The trick, of course, is to become one of those people.

?Yeah,? you might say. ?That guy was just lucky. What are the chances of that happening to me?? Well, absolutely zero if you don't do anything about your dreams to build wealth. If you walk around thinking that you have only a snowball's chance of hitting ?the big one? in the financial game, then you are right. That's because you are depending on chance.

Becoming wealthy is not about chance. Oh the guy you just read about may indeed have been lucky?but he was not ?just lucky.? Because fortune favors the prepared mind, you have to lay the groundwork in order to take advantage of opportunity when it arises. You have to be able to not only recognize those opportunities, but to actually have the resources to take advantage of them.

Laying the groundwork involves having a plan for your financial future. What is your plan for building wealth?

If, like most Americans, you don't have one then, like most Americans, you will retain the status quo. But if you recognize that you, and only you, are in charge of your destiny, that is an entirely different matter.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad series of books, you have to get a grip on your financial philosophy. You don't have a financial philosophy, you say? Sure you do, even if you don't realize it.

In his book ?Cash Flow Quadrant,? Kiyosaki outlines the four philosophies as they were outlined for him by the man he calls his ?rich dad.? You can recognize your own philosophy by noticing how you tend to make your money. On the left side of the quadrant, are the E's and the S's'the Employees and the Self-employed. The philosopy of the E is based around security while the philosophy of the S is based around doing his own thing. While there is nothing wrong about either philosophy, neither is likely to help you build much wealth.

On the right side of Kiyosaki's quadrant, are the B's and the I's'the Business owners and the Investors. The difference between a B and an S, Kiyosaki says, is that the B has built a system which he can rig to run itself, freeing him for other financial or personal pursuits. An S simply ?owns a job,? as Kiyosaki says, and is such an integral part of the operation that he is essentially a prisoner of it. The company he has created is his ?baby.? But we all know how demanding babies are, and if a business never matures into an adult that can survive without your mothering, it will eat most of your time.

The trick, then, is not to build a better product. It's to build a product better?more efficiently with regard to your own resources. Build a system, not a job. Then you will have the money that will take care of your personal needs and allow you to invest.

If you already have loads of money to work with, then you can go ahead and jump right to the I quadrant?after investing in your own education and learning how it works. Investing is risky if you jump in blind, but if you know what you're doing, it is a whole different matter.

So lay the foundation with education and then build your wealth as though you were constructing a structure. Don't skimp on materials, but instead do it methodically. Eventually you will find yourself staring at an impressive building that will help you weather any storm.