encourage people to get a side hustle they look at me funny with a scrunched up face.
“What will my boss think? I might get fired by my employer.”
They think telling their boss they have a side hustle is like admitting they once slept with a pr0stitute and liked it. They perceive the eventual reaction to their side hustle to be catastrophic.
It’s the exact opposite.
Employers and bosses love side hustles. Why? It shows you’re resourceful, can think for yourself, and maybe a touch entrepreneurial. These are all incredible skills an employer can use to THEIR advantage.
There’s no downside for an employer if you have a side hustle. Only upside. But if you come up with all the reasons why something won’t work, then you’ll 100% sell yourself a lemon and piss away all your potential.
The other consideration is a salary isn’t enough. A business has the incentive to pay you the least amount possible, and to use every excuse in the book to not increase your salary or pay bonuses. I remember one bank employer said to me:
“Sorry little Timmy Tucker, there’s no annual Christmas bonuses this year. It’s been tough for us. Profits are down.”
Those lying pieces of dog sh*t were partially right. Profits were slightly down, but they did still make billions of dollars that year! I got none of it, even though I bought in a record amount of new business and 4X’d my sales target.
New rule:
Start a side hustle to add multiple income streams. When the side hustle makes more than your salary for 6 consecutive months, then quit the peanut salary job.
8. Wait until it’s your turn
The corporate ladder to nowhere is all about waiting for your turn. It robs you of a precious gift: a sense of urgency.
The corporate ladder is the old world, where you wait your turn and have to ask for permission. The internet murdered these gatekeepers. And the decentralized blockchain version of the internet shot the gatekeepers in the head.
You no longer need to wait for anybody or anything.
Every day you’re slowly dying. May as well blow up your success now because none of us are getting any younger. I got wrinkles down the side of my eyes now. I’m thinking of getting some Tom Cruise plastic surgery. Joking (or maybe not).
Your time is now. You’re the next in line.
Simplest solution is to unlock your untapped potential by building a tiny empire online. Dare to build a movement around an obsession instead of being a little b*tch (pardon my French) and waiting for someone to bless your life with magnificent opportunities that don’t exist.
New rule:
Start today. Make it a habit. Back it up with a system. Use obsession to automate the motivation needed. Fall in love with hard.
9. Specialize like a special snowflake
Nah mate.
In the digital world you need a skill stack to survive. One skill isn’t enough anymore, because if you understand, say, accounting, but don’t have any AI skills, you’re probably broke, dead, and unemployable by 2030.
New rule:
Become a generalist by building a skill stack of micro skills.
10. Give money to charity
Let’s finish with a bang.
The virtue signallers love to crap on about all the charity they’re doing. Since the invention of social media they’ve become louder.
They make us all guilty for not giving all of our cash to charities. What I’ve learned over the last 18 months is 99% of charities do evil while pretending to do good. Study the “Live Aid” rock concert from 1985 for a great example.
I have a charity who’s still causing me havoc after a year (won’t bore you). They’re a global organization. They say they’re doing good for the little kiddies. At the same time, in 2017, their organization was found to have systematic paed0philia.
Charities are monsters.
What the rich know is anyone can set up a charity and use it to avoid tax. That’s why most charities exist.
Don’t give your cash to charitable, middleman monsters. They’ll piss the money up against the wall while buying endless cappuccinos with your donations.
New rule:
If you want to help the less fortunate, then give the money directly to them, or volunteer your time to help them.
Final Thought
Society is wrong about money.
Use self-education to learn how money really works. The traditional education system and the mainstream media won’t teach you any of this, and an employer has no incentive to either.
Doing the opposite of most people is the best way to become a quiet millionaire.
Which of these ideas do you strongly agree with? Tell me in the comments below.
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered financial, tax or legal advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
P.S. hey did you miss this?
I’m doing an encore of this free masterclass:
5 Online Business Models with 6-Figure Potential to Start Before 2025
Get that revenue going before next year.
(Limited seating & we start in 7ish hours)
I rented (not through choice) for over 20 years and finally managed to get on the property ladder (UK) 5 years ago. Renting meant zero security and I had to move every 2-3 years or less due to rent hikes and flats being sold underneath me. So yes I have a mortgage I'll be paying off for the next 23 years but how on earth is renting better than trying to own your own place which is also an asset that could help fund retirement?
I disagree with the notion that people shouldn’t donate to charities because charities are terrible. Some charities? Yes, sure. There are always bad actors who have started charities as tax shelters. But there are more that publish their administrative budgets in all transparency. Where social safety nets are minimal or non existent they provide essential support. I’d reframe this to “do your research before donating”