Wow, “How To Get Rich” was an absolute corker of a book… [amazon UK - amazon USA] …a step-by-step guide to making money by Felix Dennis who’s one of Britain’s most successful self-made millionaires. His estimated wealth is £750 million (approx $1.5 billion) according to the 2007 Times Rich List… good enough for 95th position. Although, in the book, Dennis says he doesn’t understand where they get their figures from and that even he doesn’t know exactly how much he’s worth because of the complexity involved in estimating it.
quote… “That is why so many rich people distrust the ‘rich lists’ and league tables of wealth published every so often in newspapers and magazines. We know that if we cannot calculate our true net worth, and if our paid armies of accountants cannot agree upon a figure, then compilers of lists and financial journalists certainly cannot do so with any real accuracy” [page 4].
Felix Dennis is primarily a magazine publisher. He privately owns Dennis Publishing Ltd… a UK company which publishes a range of successful magazines and has a turnover of over £200 million ($400 million per year). If you’re a Brit, you may recognize some of these titles… MacUser, Maxim, Auto Express, Computer Shopper, PC Pro and Viz. There’s also Dennis Publishing USA which has recently been put up for sale.
In his book, Dennis takes you through what it takes to get rich. It’s a great read… not only does he tell you the “nuts and bolts” of getting rich such as how to get capital, how to delegate, how to find a market, how to retain control, but he also analyzes what it takes as a person. Basically, you have to have an unyielding desire to become rich and an ability to overcome fear. Just getting out there and “doing it”. He seems to believe that most people have neither the desire nor the drive to become rich, even if they say they do… which sounds about right to me. How many people really have the killer instinct needed to compete in the capitalistic jungle… to claim the huge piles of cash needed to become rich?
But there’s much more to the book than just how to get rich. Dennis talks about his brush with Legionnaire’s disease, which almost killed him but also made him clean up his act and stop wasting his new-found money (and life) on drugs, alcohol and “expensive” women.
He has certainly amassed a huge fortune… but there’s a real sense of melancholy about the book. For someone so driven to be their own boss and become rich, there’s the inevitable question of what to do once you’ve “made it”. Especially when you have no wife or children to spend time with and share life with. Dennis indulged in drugs, booze and expensive ladies until the Legionnaire’s incident. Since then he’s taken to writing poetry and also devotes resources to planting a forest in England (the Forest of Dennis).
Dennis claims to have written “How To Get Rich” at special library/office cottage near his house on the island of Mustique. I think he said it took him eight weeks to write. In the book he mentions a local cat coming into his house and feeding it milk and smoked salmon. The impression you get is that Dennis is isolated in his hideaway recounting his swashbuckling adventures at getting rich to us and the stray cat. Quite a few times he says he would swap all the riches he has for the chance to turn back time to when he was younger. In fact, he also says he would change what he did and earn his first 10-20 million by the age of 35, then sell up and start writing poetry and planting trees.
This strikes a chord with me. I’ll be 35 later this year. I may not have made 10-20 million, but I don’t really want to. I work for myself. I don’t answer to a boss. I basically earn what I want each year from my Internet business. I could grow the business, hire people, expand and try to make millions… but it would take time away from doing what I want to do right now… spending time with my wife and kids.
I’ll give you an example. I was reading Dennis’ book in my office at home today when my daughter walked in. This was about 2pm. She wanted to show me a leaflet which had been put through the door. We had a chat about it, then we fed the goldfish in my office. She’s 4 years old and almost ready to start school. When she does, I’ll miss her… so I’m enjoying the time right now when we can have fun together during the day.
Why would I want to work harder pursuing more money? What could it get me that I don’t have already? I’ve almost paid off my second mortgage in just five years. I live in a wonderful part of England. I work from home, working the hours I choose. I get to read books at home during the day with a cup of tea and my feet up. I’m at home during the day when my daughter wants to see me. My commute is a 10 second walk to my office. Most of my income at the moment comes from passive sources so I get to spend lots of quality time with my wife and children. Everyone says kids grow up so fast. Well, I’m making sure I spend as much time as possible with them while they’re young.
Dennis explains in his book that having lots of money actually brings a host of added responsibilities and worries… you have the job of looking after it, minimizing taxes on it, taking security precautions for your houses and loved ones, managing the people you hire to maintain your houses and gardens, family fights about money, jealous neighbours, fear of losing all your cash.
All that sounds too much like being famous to me… and that’s something I definitely never wanted. Lots of people say they want fame… just look at PopIdol, PopStars, Big Brother and all the other TV shows that attempt to make “celebrities” from “nobodies”. Yuck. They never seem to get anything more than their allotted 15 seconds of “fame”. Then there are the real celebrities, hounded from morning to night by the press and everyone wanting to know what they ate for breakfast. A true nightmare.
I guess, ultimately, it all comes down to defining what you want from life… then going after it until you succeed. If it’s fame or a huge pile of cash, good luck to you. Personally, my goals are simple… freedom from a boss, freedom from debt and enjoying what I have, right now. 
If you want to amass your own fortune, do yourself a huge favour and read Felix Dennis’ “How To Get Rich”. It’s a wonderful book by someone who can tell you from experience how to do it… in plain English, with a warm and witty writing style… and he won’t upsell you a DVD course or board game on “How To Really Get Rich” afterwards.
