Have a master plan.

Successful moneymakers may not have every detail of their future mapped out, but they do have some sense in their minds of the steps they’re going to take in life. Somewhere, they’re programming.

Here’s an example: Scientists surveyed the Yale class of 1953, and found that 3 percent had written down financial goals for their futures at their college graduation. When the group reconvened in 1973, this 3 percent of the class that had started their careers with some kind of plan controlled more combined net worth than the other 97 percent combined.