Ingram - How to Make Your First Million

Published by Zebra Press
an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Reg. No. 1953/000441/07
The Estuaries No. 4, Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

www.zebrapress.co.za

First published 2016

Publication Zebra Press 2016
Text Warren Ingram

Cover image: Dmytro Demianenko 123RF.COM

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

PUBLISHER : Marlene Fryer
MANAGING EDITOR : Ronel Richter-Herbert
EDITOR : Bronwen Maynier
PROOFREADER : Ronel Richter-Herbert
COVER DESIGNER : Sean Robertson
TEXT DESIGNER : Ryan Africa
TYPESETTER : Monique van den Berg

Set in 10.5 pt on 15 pt Palatino

Printed by , a Novus Holdings company

This book is printed on FSC certified and controlled sources. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an independent, international, non-governmental organization. Its aim is to support environmentally sustainable, socially and economically responsible global forest management.

ISBN: 978 1 77022 761 3 (print)
ISBN: 978 1 77022 762 0 (ePub)

DISCLAIMER

No warranty is given by the author, publisher or distributor of the correctness, accuracy or reliability of any reference to any law, legislation, practice, rule or regulation. The contents largely represent the recommendations and opinions of the author. Any reliance placed thereon by any person or institution shall be at that persons or institutions sole risk and the author, publisher and distributor shall not be liable for any consequences of whatever nature which flow from any actions undertaken by any person or institution in reliance upon the contents. The information in this book is of a general nature and should not be used or relied upon as a substitute for detailed advice or as a basis for formulating business decisions.

I would like to dedicate this book to my hot wife and best friend, Vanessa Im lucky to have you!

Thank you to the brave people who were featured in this book as case studies. Every one of you took the time to tell me your history and discuss your financial successes and failures. I hope your stories will inspire many people to achieve financial freedom.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Bruce Whitfield, who has been instrumental in helping millions of South Africans (myself included) to understand the world of money. Moreover, his support of this book and our fundraising efforts will help us to fund the education of many worthy children thank you, sir!

To all the financial professionals who put their clients first, I know the difficulties we face every day. Please keep going, because you are making peoples lives better.

Mandy Collins, thank you for your help and motivation all writers need someone like you. To my colleagues at Galileo Capital who epitomise everything that is good in financial services, you make me proud.

Lastly, to my wonderful clients and industry friends who have taught me about money over the last two decades: you allowed me to learn my craft with you, and hopefully we are all better off as a result.

Congratulations!

Why?

Youre only holding a book in your hand, for goodness sake. Unless you have just undergone miracle surgery to have your arm reattached after having it ripped off by a combine harvester, what have you actually achieved?

Nothing yet.

You need to take it to the till and pay for it.

Thats when the magic happens.

What you are holding in your hand is an item that has the power to change the world.

Yours.

And, importantly, someone elses.

This is so much more than just a well-thought-out, logically ordered, carefully considered text that makes you look like a deep thinker and supremely connected to the exciting world of investing as you casually place it on the table on the first date, or leave it on the kitchen counter when your friends pop in for a visit.

Its a toolkit. A resource. A guide. A road map to something that the vast majority of us find so elusive: financial freedom.

What makes it even more remarkable is that in buying it, you are not only empowering yourself to make your first million and the millions that must surely follow if you maintain your discipline and the markets treat you well you are also directly impacting the lives of young South Africans through education.

Warren Ingram makes not a cent from his books.

Not a penny. Not a dime. Nothing. Nil. Nada.

You might think this is lousy capitalism but, in fact, its the very best kind there is.

Warren donates all of the royalties from the sales of his books to the Serendipity Trust, set up by the Ingram family as a means to leave a legacy of education, inspiration and hope for South Africas future.

Without good-quality education, our shared future is in real jeopardy.

In buying this book, you make a small contribution to improving that future.

Warrens first book, Become Your Own Financial Advisor , fundamentally changed the money mindset of thousands of people and set Serendipity Trust on a path to alter the destiny of young people.

This book lays out the rules of how to invest in clear, jargon-free language. It will inspire you rather than put the fear of dog-food dinners into you. (Which is what you face in your old age if you dont change your money habits in time. And you really dont want to know what goes into that stuff.)

Warren wisely resists the temptation of being preachy and teaches what is possible if you follow some basic rules.

It doesnt matter whether you earn R10 000 a month or 10 times that, the rules of investing are universal. All of us at one time or another have quietly promised that we would use our next salary increase to start saving and have quickly learnt that no matter how much we seem to earn, we develop commensurate spending patterns.

At the risk of stealing Warrens thunder: nobody created wealth by accident. Those who start early, are consistent and avoid emotion tend to outperform the rest of us. As with anything, you need practice and consistency to achieve your goals. You might never be a scratch golfer regardless of how many balls you hit or beat Usain Bolt over 100 metres however hard you try, but you could be a far better golfer and a far better runner if you put in the effort to train.

Investing is a lot like that. You might not ever have the wealth of a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett, but you could be considerably better off than you are now.

Oh, and try to avoid the temptation to skip ahead to . Thats where the really cool stories are of some pretty ordinary people who did an extraordinary thing they made a decision to change their fate and stuck to it.

Now, take this book, pick up a couple more for people you care for, go over to the till and pay for them.

You can thank me later.

Bruce Whitfield
Sandton, June 2016

Making your first million might seem like an impossible dream, but Ive seen enough people from all walks of life doing exactly that. I know that anyone can do it. You dont need a get-rich-quick scheme, you dont need to win the lottery, and you dont need to be earning a fortune or running a business thats generating enormous amounts of spare cash.