After graduating from the University of South Alabama in 1986, Steve Siebold moved into a small studio apartment in a wealthy South Florida neighborhood so he could study the rich.
At first supporting himself as a mental-toughness coach for athletes, the once-broke college student became an expert on the wealthy to the point that he now is a highly paid speaker and corporate consultant who owns two million-dollar homes.
“I could barely afford to live there but wanted to get next to them. As a result of living among the rich, I now think like a wealthy person and have become wealthy,” says Siebold who now winters in Palm Beach and summers on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga.
The wealthy think differently than middle-class Americans, according to Siebold who wrote a book called How Rich People Think.
“I used to think of money in a scarcity kind of way—that there was not enough of it. I thought of money as bad. I was ashamed to say that I wanted to be rich,” says Siebold. “The difference is that the self-made wealthy brainwash themselves into believing anything is possible. They keep taking actions until it happens. Being rich is a state of mind.”
If becoming wealthy is as simple as exposure to rich people’s consciousness and copying their belief system about money, consider living among the rich in some of the most affluent neighborhoods, including Westlake, Tex.; Kenilworth, Ill.; Mission Hills, Kan.; and North Beach, Fla.
Working among the rich is another way to rub elbows with the wealthy and learn, according to Ginie Polo Sayles, author of How to Meet The Rich for Business, Friendship or Romance. She advocates taking jobs with prestigious companies or at exclusive events.
“The idea of working near, for or around the rich is to learn and be mentored by your rich employers whether or not they know they are mentoring you,” says Sayles. “You ultimately want to launch your own business, possibly with their investment backing or at least with their high reference.”
For example, having worked with oil heir Robert Bass in Dallas in the 1980s was a big step for some toward securing a ticket to wealth. Private-equity mavens David Bonderman and Jim Coulter met in the offices of the Bass family’s private investment firm and now are listed among America’s richest people in Forbes magazine. Other billionaires who once worked for the Bass family include real-estate guru Tom Barrack, investor Richard Rainwater and hedge-fund manager Marc Lasry.
However, a potential pitfall of working for the rich is lingering too long, waiting for the wealthy to give away their money to employees.
“That’s extremely unlikely, and wishful thinking that can lead to a life of cleaning toilets for pennies. Better to forge your own path and try to earn it yourself,” says financial planner Dr. Douglas Rice of Castro Valley, Calif. “If you work for the rich and aspire to become one of them, figure out how they did it then see if you can do the same. Learn everything you can from them and move on.”
Since the wealthy spend lots of money on the services of decorators, art dealers, accountants, personal trainers, drivers, stylists, house staff, brokers, chefs, cooks and psychotherapists, an excellent way to find work among the wealthy is by serving them in some way.
A recent example is Kim Kardashian who worked for the wealthy and then successfully forged her own path. Singer Brandy hired the young socialite, the daughter of a defense attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial and a preschool playmate of Paris Hilton, as her personal stylist after being embarrassed to find herself on a 2004 worst-dressed list. The stint turned into a full-time business for Kardashian who also became a personal shopper for actress Lindsay Lohan. Later striking out on her own with a reality TV show that includes her two sisters, endorsement deals and a line of perfumes, Kardashian is now worth millions. She can even make up to $1 million for a personal appearance overseas and $25,000 just for tweeting about a particular product.
Some high-ticket events to which people may want to submit job applications include the PGA Championship and the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Another avenue is to try the Association of Personal Assistants.
The true rich are earners who have enough money left over every month after paying bills with which to build a savings account. “To actually feel rich you need to be able to save money so that when you retire, you can live rich,” says Steven Kaye, president of Watchung, N.J.-based wealth management firm American Economic Planning Group.
All that is well and good, but the median American family’s annual income is only $52,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That doesn’t leave much room for saving money. So, how does the average Joe feel rich much less live rich on only $52,000 a year?
“You can only rise as high in life as your comfort level. Raise your comfort level by going into expensive stores and trying on the most expensive clothes, sampling expensive fragrances, visiting expensive showrooms and museums and test driving luxury cars,” says Sayles.
Buying shares of a dividend stock is a tried-and-true method to get started on the path of feeling a part of the world of the wealthy, specifically the Wall Street rich, experts say. Set up a brokerage account for automatic reinvestment of the dividends. Fifty to 100 shares is ideal, but five to 10 shares is enough to get started.
“What is great about America and owning dividend stock is that they can make even the smallest investor feel ‘rich’ in tradition as well as monetarily,” says Andrea Olsen-Condon, president of Tanglewood, a private financial-planning firm in Fredericksburg, Tex., “especially when those quarterly dividends are added to their account.”
Juliette Fairley is a Discovery Channel TV host, author and freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, TIME magazine and other publications. She also hosted Cha Ching Money Makers on the Discovery Channel. The latest of her three personal-finance books is Cash in the City.
Tags: lifestyle, mentors, rich by association, wealthy