The Secret to Wealth and Success -we never learned in school.

One of the things I did not learn in school is how to get rich. Another is how to become wealthy.

(There is a difference in simply being 'rich' and then becoming 'wealthy'.)

The answers are simple and it will take one stone to knock this one out there.

You create a company.

First you have an idea.

How many times so far in this life have you stopped for a moment and thought... "Wow! I think I have an idea that would make a lot of money!"

This has happened to me a number of times.

Has it happened to you?

The difference between you and someone who becomes rich is - belief in oneself.

Temerity.

Conviction - conviction that if you put a little money behind the idea and tell a few friends it will work.

Yes- it could fail, but what are the odds compared to the odds of buying a 6/49 ticket?

The odds are far better that you will get rich from your "followed-up-on" idea, putting some effort into it and some chatter.

"Oh.. but someone will steal my idea!" , you say.

Well maybe, but probably not. In fact, the odds are very good that someone with money will see you have an idea and the energy to follow through on it and will buy a small share and help you bankroll it.

So imagine you go and register the company for $30 down at the the Palais de Justice in Montreal - or in the rest of Canada I suppose you could do the same at the city Court House -check with a lawyer.

Now you can save any and all receipts from gas, to bus tickets, to pencils, computers , cell phones, business meals, one room in your house plus the cost of maintining that room and reduce your taxes as a result and keep more of your money. They key is to show that you are intent on making a profit in a few years. This is not supposed to be a tax dodge. The tax saving is an inducement to help you make more money and eventually employ people who will pay taxes!

The tax laws in Canada are framed by Tax Lawyers who represent clients who own businesses and make gazillions of dollars and pay tax Lawyers to use the tax code to the best of their ability to reduce their exposure to paying taxes.

So once you exceed $100,000 in gross earnings (a kind of line in the sand) in your registered company, it is definitely time to look at 'upping the ante' and becoming Incorporated to further protecting yourself from Liability.....more expenses and big deductions and perhaps as your millions of gross earnings expand, you shift your operating shares of the company into a 'holding company'. That's when the fun really begins. Then you get into family trusts and protecting more of the money.Then you do an 'Estate Freeze' and save or defer loads more in taxes and keep more for yourself. Further, you buy Universal Life Insurance to protect your family from capital gains taxes on your company if you happen to die. But then if you don't die you can always give the policy over to a bank later in life and borrow against it for retirement income-tax fee and in exchange, the bank gets paid from the policy and the benefit when you die. Not a bad deal!

These concepts and words I bandy about so freely really do exist, but you have own a company and the company must be earning some serious change for you to benefit.

Now before you go and say, "Oh, I could never so that!", just think about it a bit.

It all starts from an idea.

Then you surround yourself with the right people - not those who 'nay-say' and cause doubt saying they are just helping you to not hurt yourself, there-bye helping you to defeat the idea before it gets off the ground. No! Surround yourself with business advisors and Lawyers and people who will help you get the idea flying with the right planning! That's their job! You just make it fly with your magic and enthusiasm, belief and vision!

Surround yourself with the right people. You hire Lawyers. Ask friends if they can refer you to an advisor who won't charge on the first meeting.

So many of our kids are struggling to become doctors and Lawyers. There is nothing wrong with owning a plumbing business. Some of Canada's wealthiest people own these kinds of businesses and they hire our Lawyer son's and daughters.

You don't need to become a service professional like lawyer, you just need to be ables to hire and employ them. I know people who surround themselves with various specialized Lawyers - Tax Lawyers, Litigators, Civil Lawyers, Mortgage Lawyers, Copy Rights Lawyers and more.

You just need the idea and the guts to follow your dream, and hire those who would save you taxes and help you create business strategies. You have fun with making the dream become real. Just do it!

In school I wish I had heard this message rather than "learn to get a good job". A good job is fine, but ...