It’s the question that you’ve probably asked yourself at least once.

If not a thousand times.

As you go through life, you want to know the answer to that one pressing question.

Are you destined to be a success . . .

. . . or a failure?

There are many factors that can influence the outcome.

Time.

Opportunity.

Effort.

Education.

Even luck.

And while every successful person will be unique in their own way . . .

. . . there is one trait that all successful people share.

Charles F. Haanel learned it from James J. Hill, a very wealthy and famous industrialist who built a massive empire from meager beginnings.

From Master Key Arcana:

If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or failure in life, you can easily find out. The test is simple and it is infallible: Are you able to save money? If not, drop out. You will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as you live. The seed of success is not in you.

Mr. Haanel continued:

This is very good so far as it goes, but anyone who knows the biography of James J. Hill knows that he acquired his fifty-two million dollars by following the exact methods we have given. In the first place, he started with nothing. He had to use his imagination to idealize the vast railroad that he projected across the western prairies. He then had to come into a recognition of the law of abundance in order to provide the ways and means for materializing it. Unless he had followed out this program, he would never had anything to save.

Every person whom I know who is wealthy says the same thing.

And you probably hear it echoed in many different ways.

And it all comes down to how you treat money.

Does it slip through your fingers?

Do you spend it frivolously?

Or . . .

Do you respect money?

Can you heel your spending impulses?

However you answered those questions, know this . . .

If you follow just a few simple principles . . .

. . . principles so simple that they’re commonplace . . .

. . . then there is no doubt that you can be on the way to achieving wealth . . .

. . . perhaps even great wealth.

Because the principles are the same.

Everywhere.

Every time.

First . . .

Spend less than you earn.

Second . . .

Save 10% of your income because ten percent of whatever you earn is yours to keep (and then invest).

Third . . .

Stay out of frivolous debt.

Fourth . . .

Pay off bad debt as quickly as possible.

Fifth . . .

When you accumulate some money, invest it wisely.

Sixth . . .

Find the best deal when purchasing anything.

Seventh . . .

Don’t be afraid to question a bill. (If you believe a bill is in error — even for the smallest amount — stand your ground and fight for what is yours.)

Eighth . . .

When investing, don’t follow fads or get-rich-quick schemes; follow the tried and true investment techniques that have been producing millionaires for generations. (You can find these techniques online or in many great books.)

Ninth . . .

Live modestly and enjoy richly.

And finally . . .

Only buy what adds to your power and bottom line. (Remember what Mr. Haanel wrote in Week Ten of The Master Key System: “All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value only as they confer power; events are significant only as they affect power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.”)

Accumulating wealth is one of the biggest reasons people read The Master Key System because they know that using these techniques will help them become wealthy.

In other words . . .

. . . it works.

Will great riches happen overnight?

No.

And that’s because it takes time to get the proverbial ball rolling.

But once it gets going . . .

Watch out!

So, worry not. Always remember that it’s a race of endurance, not speed.

Benjamin Franklin said that a penny saved is a penny earned.

Now you know that it’s more than that.

It’s a penny . . .

. . . plus interest . . .

. . . plus whatever returns you receive from investing it . . .

. . . and then some.

And now you also know that . . .

. . . you are destined to be . . .

. . . a wonderful success.

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You get HUGE returns when you read great books because you’re investing in yourself.