Start Thinking Rich

Incisive guide to transform your relationship towards money and finally start building real wealth

Start Thinking Rich: 21 Harsh Truths to Take You from Broke to Financial Freedom delivers an inspirational, tough-love, and step-by-step guide for readers to finally start building their own legacy of wealth no matter where they're starting from. Filled with proven money-making, saving, and investment strategies, this book helps readers take an honest look at their spending habits, unconscious biases about money, and self-sabotaging money behaviors in order to start living their best lives.

Heavyweight institutional finance executive Dr. Brad Klontz and self-made millionaire Adrian Brambila combine their expertise, grit, and firsthand knowledge to provide unparalleled and eye-opening perspective on topics including:

• Your ideal path to success as either an employee, entrepreneur, or “grinder”
• Trauma-based psychology that leads to a counterproductive “broke mindset”
• The value of education in sidestepping common financial pitfalls
• Steps to increase and diversify income, save what you make, and grow your money in your sleep

Start Thinking Rich: 21 Harsh Truths to Take You from Broke to Financial Freedom earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all ambitious individuals who are sick of tepid, uncontroversial, and ultimately ineffective financial advice, and want to cut through the noise to discover highly effective wealth-building moves that are proven to work.

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 Being Poor Sucks 1

Chapter 2 Only Poor People Think the System Is Rigged 11

Chapter 3 You Don’t Want to Become a Millionaire, You Just Want to Spend a Million Dollars 27

Chapter 4 Your Beliefs About Money Are Keeping You Poor 39

Chapter 5 Your Teachers Can’t Teach You How to Get Rich 53

Chapter 6 It’s Not Your Fault if You Were Born Poor, But It Is Your Fault if You Die Poor 65

Chapter 7 You Don’t Deserve More; You’re Getting Paid What You’re Worth 77

Chapter 8 Only Liars Say They Love Their Jobs 89

Chapter 9 Lottery Tickets Are for Lazy People 99

Chapter 10 Get Rid of Your Poor Friends If You Want to Get Rich 109

Chapter 11 Poor People Buy Stuff; Rich People Own Time 121

Chapter 12 Only Broke and Insecure People Flex Luxury Brands 131

Chapter 13 If You Want to Get Rich, Go to College, Get Married, and Buy a House (or Not) 143

Chapter 14 Retirement Is for Dead People 163

Chapter 15 Only Poor People Are Afraid to Ask for Help 173

Chapter 16 Your Political Party Doesn’t Give a Shit About You 185

Chapter 17 Complaining Is for Losers 197

Chapter 18 Get a Roommate, Get on the Bus, Get Sober, Get Bald, And Get a Side Hustle Or Shut Up About Being Broke 215

Chapter 19 People Who Binge Netflix Without A Side Hustle Will Be Broke Forever 229

Chapter 20 You’re Not Allowed to Use Your Credit Card if You Don’t Pay It off Each Month 239

Chapter 21 You’ll Be Poor Forever if You Don’t Start Thinking Rich 249

About the Authors 257

Acknowledgments 261

Appendix 263

References 269

Index 279

DR. BRAD KLONTZ is an expert in financial psychology, financial planning, and applied behavioral finance. He’s an Associate Professor of Practice at Creighton University Heider College of Business and Managing Principal of YMW Advisors, which manages over half a billion dollars for ultra-high-net-worth clients.

ADRIAN BRAMBILA is one of the leading money and marketing influencers on social media, where he documents his lifestyle of being a millionaire who lives in his van and transparently shows how he was making over $100K a month with only a day of WiFi per week.

Founded upon the authors’ unwavering belief that everyone has the potential to become a millionaire, Start Thinking Rich: 21 Harsh Truths to Take You from Broke to Financial Freedom tells the truth about getting rich, debunks the false beliefs that the majority of the population carry about money, and gives actionable, research-based, and experience-backed strategies for the reader to use to build their own legacy of wealth. This book is a wake-up call for anyone who has ever felt stuck in the rat race, trapped in cycles of poverty and hopelessness, and victimized by the system, and includes everything you need to find your own path to success and stick with it.

Written by Dr. Brad Klontz, an expert in financial psychology, financial planning, and applied behavioral finance, and Adrian Brambila, one of the leading money and marketing influencers on social media, this book is far more than a money strategy book—it is also an honest conversation about the gritty, hard-won lessons Klontz and Brambila have learned and the firsthand ways they have improved the financial health of themselves and their clients.

Covering topics from living beneath your means all the way to using the internet to establish multiple side hustles, this book provides life-changing, tough love insight for readers who are ready to take an honest look at their spending habits, unconscious biases about money, and self-sabotaging money behaviors, and start making highly effective wealth-building moves.

Life’s a game—this is your opportunity to learn how to play it. Start Thinking Rich earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all individuals seeking a blueprint to wipe the cobwebs from their eyes, realize the countless possibilities in front of them, and achieve their loftiest financial goals.

PRAISE FOR START THINKING RICH

“Dr. Brad and Adrian’s Start Thinking Rich isn’t for the weak-minded; it’s for hustlers who have the courage to confront uncomfortable truths and make real changes. This book provides a clear path from financial struggle to success.”
—SETH GODWIN, The Godfather of Finance

“This book is great for anyone wanting to completely shift their relationship with money and start building wealth. What I love most about the book is how personal both Adrian and Dr. Brad get with their initial struggles with money and their eventual triumph to get wealthy. Both are self-made people, so the information you’re getting in this book is coming from individuals that not only can teach healthy money philosophy, but also live it.”
—RAHUL RAI, @thelaymaninvestor

“In Start Thinking Rich, Dr. Brad and Adrian deliver a powerful blend of tough love and actionable advice. This book is a must-read for those ready to confront harsh truths and start their journey to financial freedom.”
—MIKEY TAYLOR, President of Commune Capital

“Start Thinking Rich uncovers the untold truth on why you’re still broke. This book is everything ‘they’ don’t want you to know about your financial situation.”
—MATT GRESIA, Business Influencer

“Dr. Brad and Adrian’s Start Thinking Rich is a bold wake-up call for anyone serious about financial freedom. Their 21 unvarnished truths provide the tough love needed to change lives.”
—GINA ZAKARIA, Author of Simple Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz

“Start Thinking Rich provides its readers with the financial form of tough love that you can only get from an older sibling who genuinely wants the best for you. Dr. Brad Klontz and Adrian Brambila act as that older brother, in this transparent and inspiring read, encouraging their audience to overcome tough realities that will ultimately transform their financial future.”
—RUSS FAIGEN, Founder of InvestWithRuss