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I spent some time in a youtube how-to-get-rich rabbit hole (how I got there is explained in a podcast below) and am using it as a pretext to write down 35 strategies that the actual super wealthy used to get super wealthy. Here is my attempt at an exhaustive list.
1. The first and best way to be wealthy is to inherit wealth. https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-who-inherited-their-money-2016-1
2. The next reliable way to vast wealth is to win a war with an empire that is in decline, steal its entire treasury, and install a ruler who gives you rights to tax the population. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders
3. Use hundreds of millions of other people’s money to sell a country’s currency short during a financial crisis. If you guessed right, you’re a billionaire. Wrong? It’s mostly other people’s money, it’s cool. (See: George Soros). https://www.businessinsider.com/how-george-soros-broke-the-bank-of-thailand-2016-9
4. Own a bank. https://moneyinc.com/20-richest-investment-bankers-world/
5. If you own a bank, charge bank fees, trading fees, mutual fund management fees, etc. These will make you rich, whatever other games you can play with interest rates. https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/banks-income-fees.html
6. Get a big contract with the government – say, to rebuild an occupied country.
https://money.cnn.com/2003/04/17/news/companies/bechtel/index.htm
https://money.cnn.com/2003/04/17/news/companies/bechtel/index.htm
7. Get a big contract with the military – supply a military with weapons. Look for countries that are violating human rights: these countries require weapons. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/03/05/lockheed-martins-15b-saudi-arms-deal-is-a-go.aspx
8. Obtain tax relief and government subsidies. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html
9. Install a monarch in power and obtain rights to the state-owned oil company. The general principle applies to other governments and resources.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/the-myth-of-bitter-lake-why-the-british-empire-foisted-saudi-arabia-on-the-u-s/
https://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/the-myth-of-bitter-lake-why-the-british-empire-foisted-saudi-arabia-on-the-u-s/
10. Own the media. https://www.forbes.com/profile/rupert-murdoch/
11. Bank for organized crime. https://www.tni.org/en/newsroom/latest-news/item/3682-global-banks-are-the-financial-services-wing-of-the-drug-cartels
12. Offer to overthrow an elected government (see: Silvercorp). Mercenaries make good money. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Washington-Post-Offers-Details-on-Mercenary-Contract-20200508-0012.html
13. Have your friends in government privatize a previously public service: obtain a monopoly over that area. https://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/06/ontario-conservatives-should-scrap-privatized-highway-407-contract
14. De-fund and destroy public systems to offer expensive private alternatives. Especially good in higher education. https://www.educationdive.com/news/7-billionaires-who-made-their-fortunes-in-education/400766/
15. Avoid taxes using private jets, wine auctions, and rewriting tax codes. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/private-plane-tax-loophole-so-egregious-even-millionaires-me-want-ncna838001
16. Obtain government protection for intellectual property. It doesn’t matter who created that property, only that you get a government-protected monopoly. https://cepr.net/technology-patents-and-inequality-an-explanation-that-even-economists-can-understand/
17. Use your political position to personally enrich yourself and your companies. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/03/donald-trump-taxpayer-cash-grab-unprecedented-corruption-column/871902002/
18. Obtain board positions after being in office. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-congressional-board-pay/
19. Do speaking tours after leaving office. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2016/11/08/how-bill-house-hillary-clinton-made-240-million-how-much-earnings-rich-white/
20. Start a speculative bubble, obviously. Below this: create fancy financial instruments and use them to create bubbles or suckers. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_job_2010
22. Use fancy talk about disruption to seduce investors into giving you money. Lose money year after year while your valuation increases. Being profitable is irrelevant- real wealth is about making promises. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uber-ipo-uber-losing-an-average-of-58-cents-per-ride-and-says-its-ready-to-go-public/
23. Sell dollars for 90 cents while your stock price increases (see: Amazon). Only do this if you want to become the wealthiest man in the universe. https://www.thestreet.com/opinion/amazon-is-losing-money-from-retail-operations-14571703
24. Get everyone in the world to work producing content for you for free, then sell their attention to advertisers. By taking over the entire communication infrastructure for the world, you also obtain the entire advertising revenue. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/22/you-dont-know-it-but-youre-working-for-facebook-for-free/
25. Extract precious minerals from the earth, destroying irreplaceable ecosystems and local cultures. (see: gold in Guatemala).
https://miningwatch.ca/
https://miningwatch.ca/
26. Have the goverment create money and give it to you in astronomical amounts (see the recent bailout). https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/02/the-dark-secrets-in-the-feds-last-wall-street-bailout-are-getting-a-devious-makeover-in-todays-bailout/
27. Rob banks in a country you occupy. Nice headline by the way, NYT. Thanks for that. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/world/israelis-in-raid-on-arab-banks-seize-reputed-terrorist-funds.html
28. Rob banks, part 2. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3306112,00.html
29. Declare sanctions and steal from the sanctioned country. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-to-Sue-Bank-of-England-for-Theft-of-31-Tons-of-Gold-20200520-0001.html
30. Leveraged buyout: borrow money, buy a large corporation, and sell its assets – do asset stripping. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jim-slater-businessman-who-became-first-famous-then-infamous-for-the-asset-stripping-firm-he-set-up-a6742741.html
31. Be a vulture fund and sue countries in financial trouble. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/trading-investing/vulture-funds/
32. Join the military in a country with a fragile democracy. Wait for the CIA to ask you to launch a coup. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/suharto-takes-full-power-in-indonesia
33. Be born into the right social circle. Attend the right schools, join the right clubs. Never do anything to rock the boat. When you are made CEO, do exactly what everyone else does. Two years later, collect your golden parachute. Rinse and repeat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_executive_officers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_executive_officers
34. Operate a sexual abuse network with undisclosed intelligence agencies [allegedly. Note this is a high-risk strategy]. https://www.mintpressnews.com/category/epstein-investigation/
35. Start with an inheritance, and use a mafia-connected lawyer to sue the government for hundreds of millions of dollars. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship
I am planning another twitterstorm about how to stay wealthy once you already are wealthy, so sign up for my EXCLUSIVE SEMINAR and I’ll teach you the secrets that ONLY THE RICHEST PEOPLE ON EARTH KNOW! (And everyone who looks them up).
