1. Develop a "Wealthy" Mindset

Without doubt, your mindset is the single most important factor that will determine whether you will be wealthy or not. True wealth and abundance come from having an affluent psychology. You gotta remove any disempowering beliefs you have about yourself or money. Buy yourself a copy of Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" if you want to understand how your thinking will make you wealthy (or not!). Whatever you think about, you bring about i.e. Law of Attraction.

2. Spend Less than you Earn, Invest the Remainder Wisely.

The average person is spending 105% of their earnings i.e. they are in debt. Debt is only good if it's for building assets. This is good debt! You must have a spending plan for your life to make sure you only spend what you have and then save and/or invest what remains. It is recommended that you save at least 10% of your earnings. Finally, when investing, only take investment advice from someone who is as wealthy as you want to be.

3. Learn the Language and Mechanics of Money

Making money and becoming wealthy can be a bit like learning a foreign language. There's lots of terms like: Assets, Liabilities, Liquidity, Net Worth, Gearing, Leverage, etc and you must know what they mean in order to become a good investor. The mechanics (tools, strategies, investment vehicles, etc.), also need to be learnt so you put them into practice knowledgeably.

4. Pay off Your Debts...Fast!

You can literally get rich by getting out of debt! Start by paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first. It could very well be your credit card debt. Then start on the debt with the next highest interest rate. Do this by laying down a payment schedule month by month until that debt is gone. If you think you haven't got enough left out of your monthly pay packet to start paying off those debts...think again. Everyone can buy one less daily cappuccino, make a sandwich for lunch, walk instead of grabbing a cab etc. Simple stuff but it makes a difference to your net position at the end of each month.

5. Acquire Assets

There are two ways to increase your net worth....1. Reducing your liabilities (debts) which we spoke about in Rule 4. The second way is by increasing your equity (assets). There are essentially 3 types of assets: Paper Assets (Shares, Bonds, Pensions etc); Real Estate (Residential, Commercial, Development) & Business (Start, Buy, Rent). You absolutely must acquire the knowledge about investing in these asset classes in order to build wealth. Work within your own boundaries. Only acquire assets you can afford to pay for or learn how to use Other Peoples Money (see Rule 7).

6. Know the Power of Compounding

Did you know that if you invested just $5,000 per year at an average return of 7% from the age of 25 you'd be a millionaire by the time you hit 65. Ok, so many of you want to be millionaires at a younger age but it illustrates the point. It's vital that you decide on an absolute dollar amount you will invest each and every month no matter what and stick to this to see your wealth grow through compounding.

7. Use Other Peoples Money, Other Peoples Time

I don't know how many times I've heard people say "I don't have the money to do that". Listen, no one does. But saying this is a nice excuse that allows you to stay within your comfort zone. The answer to any problem always lies outside your comfort zone. One of the keys to getting out of the rat race and creating financial independence is knowing the secret of leveraging other people´s time (OPT) and other people's money (OPM). The ability to raise and use OPM and OPT is crucial to obtaining the financial freedom you desire.