Table of Contents
- Contents
THINGS MILLIONAIRES DO
LITTLE LESSONS IN CREATING WEALTH
NIGEL CUMBERLAND
How to use this eBook
Look out for linked text (which is in blue) throughout the ebook that you can select to help you navigate between notes and main text.
This book is dedicated to my son, Zeb, to my stepdaughter, Yasmine, and to all those wishing to create a rich and meaningful life, filled with all the wealth you desire. May each of you find your unique path to financial and life success.
Little by little, a little becomes a lot.
Tanzanian Proverb
Contents
About the author
Nigel Cumberland is the co-founder of The Silk Road Partnership, a leading global provider of executive coaching and leadership training solutions to some of the worlds leading organizations. He has lived and worked in locations as diverse as Dubai, Hong Kong, Budapest, Santiago, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai, gaining experiences and wisdom that have helped teach him what it takes to succeed in life.
Previously, Nigel worked as a multinational finance director with Coats plc, as well as for some of the worlds leading recruitment firms, including Adecco. He holds the Master Practitioner status with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and is a Fellow of the UKs Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He co-created an award-winning recruitment firm based in Hong Kong and China, which he later sold to Hays plc. Educated at Cambridge University, UK, Nigel is an extensively qualified executive coach and leadership training professional.
He is the author of a large number of self-help and leadership books, among the most recent of which are: The Ultimate Management Book (John Murray Learning, 2018), 100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living (John Murray Learning, 2016), Secrets of Success at Work: 50 Techniques to Excel (Hodder & Stoughton, 2014), Finding and Hiring Talent in a Week (John Murray Learning, 2016) and Leading Teams in a Week (John Murray Learning, 2016).
Nigel is married to a wonderful woman named Evelyn, who spends her time painting. He has two inspiring children a son, Zeb, and a stepdaughter, Yasmine.
Introduction
Earn before spending. Think before investing. Persist before quitting. Save before retiring. Give before dying.
What does financial success mean to you? How important is being wealthy?
Whether or not you consider yourself financially successful depends on a mixture of your personal needs, goals and dreams, and the needs, goals and dreams of the important people in your life.
Youve picked up this book because you want to create wealth, so lets break that down and think about what it means. Do you want to:
buy a house and repay the loan as quickly as possible?
build up enough investment income to retire from your day job?
create a large enough nest egg to pay for the best education money can buy for your children?
fund a lifestyle dream like becoming a musician or chef?
build a property portfolio and live off the rental income?
pay off your debts?
own enough stocks, shares and financial investments to live off the dividends?
buy a flashy sportscar?
feel financially secure?
create a foundation and give back to society?
leave a large inheritance for your children?
Ive coached hundreds of individuals and Ive heard every financial dream you can imagine. Ive listened to all the challenges and difficulties you face when youre trying to create wealth.
One thing is very clear. Too many people spend too long saving too little and consuming too much. Even people who, on paper at least, should be very wealthy are living in debt. Youll rarely meet anyone who will confidently announce: I have achieved my financial goals and created enough wealth.
So this is your opportunity to sit down and think about your life goals, your unfulfilled dreams and wishes, and to ask yourself how you want to live and spend the rest of your time on this wonderful planet. This is your chance to map out your financial requirements, to explore who and what is driving you, and to delve into what you are willing to do in pursuit of your financial dreams.
This book is your guide. Through 100 short chapters, you will learn to make sense of the pieces you need to slot together to achieve your financial dreams. You will explore what wealth means to you through the following topics:
Goals and dreams
Mindset and behaviours
Relationships and people
Timeframes
Types of wealth
Investment practices
Success and setbacks
Working and retirement
Helping and giving
How to use this book
Every chapter in this book features a new idea that will help you get closer to your goals. In each chapter, the ideas are introduced and explained on the first page and the second page features exercises and activities, some small and some large, for you to start doing today.
Dont overlook the activities. The tasks youve been set have been specifically designed to give you the optimal mindset, habits, skills, relationships and behaviours needed to maximize your chances of financial success. Some of them will surprise you, some will challenge you, others will seem simple and obvious. All of them are important in building the portfolio of skills you need for creating wealth. Completing them will set you on the path to developing a financially successful mindset and a wealth-focused to do list. These things arent easy to achieve and few people are willing to invest the required time and effort. Financially successful people do.
Youll find many activities to do straight away and some for later, depending on your financial situation and your financial goals. If an idea or suggestion doesnt seem helpful now, put it to one side and return to it later.
Who am I to talk about financial success?
This book draws on the wisdom I have gained from coaching and mentoring people from all over the world for over 20 years, people with all kinds of financial dreams and personal circumstances, from wealthy CEOs to struggling entrepreneurs, through full-time investors and recent graduates just starting out in their careers. All of them have something to share about the journey of creating wealth.
Their experiences combine with my own wisdom from 50 years on this planet and through some incredible financial highs and lows and the profound lessons Ive learned through:
investing in my own financial skills to become a Fellow of the UKs Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
pushing myself to become a regional financial director with a FTSE100 company at the age of only 26
investing large sums in a number of start-ups some of which failed dramatically while others succeeded, such as selling a recruitment business in Asia to the UKs largest recruitment company, Hays plc, in 2006
building a property development business on the side with my wife, investing in and renovating properties in various locations
creating recurring income, including royalties, from my published books
and most importantly, learning to have a meaningful relationship with wealth. It exists to help me live a fulfilling and meaningful life, and to enable me to help others achieve the same.