My Uneducated Aunt Did These 3 Things to Get Rich(er) in Her Mid-50s. I’m Shocked.

Life Experience = Monetizable Wealth

My uneducated Aunt-in-law embodies a treasure chest of wisdom.

It is funny. I learned more talking to Aunt-in-law compared to highly educated ones.

Those proud fellows riding a high holy horse made from paper certifications have their noses connecting to the sky.

Not my Aunt-in-law.

I will ask. Aunt-in-law will reply. Then she asks. I babble an answer.

Result?

We got smarter at the end of the conversation than at the beginning.

Want to learn more about money? This is the best approach.

Aunt-in-Law Does These 3 Things to Become Rich(er)

Aunt-in-law does not hem and haw.

She says what she knows.

She told me these 3 things when I asked how she got richer.

• Analyze her direct competitors,
• Study investment finance,
• Understand economics.

Notice I asked how she got richer. Not rich. Big difference.

Aunt-in-law is already a millionaire with 2 coffee houses under her ownership. She got rich selling coffee.

She raised my millionaire cousin by selling cups of coffee, too.

“Really? That’s it? THAT- IS- IT-, Aunt?”

She almost died laughing.

I was behaving like a schoolboy.

“Yes, THAT~ IS~ IT~. What else could there be, son?”

Man.

I don’t know.

I must be complicating things again.

1* Analyze Her Direct Competitors

“Why do you do this, Aunt? You are already successful in your own right. No?”

I was naïve that evening. Maybe, downright stupid.

She did not slap me on my cheek with what a stupid question! Aunt-in-law never does that. She would [simply] reply.

“You cannot run a good coffee house business without knowing what others are doing badly or well. We must filter what we observe through the lens of our life experience. We take what is good and improve it. We see what is bad, and we discard it!”

I was quiet. Actually, no. I was busy.

I was busy slurping noodles while she spoke.

She noticed and gestured me to continue. Aunt-in-law elaborated further.

“It is important to learn from others. In my business, mistakes can be expensive. What if I put in $250,000 to expand the car park behind, and it brings no traffic? Disaster, right?”

I nodded with noodles dangling from my mouth.

Tip 1: Learn from others. Avoid expensive mistakes.

2* Study [Basic] Investment Finance

By now, I was done with that bowl of noodles.

I pushed it aside.

I forgot to wipe my mouth as I had burning questions to ask. Aunt-in-law saw that. She passed me a packet of tissue paper.

“So old yet so kiddy.”

She is kind to me.

Aunt-in-law did not wait for me to finish wiping my mouth. She knew what I wanted to ask.

“So… I do 2 things after studying my competitors. I invest back into my coffee houses to make them better. Next… I think whether I want to own their business.”

My ears shot up like a bunny enticed by a dangling carrot.

“By owning their business, you mean…?”

Aunt-in-law had a nice chuckle. And then she said the following.

She would,

• Check whether they are publicly listed as a Group,
• Study whether their stocks are cheap,
• Buy them when the market tanks.

I was [really] impressed. To think I went to business school for this and she did not!

“How do you even know if their stocks are cheap, Aunt-in-law? JUST~ how the f do you know?”

Her response was straightforward.

“I would go to their coffee house to have lunch. I will then have the price tag of their business in my head. Maybe 2 million. Or 3. When I come home, I ask Yan to find out for me. She would study and tell me.”

My baby cousin swung by to clear the empty bowl. She heard us.

“Ma, you forgot? It is free float* multiplied by share price.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Whatever. Yan tells me. And I would make my decision. If I think the share price is higher than the number in my head, I wait. Cheaper, I buy. That is all.”

*Free float = Refers to all the shares outstanding that can be publicly traded.

Tip 2: Have a straightforward investment approach backed by life experience.

3* Understand [Basic] Economics

“I don’t know what economics is, boy. All I do is make decisions based on what that guy or girl from the bank tells me.”

Interesting, I thought.

Of course, I probed.

Aunt-in-law said something simple and elegant. Trust me. Even money fools will understand.

“I ask them what the interest rate is today. They would tell me a rate. 2.5% or higher. I wait. If the rates are 1% or 2%, I borrow fixed. My recent loan was quoted at 1%. I negotiated to 0.85% for half a million. The money is used to revamp the car park behind.”

Patience rewards the rich.

That is one way they get richer.

Aunt-in-law ended the conversation with this.

“I tell Yan the same thing. Don’t rush to buy a house. Wait. Let the interest rates come down, then buy a house. Or borrow money. Be smart. Discounts do come. WAIT-!”

Alright.

I shall wait…

Tip 3: Interest rates move up and down. Be patient!

The Close

My Aunt-in-law is uneducated by modern-day standards.

But that does not mean she is dumb. Far from it.

She is incredibly wise. When in doubt, she asks. When things are expensive, she waits. And she learns from other people’s mistakes.

How is that dumb?

That said…

One thought hit me when I left the coffee house that evening.

Maybe, just maybe, I overcomplicate investing finance.

Aunt-in-law has proven that simplicity got her where she is. She is a millionaire at 57.

Yan, her daughter, my cousin, has $1,000,000 under her belt by committing effort and sweat to her day job.

And maybe… that is all that I need to get rich. Maybe…

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Oh, oh, you can buy me a cup of black too! Thank you!