The only way is Up

I was talking to one of my millionaire friends 2 days ago. His name is Mr Popinski and he is a Polish Immigrant who is about 55 years old and came to the country when he was 5. He made his money from  property, and also from a highly successful convenience store which is in an extremely profitable location. I met him about 2 years ago and consider him one of my millionaire mentors. I was originally aware that his wealth was around £2 million. It turns out that I was wrong. In conversation, he revealed to me that he actually had far more properties than he had told me about previously, with an additonal worth of over £4.5 million! In fact, his finances are so far up, that his wealth is around £6.5 million. And thats only what he's told me so far.

When the young Mr Popinski was a teenager, his father opened a convenience store in the UK. Mr Popinski said to his father "If you let me run my own convenience store, I promise you that I will make you a millionaire". It took many years of hard work, thrift and dedication, but Mr Popinski achieved his intention, and also runs a multi-million pound property portfolio. He is very thrifty and hard working, and still gets up at 5am in  the morning to go to the cash and carry depot, to buy supplies for the convenience store. His main indulgence is a luxury foreign car with personalised number plates, that he purchased brand new, for 60k in cash. I had always thought that this expensive car indicated that he was an Under Accumulator of Wealth (UAW) as described in the book The Millionaire Next Door (by Thomas J Stanley). I therefore sought more of my advice from rich people whose wealth was less conspicuous. Now I see that when you have a bucketload of money you can probably afford to flash a little cash every now and again.

I have noticed that this gradual disclosing of wealth has been a feature which my main mentor Mr Piper also shares. Every now and again Mr Piper will disclose other stuff that he owns, for example he has more houses all over England which he never told me about when we originally met, and he also has a boat. Of course its not really my business to ask exactly what they've got, and I would feel awkward asking straight out for a complete list of all of their assets. They did not trust me completely when we first met, as they did not even know me, and now that we are more famiiar, I am getting access to far more of their wealth secrets, and  further proof of their accomplishments.

When Mr Popinski disclosed this extra £4.5 million, I felt strangely in awe. I've long thought it an accomplishment for someone to even make one million, but for some people to actually have millions and millions of pounds is just incredible. Planet Earth is a place where most people are in poverty. At work in a normal job, colleagues consistently complain about their lack of money, and of their financial woes. Yet there are actually people out there who have made not just one million, but many, many, millions. I know, because I have met them face to face, I have seen some of their asssets and I have seen how they live. Normal people, living an abnormally abundant life.

The scale of Mr Popinski's wealth inspires me further. He has no university degree, no qualifications, just a strong work ethic, thrift, and determination. He looks and acts completely normal, and nobody would ever realise that he was a millionaire. He looks just like a next door neighbour. If he can achieve such heights, then so can I. So can anybody else. It is not an overnight job, it will be a long process, but once you get to a high place financially, the only way from there, is up.

Millionaire researcher Thomas J Stanley wrote about the realities of millionaires in his books, which I read avidly. His new book Stop Acting Rich and start living like a real millionaire will be published in October 2009, and I have already pre-ordered it. I think that money and finance is fascinating. I find it incredible how high a persons finances can go, when they aim up.