How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid: Book Summary

In this book summary of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid, you’ll find my notes, valuable lessons, and important action steps.

How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia Summary

Self help books can be helpful but they’re not entirely helpful.

Sometimes you must move to the places where the most money is being made to get a piece of the pie. It’s hard to get rich in the rural country without resources.

Education is important to climbing social ranks and making money. Without it, you’re stuck working manual labor and have no chance to get rich.

Falling in love will distract you and pull your focus away from trying to get wealthy.

“Many skills, as every successful entrepreneur knows, cannot be taught in school. They require doing. Sometimes a life of doing.” Amen!

Avoid idealists because they don’t know how to make money. Ideas are only distractions. The way to get rich is to work and find someone who teaches you how to make money.

Be an owner so you don’t have to share your profits and you can take the profits of other people’s labor.

You can’t be afraid to see and do difficult, uncomfortable things if you want to get rich. That’s part of the sacrifice required in this quest.

Your work, empire, and chase of money can ruin your family if it’s not checked and balanced. Then you’ll face other unpleasant problems and regrets that money can’t ever solve.

We are all made up of and communicate information. And information is power. You can use it to make decisions and predictions that pay off in the future.

At the end of your life its best to focus on the fundamentals and cut costs of living. For example, get rid of your car and house, then negotiate an apartment lease for cheaper rent. Materialism doesn’t mean anything compared to friendship and not being lonely.

You can make your life count and become more than yourself if you put in the effort. You’ll be fulfilled when you do.

Mini Summary

There is a price to pay for every choice in life, including to follow the journey to get rich. Love, family relationships, and health can all suffer under the weight of pursuing riches.

Life is a journey filled with benefits and consequences, ups and downs. Your job is to make the most of it and enjoy the moments before they’re gone. You only live once, make it count.

Going beyond yourself is the true prize of life. That’s worth the struggle to achieve it because  this sticks with you more than wealth, power, or fame.

Three Favorite Quotes

“But when you read a book, what you see are black squiggles on pulped wood or, increasingly, dark pixels on a pale screen. To transform these icons into characters and events, you must imagine. And when you imagine, you create.”

“For there was a moment when anything was possible. And there will be a moment when nothing is possible. But in between we can create.”

“We are all refugees from our childhoods. And so we turn, among other things, to stories. To write a story, to read a story, is to be a refugee from the state of refugees. Writers and readers seek a solution to the problem that time passes, that those who have gone are gone and those who will go, which is to say every one of us, will go. For there was a moment when anything was possible. And there will be a moment when nothing is possible. But in between we can create.”

Action Steps For You

What do you want for yourself? What do you want for your family and the people around you?

Know that life is about a series of choices that add up to create who you are and what you did. So you have to promise you make your life count.

Plus, there’s a price to pay no matter what you seek.  

That’s why you have to know yourself to ensure you get these choices right, otherwise you could spend your life paying the price for something in return that doesn’t truly make you happy.

Answer these questions: What are you going to pursue? Why? What is it going to cost you? And still knowing that, is it worth it?

If you make the right choices for you based on the knowledge you had at the time, you’re going to live a fulfilled life.

Whatever you do, be sure to give it all you got and you’ll find satisfaction in life. That’s the only way to get the most out of this limited time on earth.

And be quick to show the people who mean something to you that you love them.

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Brian Robben

Brian Robben is the founder of Take Your Success, a site dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs grow a profitable business and reach freedom. For in-depth training, visit: brianrobben.com