The self-made rich are rich for a reason. They accumulate wealth and then they keep the wealth they accumulate.
Keeping your hard-earned wealth requires that you adopt certain Rich Habits that make it impossible for your to part with your money. Below are five bad spending habits the rich do not have:
- Emotional Purchases – You see that amazing red dress, or that Movado watch, or that cute sports car and next thing you know you’re whipping out your debit/credit card. That’s called an Emotional Purchase, one driven by your reptilian brain and not your thinking brain. The rich make a habit of controlling their emotions and this is where that Rich Habit pays off big time.
- Spontaneous Purchases – This is a close cousin to Emotional Purchases. Retailers are tuned into this Poor Habit. That is why they place so many items at the checkout counters. They know that most people, while waiting to check out, will make a Spontaneous Purchase or two.
- Want Spending – Buying what you want, when you want it, even if it means going into debt, is a Poor Habit the rich avoid. Want Spending is driven by instant gratification, something that has been hardwired into us through: the constant bombardment by advertisers and easy credit.
- Cheap vs. Frugal Spending – The rich in my study were not cheap. They were frugal. Cheap spenders seek the lowest price first. Quality is a secondary consideration. Frugal spenders seek the highest quality first and then they diligently search for the lowest price.
- Gambling – Gambling is high risk speculation. The rich do not speculate. 94% of the rich in my study did not gamble, while 77% of the poor admitted to gambling every week.
Signed up for these tips recently — glad I did. Reminds me to stay on the straight and narrow. Thanks!
Dave
Boston, MA