Jean Paul Getty was a cheapskate. That’s the first thing people usually bring up. They talk about the payphone he installed at Sutton Place for his guests so they wouldn't run up his phone bill. Or they mention how he haggled over the ransom for his kidnapped grandson.
But if you look past the headlines of a man who was once the wealthiest private citizen on Earth, you find a weirdly practical handbook. In 1965, he released a book called How to Be Rich. Note the title. It isn't How to Get Rich.
Getty believed being rich was a state of mind before it was a bank balance. He hated the "homogenized man" who just followed trends. To him, wealth was about non-conformity.
The Millionaire Mentality is basically just discipline
Most people think becoming a millionaire involves a lucky break or a "system" you buy for $997 from an Instagram guru. Getty thought that was nonsense. He argued that the "millionaire mentality" is mostly just a relentless focus on the bottom line.
He didn't believe in "passive income" in the way we talk about it now. He was a "working businessman." Even when he was worth billions, he was looking at the price of oil rigs and the efficiency of his refineries.
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- Own your business. Getty was blunt: you will almost never get truly rich working for someone else. You need equity.
- Know your craft. He didn't just invest in oil; he studied geology. He acted as his own lawyer and drilling superintendent in the early days.
- Cost cutting isn't just for losers. He preached that you should be economical when times are good so you have the "mental elbow room" to survive when they’re bad.
Honestly, his advice on frugality is what stays with people. He famously said, "Make your money first, then think about spending it." It sounds simple, but look at how many people buy a luxury car the second they get a $5,000 bonus. Getty would have called that a "business blunder."
Why dissent matters more than you think
One of the best chapters in How to Be Rich is about the value of dissent. Getty didn't want "yes men." He wanted people who would argue with him if they had the facts to back it up.
He lived through the Great Depression. While everyone else was panicking and selling their stocks, Getty was buying. He bought the Pierre Hotel in New York for about $2.35 million in 1930—it had cost $6 million to build just a few years earlier.
That's the core of his investment strategy: buy when others are selling. It takes a certain kind of stubbornness to do that. You have to be okay with being the "crazy" person in the room for a few years while you wait for the market to catch up to reality.
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The rule of "One to Many"
Getty understood leverage. He didn't use that word exactly, but he focused on high-volume businesses. He liked oil because once the infrastructure is there, you can sell to millions.
If you’re selling your time, you're capped. If you're selling a product that can be scaled—like oil, or in today's world, software—you have a "one to many" model. This is the only way to build massive wealth without burning out.
Managing people without being a jerk
For a guy who was notoriously cold in his personal life, Getty had surprisingly humane advice for managers. He believed you should praise in public and criticize in private.
He also thought a boss should never ask an employee to do something they wouldn't do themselves. He’d spent years in the oil fields getting his hands dirty. When he gave an order, the "riggers" knew he actually understood the work.
He also had a weirdly progressive view on labor unions for a 1960s billionaire. He didn't see them as the enemy. He saw them as a partner. His logic? If workers are paid well, they can buy more products. Higher wages lead to a stronger economy, which leads to more profit for the business owner. It’s all connected.
The Art of Investment (and why he liked Art)
Getty was a massive art collector. But he didn't just buy it because it looked pretty. He saw art as a "hedge."
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- Objective Value: He only bought things he thought were undervalued or had historical significance.
- Long-term Holding: He didn't flip paintings. He held them for decades.
- Taxes: He utilized trusts (like the Sarah C. Getty Trust) to protect his wealth from being eaten away by taxes and "frivolous" spending by his heirs.
He warned against "get-rich-quick" schemes. To Getty, if it sounds too easy, it probably is. True investing requires research, judgment, and a lot of waiting.
Actionable Steps: How to apply Getty today
You don't need to start an oil company to use these principles. The world has changed, but the math of wealth hasn't.
Start your own thing. Even if it's a side hustle, you need something where you own the upside. A salary is a floor, but it’s also a ceiling.
Audit your spending. Are you buying things to look rich or to be rich? Getty lived in hotels because they had better switchboards for his business, not just to show off. Every dollar you spend on a status symbol is a dollar that isn't compounding.
Study your industry. Don't just be a "manager." Be a practitioner. If you're in tech, understand the code. If you're in real estate, understand the plumbing. Expertise is your best protection against being scammed.
Master the "Counter-Cyclical" mindset. When everyone is talking about how great an investment is, it’s probably too late. When everyone is terrified, that’s when you look for the "Pierre Hotel" of your niche.
Prioritize Volume. Look for ways to decouple your income from your hours. Whether that's through hiring, automation, or creating digital assets, you need a system that works while you're asleep.
Getty's life was complicated. He had five divorces and a lot of family trauma. Wealth didn't make him "happy" in the way most people dream of. But as a manual for accumulating and keeping capital, How to Be Rich is still one of the most honest books ever written on the subject.