5 Money Rules That Changed My Life (From Bankrupt to Wealthy)

In 2016, I was bankrupt. My mother was calling relatives asking if anyone had a job for me. That was my reality.

Today, I feel like I am doing pretty well for myself. And you know what changed between those two versions of me? It was not talent. It was not luck. There was one thing I did that changed everything.

I literally brainwashed myself for success. I changed how I think about money. I rewired my relationship with it. And I did it by following five rules.

Growing up with financial struggle

When I was growing up, financial struggle was an everyday story. The people my family had borrowed money from would show up at our door every day. They would be rude. They would demand money. Because of this, our school fees would not get paid. Tuition fees would not get paid. Many times there was not even money for food at home.

I still remember being in college, writing an exam, and the teacher would walk in and say: stand up. Why has your fees not been paid? The whole class would stare at you. Some would laugh. It felt terrible because you knew it was not your fault. But you could not blame your parents either because they were doing their absolute best.

I saw fights at home because of money. Fights in the extended family because of money. It was a childhood I would not wish on anyone.

I have deep respect for my father and mother because they did more for us than they could afford. They kept us in better homes even though we lived on rent until I was 23. They put us in better schools so we could get a good education. Because in their mind, good education meant a good job, a good college, and good money. That was the thinking.

My father always used to say: money just does not stay in my hands. And I watched him work incredibly hard. He still does. But back then, I realized something important. Hard work is not the problem. The problem is how you see money. Your relationship with money. Your viewpoint about it.

That is when I understood: I need to change how I look at money. I need to change my thinking about it entirely.

Rule 1: Stop taking advice from broke people

In India, two things are almost free. Tea and opinions. You can find tea at every street corner for five or ten rupees. And you can find opinions everywhere too. Every random person will tell you how to get rich. But these are the same people who never became rich themselves.

They listen to podcasts, hear stories about wealthy people, and then pass that secondhand wisdom to you. They will say: I know this rich guy, he did this, he did that. But you never did it yourself. If the advice was that good, why did you not follow it?

People love giving opinions because they never did the actual work. They did not have it in them. So they give away free opinions instead.

I realized this early. People around me were full of advice. Get a job. Do engineering. Then do an MBA. Join this company. Go abroad. Endless suggestions from people whose lives I did not want to live.

I asked myself one question: why would I take money advice from someone who is not rich? If they do not have the life I want, why would I listen to them?

Around that time, I also read Rich Dad Poor Dad. The concept hit hard. The poor dad gives advice about jobs and stability. The rich dad gives advice about business and investments. I decided: if I take advice, it will only be from people who are actually successful. People whose lives I actually want.

Rule 2: Know your money superpower

There are two types of people when it comes to money. The first type knows how to grow money. They understand the stock market. They research mutual funds deeply. They follow IPOs, read white papers, track company profits, understand how news affects markets. They are passionate about numbers. Stock brokers, fund managers, serious investors fall into this category.

The second type knows how to make money. They build businesses, create revenue, generate cash flow.

I tried both. I tried investing. I made bad investments. I lost money by listening to random advice and putting money into things I did not understand. And through that experience, I learned something crucial: I cannot do both.

Every hyper-successful person I have met is either great at making money or great at growing money. I have not personally met anyone who is exceptional at both.

So I accepted it. I am good at making money. I am good at building businesses. That is my superpower. Growing money through investments is not my strength. So I stopped trying to be something I am not.

Now when I invest, I only put money into things I understand. Fixed deposits where the return is guaranteed. Digital gold or physical gold because it grows year over year. Mutual funds through proper research or through a portfolio management service. Or through a friend who genuinely understands the stock market. Never randomly. Never based on hype.

My main time and focus goes into what I am best at: building businesses and generating revenue. Everything else I delegate to people who are better at it than me.

You need to figure out your money superpower too. And you cannot just think your way to it. You have to try things. Look at your interest. Look at your results. Because not everyone is built for investing. Not everyone is built for business. You discover it by doing, not by deciding.

Rule 3: Track money like your crush's Instagram

You know how when you have a crush on someone, you check their Instagram every day? You watch their stories, scroll through their highlights, know everything about their life. That is how you need to track your money.

For years, I have checked my bank balance every single day. Especially when I first started making money. I would check it every day thinking: this number needs to grow. It became like a game. Make the number go up.

Today the habit has evolved. Every month I track everything. How much profit did I make? What were my expenses? Where did I invest? How much return came from each investment? Which investment gave the highest percentage return? Which business brought in the most revenue?

If you do not track your money, it will never grow. It is the same principle as tracking your weight. People avoid stepping on the scale because they are scared the number went up. But people who track their weight consistently are the ones who actually control it. Because tracking forces better choices.

Same with money. When you know exactly how much came in, how much went out, where the best returns came from, and which business performed best, you know exactly where to focus your time and effort. And what to drop.

Middle class people avoid tracking money. They think talking about money invites bad luck. They do not check their bank balance until salary day. That is nonsense. Rich people know their numbers like they know their phone number. If you want to be rich, you need to know your numbers. This habit alone has done beautiful things for me.

Rule 4: The 10% rule

Your expenses should be 10% of your income. That means 90% of what you earn either gets saved or invested. Only 10% goes toward living expenses.

Now this can mean two things. Either you destroy your lifestyle and live miserably on almost nothing. Or you increase your income so dramatically that your normal expenses become a tiny fraction of what you earn.

The answer is obviously the second one. If you earn one lakh a month and your expenses are already at a lakh, you cannot cut much more. Rent will go. EMIs will go. Food will go. There is a floor below which expenses cannot drop. But there is no ceiling on income.

My goal has always been: keep my expenses where they are, but make my income at least 10x my expenses. When you hit that ratio, money becomes fun. You invest the surplus. That money grows further. And you have peace of mind because you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

When I started doing this, people around me had opinions. You have money, buy a villa. Why do you not wear Gucci? Why no luxury car? That is all noise. You need to know you are wealthy. You need to feel it. But you do not need to prove it to anyone.

The real purpose of money is freedom. Not showing off. Money is for peace of mind. For choices. For security. Rich people understand this. Money is not for impressing others. Money is for living on your own terms.

Invest in assets, not liabilities. That lakh-rupee t-shirt, that fifty-lakh car, that villa you bought by draining your savings. Those are liabilities. Only buy things you would still want even if nobody ever saw them. If the only reason you want something is so others notice, do not buy it. Apply this mindset and the 10% rule becomes easy to follow. And your wealth grows.

Rule 5: Value over money

My biggest mindset shift was this. I used to think about money in terms of strategies. Which business is better? What pricing works? Which market is hot? All surface-level thinking. And while I was stuck at the surface, I was not making money.

Then I understood the value concept. The richest people in the world became rich because they added the most value to the most people's lives.

Mukesh Ambani is the richest person in India. One of his companies, Jio, basically gave away internet. Before Jio, internet in India was expensive. After Jio, it flows like water. He added so much value to so many lives. That is why he is so rich. Same for Elon Musk. Same for Jeff Bezos. Same for anyone you can think of who built real wealth. They understood that money comes from adding value to people's lives.

When I started implementing this, my money started growing. Whether it was e-commerce where our products added value to customers, or education where our programs changed people's careers, or content creation where videos helped people think differently. It is all about value.

The formula is simple. More value to more people equals more money. Value to fewer people equals less money. No value to anyone equals no money at all.

A doctor adds immense value and earns well. Someone who just files paperwork adds less value and earns less. That is not a judgment. It is a reality of how money works.

The choice

You have two options right now.

Go back to your normal life. Let things stay the way they are. Keep complaining about money. Stay stuck.

Or reprogram your mind. Brainwash yourself about money the way I did. Open your banking app right now. Check your balance. Ask yourself: am I happy with this?

If you are not happy, then stop taking advice from broke people. Stop investing in things you do not understand. Stop buying things to impress others. Start tracking your money. Start saving. And start thinking about how you can add value to people's lives.

Getting rich has nothing to do with your bank balance right now. It has nothing to do with strategy alone. It has everything to do with the thoughts in your head about money.

The question is: are you ready to change how you think about money? Are you ready to brainwash your mind? Because if you are, you will become wealthy. If not, you will stay exactly where you are right now.