 Although many individuals like to believe that money changes people's lifestyle and personality, it does not do much. The truth is that, upon obtaining wealth, the positive and negative qualities in people become more pronounced, thus, if you want to be able to sustain your wealth, there are several lessons you ought to learn. In this video, I will share with you 9 brutal lessons you need to learn before getting rich. 1. You are wealthy only to the extent to which your money can work for you. According to the assumption of lots of people, being rich is not just about earning so much money. If something drastic happens to your business, would you be able to stand up on your feet again? What if you lose your job? Do you have something to fall back on? It does not matter how wealthy you are. If you do not have a strategy to swim through unforeseen tragedies, then you are not yet rich. For this reason, American author and founder of the Rat Race Game, Robert Kiyosaki says, the rich don't work for money, they make money work for them. If you want to sustain your wealth, you must seek ways through which your money can multiply itself, even when you are asleep. 2. Experience is always more important than items. When many people think of being wealthy, they focus on buying expensive cars, mansions, accessories and other material things with little or no thought on traveling and seeing the world from a different angle. Nevertheless, studies have revealed that experiences make us happy than tangible things. This lesson early enough will do you a whole lot of good. It might be challenging to overcome the ego boost owning an expensive car or attractive pieces of jewelry may bring to you. Still, the fact is that these insubstantial items do not last, they soon become outdated. On the other hand, spending money on experiences will give you memories that will be with you forever and awareness that cannot be gotten from just reading books. 3. Staying humble. One of the most significant reasons behind the From Grace to Grass story is pride. The fact is that not everyone responds to wealth in the same way. While some people who amass wealth and remain humble, never forgetting who they are and from Wednesday came. Many others allow their head to get too swollen. Sadly, arrogance sooner or later leads to a mighty fall. Learning to overcome the urge for external validation before you become wealthy is challenging. However, it is a lesson that will yield you enormous dividends. If you do not learn to be humble, you will be tempted to flaunt your wealth and, in the process, fall into traps such as spending on unnecessary things, stepping on people's toes and other unpleasant actions. American journalist Ernest Hemingway once asserted that there is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man, true nobility is being superior to your former self. 4. You don't have to buy everything you want. Being able to differentiate between your wants and your needs is pivotal to your financial growth and sustenance. Before becoming wealthy, you are to understand that the fact that you want something does not mean that you should get it. Also, because you have the money to purchase an item now, does not make it entirely possible for you to afford it. For instance, if you can satisfy your desire for a big house at the moment, it is wise to consider whether you will be able to keep up with maintaining the home later in the future or if it's going to be another depreciating asset or even a liability to you, no matter how rich you are. It is more profitable to first identify your priorities and spend on your needs, indeed. There are times when you ought to take yourself on a treat. Still, treating yourself should be done with wisdom. 5. The best investment you can ever make is on yourself. When it comes to investing time, money and resources, many individuals are of the habit of placing themselves at the bottom of the list to spend much on other people and other activities, yet solo tool on themselves. But then, what can you invest in that will give you high returns for as long as you want? You. The investment made on yourself is a fulfilling and long lasting kind. If you wish to not just be affluent but also to remain prosperous, you ought to focus on enriching your body, mind and competency in terms of routine checkups, personal development, taking extra courses, etc. You can only earn as much as you are mentally and physically productive and you can only save and invest for the future as much as you can make. American author, Stephen Covey once said, Self-improvement is tender, it's holy ground and there is no greater investment. 6. Money is just a means to the end. If you take a look around the world, you will observe that the majority of people have the same ambition to become wealthy, so they spend their whole life trying to become rich. Russian American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand, once referred to money as just a tool. In the words of American and Israeli teacher, Tal Ben Shahr, Money beyond the bare minimum for food and shelter is nothing more than a means to an end, yet so often we confuse means with ends and sacrifice happiness and from money means. When you realize that money is just a means, you will be able to use it effectively to reach the end, which is to fulfill your higher calling and make life easier for yourself as well as those who do not yet have money. 7. Focus on how much you save. While it is all fun and courageous to assume otherwise, often you have very little control over the rate of your investment returns. Even if you spend hours studying financial data every day, there is only a minimal difference that you can make on your investment yielding. However, you have full power over what you save and invest, thus building your savings as fast as you can means getting a higher amount of money. When you focus on keeping more, you are indirectly seeking ways to spend less and make more money. It would be best if you learned that you have little or no control over your investment returns, but you have high power over your savings. This knowledge propels you to take actions that will make you obtain wealth faster and increase your potential to remain wealthy. 8. Having goals is incredibly necessary. In every aspect of life, finance inclusive, having a goal is incredibly important. Many people make plans and map out financial goals when they are still struggling to amass wealth, but immediately they achieve that objective, they forget goal setting. This action is unhealthy and may cause them to go back to being poor again. You have to learn that no matter how much wealth you get, setting financial goals is not to be taken lightly, although a budget is a part of a fiscal goal. What is not all there is to a financial goal. The financial goal involves asset you would love to acquire, debts to incur, and debts to pay off, and even net worth you want to attain within the short period. Alan Wall-Wend, a CPA and certified financial planner, wants to find people with financial goals as the golden ones who look ahead and have some concept about what they are looking to do with their money, and who put a plan into motion and establish some good habits. 9. The 80-20 Rule. The 80-20 principle is also called the Pareto principle. It states that for every event, mostly 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes. Over time, this rule has been made to suit various aspects of life. In business, it says 80% of sales come from 20% of clients in finance. The principle generally asserts that 20% of your financial decisions result in 80% of your financial state as an individual. It is paramount for you to learn and apply this law, and even after becoming wealthy, you will need this rule in terms of investment. According to David Williver, founder of MoneyUnder30.com, postulated an 80-20 rule as it affects investment which states thus, 20% of the effort you spend on deciding where to invest will yield 80% of your returns. You can save that extra 80% of effort by ignoring the market. An application of this rule will amount to radical financial improvement. Whatever your financial dream is, whether it is amassing excess wealth, or having just enough money, achieving it requires at least one basic monetary knowledge.