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Whenever I speak to groups of people, they often ask what I would recommend or what could they do? "How do they get started?" "Is there a good book I would recommend?" "What should they do to prepare their children?" "What is the secret to success?" "How do I make millions?" I am always reminded of this article I was once given THE RICHEST BUSINESSMEN In 1923 a group of our greatest leaders and richest businessmen held a meeting at the Edgewater Beach hotel in ChicagoAmong them were Charles Schwab, head of the largest independent steel company; Samuel Instill, president of the world's largest utility; Howard Hopson, head of the largest gas company; Ivar Kreuger president of the International Match Co one of the world's largest companies at that time; Leon Frazier, president of the Bank of International Settlements; Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange; Arthur Cotton and Jesse Livermore, two of the biggest stock speculators; and Albert Fall, a member of President Harding's new cartier watches cabinetTwenty five years later nine of them (those listed above) ended as followsSchwab died penniless after living for five years on borrowed moneyInstill died broke living in a foreign landKreuger and Cotton also died brokeWhitney and Albert Fall were just released from prisonFraser and Livermore committed suicide I doubt if anyone can say what really happened to these menIf you look at the date, 1923, it was just before the 1929 market crash and the Great Depression, which I suspect had a great impact on these men and their livesThe point is this: Today we live in times of greater and faster change than these men didI suspect there will be many booms and busts in the next 25 years that will parallel the ups and downs these men facedI am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not their greatest wealth, which is their educationIf people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changesIf they think money will solve fendi chocolate b mix bag problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough rideIntelligence solves problems and produces moneyMoney without financial intelligence is money soon gone Most people fail to realize that in life, it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you keepWe have all heard stories of lottery winners who are poor, then suddenly rich, then poor againThey win millions and are soon back to where they startedOr stories of professional athletes, who, at the age of 24, are earning millions of dollars a year, and are sleeping under a bridge by age 34In the paper this morning, as I write this, there is a story of a young basketball player who a year ago had millionsToday, he claims his friends, attorney and accountant took his money, and now he works at a car wash for minimum wageHe was fired from the car wash because he refused to take off his championship ring as he was wiping off the cars, so his story made the newspaperHe is appealing his termination, claiming hardship and discrimination and that the ring is ladies cartier watch sales all he has leftHe claims that if you take that away, he'll crumble In 1997, I know so many people who are becoming instant millionairesIt's the Roaring '20s one more timeAnd while I am glad people have been getting richer and richer, I only caution that in the long run, it's not how much you make, it's how much you keep, and how many generations you keep it So when people ask, "Where do I get started?" or "Tell me how to get rich quick," they often are greatly disappointed with my answerI simply say to them what my rich dad said back to me when I was a little kid"If you want to be rich, you need to be financially literate That idea was drummed into my head every time we were togetherAs I said, my educated dad stressed the importance of reading books, while my rich dad stressed the need to master financial literacy If you are going to build the Empire State Building, the first thing you need to do is dig a deep hole and pour a strong foundationIf you are going to build a home in the suburbs, all louis vuitton diaper bag tote you need to do is pour a 6-inch slab of concreteMost people, in their drive to get rich, are trying to build an Empire State Building on a 6-inch slab Our school system, having been created in the Agrarian Age, still believes in homes with no foundationDirt floors are still the rageSo kids graduate from school with virtually no financial foundationOne day, sleepless and deep in debt in suburbia, living the American Dream, they decide that the answer to their financial problems is to find a way to get rich quick Construction on the skyscraper beginsIt goes up quickly, and soon, instead of the Empire State Building, we have the Leaning Tower of SuburbiaThe sleepless nights return As for Mike and me in our adult years, both of our choices were possible because we were taught to pour a strong financial foundation when we were just kids Now, accounting is possibly the most boring subject in the worldIt also could be the most confusingBut if you want to be rich, long term, it could be the most important omega speedmaster white sub