In my Rich Habits Study, I tracked over 300 activities/habits that separated the rich from the poor.
Individually, most Poor Habits do not have a significant impact on your financial circumstance. However, some Poor Habits do have a more profound impact on your life. Below are a few of the most destructive Poor Habits:
- Poor people like to gamble: 77% of the poor admitted to playing the lottery regularly vs. 6% of the rich. 57% of the poor admitted to betting on sports weekly vs. 16% for the rich. Gambling is a tax on the poor. There’s a reason the poor gamble – random luck. Gambling levels the playing field, in the mind of the poor. The odds of winning are the same, whether you are rich or poor.
- The rich do a better job keeping the pounds off: 21% of the wealthy admitted to being overweight by 30 pounds or more vs. 66% of the poor. But there’s more to this story… 97% of the poor ate more than 300 junk food calories a day while 70% of the rich ate less than 300 junk food calories a day. You can’t make money sitting in a hospital bed. If you neglect your health, eventually your rain barrel will overflow. That overflow results in cancer, heart disease, Type II Diabetes and other diseases.
- Poor people love watching T.V.: 77% admitted to watching more than 1 hour of TV a day vs. only 23% for the rich. And their favorite TV shows? Reality TV 78% of the poor who watch more than an hour of T.V. each day are watching reality TV. Watching TV is a time-wasting or Do-Nothing Poor Habit. If you were to just reduce your TV watching by 30 minutes a day and re-deploy that time by reading to learn, exercising, or pursuing some goal or a dream, the cumulative beneficial effect could be the thing that lifts you out of poverty or poor health.
- It seems the poor cannot control their negative emotions: 43% of the poor admitted to losing their temper at least once in the past month vs. 19% of the wealthy. Those who do not make a habit of controlling negative emotions are unable to build strong, powerful, life-long relationships with others. One outburst can destroy a long-term relationship in a matter of minutes.
- Poor people like to gossip: 79% of the poor admit to gossiping while only 6% of the rich have this Poverty Habit. Gossiping almost always involves negative criticism of others. Gossiping damages relationships because people will not trust you once they find out you are a gossiper. Those you gossip about eventually figure out who is doing the gossiping. Gossip destroys relationships.
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About Thomas C. Corley
Hello Thomas, thank you for writing the book, I have listened to it several times. See I ride motorcycles to and from work and listen to audiobooks along the way. I also make many long trips, (see IronButt on the internet) and I love to listen then as well. I keep going over yours and have also shared it with my son. But I wanted to share one thing that I have learned living here in Silicon Valley among rich people. The number one thing I see that separates me from them is education on basic life money instructions. I grew up sorta poor in the military. And we never really had a lot of money. I learned to work at 13 and get what I wanted. However, I never learned how to keep that money. We REALLY need to find a way to teach high school kids the basics of finances. Not just how to save money but why and were. I’m 56, I’ve been a millionaire and lost it all, Working on my second try. Anyway, rich habits have helped. But I wish I had had this info 40 years ago…