I Asked ChatGPT What Money Lessons Billionaires Learn Early That Most People Never Do

Very few people are born billionaires, though many of them had a financial leg up from family. To make it to that level, most billionaires develop certain financial habits and mindsets early in their careers, long before they have massive bank accounts. Curious what the average person can learn from billionaires, I asked ChatGPT what core money lessons they absorb early that many people never do.

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Billionaires take compounding seriously from a young age. Compounding is what happens when you earn interest and then reinvest those earnings over and over, letting them grow exponentially. Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett made his first investment at age 11 and has noted that almost all his net worth came after age 50 because compounding accelerates over time. Most people underestimate this effect or start investing too late, ChatGPT said. Billionaires, on the other hand, build every financial decision around it.

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Self-made billionaires overwhelmingly build wealth through equity, not salaries. Equity refers to owning a piece of a business or asset, which can grow in value far beyond what a traditional paycheck provides. ChatGPT cited research drawn from Forbes that shows that company ownership is the primary source of billionaire wealth. This means taking lower pay in exchange for stock, building a business or creating intellectual property that scales.

Billionaires get rich by “mastering leverage in three forms,” ChatGPT reported. They leverage other people’s money, other people’s labor and technology. Real estate giants like Sam Zell used financial leverage to expand investment portfolios, the AI said, while founders like Jeff Bezos leaned heavily on human and technological leverage to scale operations. Leverage is a way of multiplying effort without multiplying time. In other words: outsourcing.

Ultra-wealthy individuals tend to see money as a way to buy freedom, not status, ChatGPT said. It cited research by Thomas Stanley, author of “The Millionaire Mind,” which shows that high-net-worth individuals focus on control, independence and opportunity. In other words, these billionaires prioritize autonomy over just being “rich.” They want to be in control of their lifestyles and not held down by other people’s ideas or decisions (hence why so many billionaires are entrepreneurs).