For ordinary people, being rich is a lifelong dream. They are always curious about how the “superrich” ― wealthy people who possess at least 10 billion won ($9.4 million) in total assets ― made seed money and secondary sources of extra income.

“Small changes in habits make a huge difference,” said Shin Dong-il, a KB Kookmin Bank private banker who authored “Habits of the Superrich,” a Korean-language bestseller among local management and economics books last year.

“First, copy from the essence of the superrich. Then you will find yourself moderately rich in five, 10 years. It took about 15 years on average for my superrich clients to get to where they are now.”

Having served as a private banking expert for the superrich, who make up the upper 0.01 percent of Korea’s wealthy, Shin introduced the four most important and common habits of his superrich clients. First, they are unsurpassable in managing time, money and human networks.

“The superrich divide up time by minutes and the ordinary people by hours. While people think superrich waste money like water, they carry coin pouches and use Kleenex in halves.”

Shin also pointed out that the superrich take time to calculate risks scenarios but are quick to make decisions.

“When they are interested in a piece of real estate, they like to check it out with their own eyes and pay several visits to make sure there are no unexpected risks.

“When they choose to invest in equities, they prefer to trade through phone calls, even though the commission fee costs 10 times more than in online trading,” Shin said.

“For example, ordinary people buy stocks through e-trade by themselves for about 5 million won, but the superrich know that paying about 50 million won for one-to-one trade is worth the cost, because they can get precious investment tips from the brokers while drinking tea or coffee with them.”

Thirdly, Shin emphasized that the superrich tend to carry out good ideas within 24 hours.

“Many ordinary people come up with great, creative business ideas or plans. But these good things slip out of their fingers when they postpone taking action,” he said.

“The superrich always write down what they need to do, and keep going back to those memos.”

Lastly, Shin said the superrich know how to invest in a good business network. “People may think that business networking is expensive, but it really isn’t the case,” he said.

“One of my superrich clients who used to be poor would visit a realtor’s office almost every day and buy them coffee and rice cakes with what little money she earned while working at a hair salon.”

One day, one of the realtors gave her exclusive information about a stunning real estate deal. Since she accumulated knowledge in real estate while hanging out in the realtor’s office, she recognized that the deal was a real steal. She bought the land after some personal inquiries and fierce arguments with her husband, and its value soared exponentially in just a few years.

“It is often your close acquaintances, not your best friends, who make you a life-changing offer when you think you have lost everything,” Shin said.

Time is limited for everyone, even for the superrich, Shin said. He regretted that hardworking Korean employees with a high education and great potential try by all means to ignore “their fate.”

“Even for hired guns of giant conglomerates, it is very likely that they are doomed to retirement in their forties, or even in several years,” he said. “As soon as they retire, they become desperate for the second act of their lives.”

Shin advised that it is best to design one’s own business plans while working for somebody else’s business, where the person cannot only learn specific, on-site business tips and troubleshooting methods but also get to expand their business network.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)