Chapter 18How to work less and make more
Peter says to count the full cost of your job, including commuting, takeaway food, health, clothing and gear, before judging whether a higher-paid role is better. He argues that a $120k job can be worse than a $60k one, and that passion and drive matter more than natural ability when choosing work.
Read it in the book → Chapter 19Things you must know about money before you can stop being its SLAVE
A short introduction to the list of principles that follows. Peter says the aim is to catch and keep money rather than earn it, and that people paid for their time will never have more than those around them. He says some ideas will not make sense until applied, and that you need a big dream for these rules to matter.
Read it in the book → Chapter 20Stop having a reverence to money
Peter says you cannot master money while worshipping it. He claims wealthy people talk about principles, the middle class about money-making devices, and poorer people about television and sport. He argues that saving every cent keeps money in control of you, and suggests giving some away, such as tipping, when you feel poorest.
Read it in the book → Chapter 21Stop working for money
Peter says to put money to work by investing, even $10 a week, and never to spend the capital on toys. He suggests setting a personal minimum hourly rate, his own was $500 and is now $2000, and valuing your free time at that rate, which changes which extra work and favours you accept.
Read it in the book → Chapter 22Value your time and account for it
Peter says time multiplies any financial transaction in either direction, so losses compound as surely as profits. He gives the example of a gap year, which he says costs what you would have earned at the top of your earning potential rather than a first-year wage, while allowing that it could open up opportunities.
Read it in the book → Chapter 23Don’t get comfortable
Peter says being happy in a job that pays poorly can cost you your dreams, and that if your dreams need more money than the job pays, you should quit. He says many people succeed after moving cities because they have to toughen up, and that old friends and clubs can slow you down. He tells readers to stop waiting for the right time.
Read it in the book → Chapter 24Don’t try to force the market to pay for your lifestyle
Peter says any money-making idea needs a market that already has enough customers willing to pay to support you. He advises entering such a market, delivering at a lower cost than competitors, and aiming for a share large enough that even 0.1% would cover your needs. He warns that a market that pays well today may not in five years.
Read it in the book → Chapter 25Running a money press is meant to be boring
Peter says systems that make a lot of money become boring once running, and should not be made exciting. He warns against sacking key people for fun or gambling outside what you know, and advises using profits to start a new press instead. He contrasts high-risk ventures with predictable returns, saying great businesses are created, not born.
Read it in the book → Chapter 26Leverage makes the difference
Peter says to use leverage: other people's money through the bank, other people's time through managers, and other people's skills through outsourcing. He argues that income tied directly to your hours makes a living, not a lifestyle, and that leverage, including shared capital risk and free marketing, should be built into a business from the start.
Read it in the book → Chapter 27The compounding effect will make you rich or keep you poor
Peter says compounding applies to time, labour and equipment as well as interest, using a truck example where a ten-minute upsell lowers daily profit. He argues shares compound faster than property, then walks through doubling one cent for 30 days. He also covers the law of 72 and the cost of starting at 30 rather than 20.
Read it in the book → Chapter 28Wealthy people are risk adverse, not risk takers
Peter argues that wealthy people avoid risk rather than seek it. He says to keep any risky deal under 5% of your capital, isolate assets, avoid doubling down on a losing position, and first ask how much you could lose. He advises reducing risk through expertise and spreading money across assets according to the money cycle.
Read it in the book → Chapter 29Sharpen your axe
Peter says profits decline unless you keep up with new ideas and technology, and that the person most in need of sharpening is you. He suggests buying from your competitors, seeing how things are done overseas and spending on research and development. He also advises investing in good tools, which ties back to leverage.
Read it in the book → Chapter 30Always be the captain of your financial ship
Peter says you can delegate to advisers only if the decision stays yours and you understand what they are doing. He advises employing an accountant and a lawyer while also studying accounting and law, asking them to explain the risks, and using a business partner who is an accountant to check the work of the one you employ.
Read it in the book → Chapter 31You reap what you sow
Peter says you must sow today to reap tomorrow, so more effort brings more results, and that people often quit just before a breakthrough. He urges persistence, but also says to cut losses and change direction quickly when something is failing, and to assess risk so that no single failure can take all your capital.
Read it in the book → Chapter 32Borrow capital today but pay it off when it is worth 90% less in real terms with wages that are worth 10 times more
Peter argues that borrowing to buy assets that hold value lets inflation shrink the debt while incomes rise. He advises against borrowing for things that fall in value and suggests interest-only loans. He works through a 1970s house example and says to buy two houses, since one only indexes your lifestyle to inflation.
Read it in the book → Chapter 33You can’t save your way to wealth, so don’t even try to save up the house deposit
Peter argues that saving cannot beat inflation, and that if your field cannot pay enough you should move to one that does. He says not to pay off debt that does not stop you borrowing, explains how credit cards cut borrowing capacity, and outlines borrowing a house deposit through a personal loan held in a term deposit.
Read it in the book → Chapter 34Wealthy people pay tax LAST, not first
Peter says wealthy people pay tax after lifestyle costs because business expenses are deducted first, and that investment-house interest is tax deductible. He claims borrowed money is not income and unrealised property growth is not taxed. He adds that you should get good advice, and sack an accountant who charges a lot yet never suggests buying property.
Read it in the book → Chapter 35Surround yourself with good people
Peter says to employ a good lender, accountant and lawyer, to understand their advice and to direct them, and to expect staff to earn about ten times what they cost. He also says friendships may fade as your finances change, since old friends may not share your circumstances, and suggests being open to new, successful friends.
Read it in the book → Chapter 36If it’s true for one dollar, then it’s true for a million dollars
Peter says how you treat five cents on a footpath shows how you treat every resource, so picking it up is about attitude to opportunity, not frugality. He warns against living a cheap life, such as wearing a fake watch, and urges investing in quality in your lifestyle. He ends by telling readers to start today.
Read it in the book → Chapter 37Think like a slave master and not the slave
Peter says that because the system cannot be changed much, the only lever is how you react to it. He asks you to break habits, such as ordering last or always ordering the same dish, so you notice the emotions that come with new decisions. He tells you to distrust your past decision-making about your future and to act on ideas you resist.
Read it in the book → Chapter 38Commit yourself to continued learning every day
Peter says consistent self-education lets you match your wits against anyone. He suggests reading as much non-fiction as fiction and replacing television time, working out that four hours a night adds up to 1,456 hours a year. He recommends learning whatever interests you, from languages to growing vegetables, and says he sold his own TV when he started.
Read it in the book → Chapter 39The way you talk is important and keeping your word is more important
Peter says you are your word, so keep it and never lie, including to yourself. He says a thief can be trusted but a liar cannot, and that there are no white lies. He adds that words can hurt people for years, that you should apologise quickly, and that talking is not the same as thinking.
Read it in the book → Chapter 40A fool doesn’t try to understand what a wise man says and, yet, a wise man will always try to learn something from the fool
Peter says a wise person looks for something to learn from everyone, including fools, while a fool neither recognises nor seeks wisdom. He advises taking advice only from people who have done what you want to do, notes that success in one field does not transfer to another, and says to learn from other people's mistakes before your own.
Read it in the book → Chapter 41Discern truth from fiction everywhere you look
Peter says to judge information by whether it is useful and relevant to your goals, not simply by whether it is true, and to run a spam filter on conversations, including with family and friends, whose views reflect their own experience. He notes that people often form an opinion on the spot rather than admit they have never considered a question.
Read it in the book → Chapter 42The greatest deceptions come from those who have the most to gain
A very short entry. Peter says to follow the money and look for motive so you are not deceived, since a good lie is often hidden between two truths. He describes media-driven propaganda as present at every bus shelter, workplace and barbecue, and advises asking anyone who pushes an opinion why they believe it and where the idea came from.
Read it in the book → Chapter 43Don’t start on a journey until you know what your final destination is and you have first committed yourself to getting there. (Plan it, then take the first steps)
Peter says to know your destination before you start, because you could spend ten years earning a lifestyle you then dislike. He advises asking a doctor's spouse rather than the doctor about the job, breaking the journey into steps of a few weeks, and taking massive action, citing the founder of KFC knocking on more than 1000 doors.
Read it in the book → Chapter 44Create a life strategy and then plan to get there
Peter distinguishes a plan from a strategy. A plan can fail, but a strategy tells you what to do next and is only complete when you reach the outcome it was designed for. He says to expect to succeed while keeping a fallback, to treat a failed plan as a step toward the goal, and never to judge a plan in isolation.
Read it in the book → Chapter 45Share your dreams and have an exit plan before you start
Peter says to talk to people about what you want to do, because opportunities appear only when you are looking, and gives an example of a competitor passing him two customers. He also stresses knowing when to stop: decide how much money, time or lifestyle you want, plan your exit before you begin, and take your money off the table.
Read it in the book → Chapter 46You’re the boss, but who tells you when you messed up?
Peter asks who tells a boss when he is getting it wrong, and says you need systems that do. He lists his own: mentors, ongoing education, hiring antagonists who can rein him in, checking the numbers for anything odd, and listening to new staff. He also says to reward yourself only when you have done well.
Read it in the book → Chapter 47Don’t look up or down at anyone
Peter says putting people on a pedestal makes them harder to approach, and that every deal is decided by a person driven by emotion. He names five emotions, love, fear, ego, greed and security, says each person has one or two dominant ones, and that appealing to them and watching your timing improves your odds.
Read it in the book → Chapter 48To know and not to do is not to know
Peter says that if you say you knew something but have never done it, you did not know it. He notes that people act as experts on finance, sport and politics without experience, unlike brain surgery, and advises limiting counsel to people who have done the thing. He adds that you may be on the right path when everyone you know disagrees.
Read it in the book → Chapter 49Trust people to do the right thing by you, until they give you reason not to trust them
Peter says to trust first and to cultivate integrity in every dealing, and he rejects the idea that you must rip people off before they rip you. He says trust works like a smile and is usually returned. If someone betrays you, he suggests treating what they took as a gift, which stops you passing the hurt on.
Read it in the book → Chapter 50Be humble, thankful, honest and happy in all of life’s adventures
A short entry about self-belief. Peter says to back yourself, be your own fan and not hand your self-esteem to anyone else, since you are probably right whether you think you can or you think you can't. He says taking your emotional cues from others leaves them to decide whether you are happy, so decide to smile.
Read it in the book → Chapter 51Values should be defended
Peter says that if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything, and that great things require great sacrifice. He tells a story of a man who watches his neighbours dragged away and says nothing until he is taken himself, illustrating his point that an injustice you passively witness will eventually come to your own door.
Read it in the book → Chapter 52You will learn the rules for achieving at anything, long before you understand them
Peter says to follow the rules for achieving on faith before you understand them, like flicking a light switch without knowing how it works. He compares life to a game whose rules you grasp only by playing, and says to apply them even if you do not agree with them at first.
Read it in the book → Chapter 53Growth of all kinds (personal, mental, physical, spiritual) only comes from stretching what you have now
Peter says growth in any area comes only from stretching what you have now, just as you are not sore unless you have worked out. He suggests doing unfamiliar or frightening things, such as ordering something different or saying hello to a stranger, and says to judge your feelings by where they have led you before.
Read it in the book → Chapter 54Choose your friends
Peter says you can choose your friends and most people do not, and that someone who steals from their boss or lies to their partner will treat you the same way. He advises holding friends and yourself to a high standard, and retells the fable of the frog and the scorpion to show that people act according to who they are.
Read it in the book → Chapter 55Summary
Peter says every slave keeps the power to think freely, and that free minds are dangerous to those who want to enslave them, citing book burning under Stalin and Hitler. He recommends breaking problems into small steps, warns that some friendships may fade as you change, and says money only magnifies who you already are, so work on your personality.
Read it in the book → Chapter 56References
A short note acknowledging the books and people behind Peter's ideas, quoting Isaac Newton on standing on the shoulders of giants. Peter says he cannot remember where many ideas came from, that the list is incomplete, and that some of the books were better than others but each taught him something. Word definitions come from the New Oxford American Dictionary.
Read it in the book → Chapter 57Books and seminars I can credit for some of my success
A numbered list of 159 books, courses and seminars Peter credits, grouped by topic, beginning with seven he calls must-reads such as Think and Grow Rich. He says he began with a single book, Money Making Made Simple, a gift from his dad when he was 15 and could barely read, and urges readers to build a home library.
Read it in the book → Chapter 58Great authors and presenters
A short list of authors and presenters Peter credits as influences, including James Rohan, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar and Brad Sugars, spelled as printed in the book. The list closes with a line about Peter's own next title, noting it is coming soon, once he finds an agent.
Read it in the book → Chapter 59Great Quotes
A list of 18 one-line sayings, many of which recur in the chapters, including that you can trust a thief but not a liar, and that to know and not to do is not to know. The last saying says you must learn the rules of the game and follow them long before you understand or perfect them.
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