Rich people seem to have a few simple habits in common. You can read all about the latest research in Chris Hogan’s Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – and How You Can Too. Until your book arrives, below is a brief description of five simple habits that usually lead to millionaire status.
I have this lasting memory from Financial Peace University of Dave Ramsey saying, “If you wanna be skinny, you gotta do skinny people stuff. We don’t listen to fat people about diet advice.
“So if we wanna be rich, we gotta do rich people stuff. Do not take money advice from your broke brother-in-law.”
Avid Readers
Readers are leaders. Becoming a learning machine virtually guarantees future success. And we’re not talking about formal education here. Did you know billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates read for hours a day every day? They probably don’t know who’s mad at whom on the Real Housewives of New Jersey or who’s remaining on Big Brother. But they do know what’s going on in their financial lives.
Before sinking your butt into the couch for some mindless boob tube, consider reading a good book. Future you will be glad you did. This leads us to…
Delayed Gratification
Millionaires have the ability to say, “Not just yet…” As an educator, I am reminded of the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment. Back in 1970s, Walter Mischel and others conducted experiments with young children about delayed gratification.
Children were told they could eat a treat or wait 15 minutes and get two treats. The result have been replicated many times right up through 2006. One interesting finding was the correlation between higher SAT scores in adolescents for those who had displayed delayed gratification with the treat.
Similarly, rich people opt for the pain of short-term sacrifice rather the pain of long-term money struggles.
Staying Out of Debt
Wealthy people avoid debt like the plague. Even Robert Kiyosaki says not to borrow money to buy doodads in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
People who win the money game save up to pay cash for all sorts of things from Christmas shopping to automobiles. And can you imagine coming home from vacation without credit card debt? It is an amazing feeling to know that the memories and photos won’t come with months and months of high interest credit card payments.
Written Budget
Although many would-be millionaires see the budget as relinquishing their freedom to the spreadsheet, wealthy people have learned that a written budget actually provides the flexibility to do the things they want while allowing them to maintain the things they need.
It is more desirable is to tell money where to go instead of wondering where it went. (If you like to become one of my budgeteers, call/text 570-731-0425 for a free exploratory conversation.)
Generosity and Giving
Most rich people are generous to a fault. They give not only through charitable contributions. They leave generous tips at restaurants. They “roundup for hunger” at the grocery store. You’ll see their names on those MDA shamrocks in your local hardware store. They drop money into the Salvation Army kettle during the holidays. Get the idea?
There is something called the universal Law of Reciprocity. No one knows exactly how it works. It just does. These folks have learned that they can’t grow crops if they have salted the fields. Doing nice things for others starts a chain reaction that always comes full circle.
As always…
As always, thank you for reading. If there are topics you’d like me to write about, reach out to me at questions@marknoldy.com.
As a Ramsey sheep, I remind everyone that winning with money is only about 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. Read Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover as well as Chris Hogan’s Everyday Millionaires.