There is only one entitlement we are given in life – time. We are all entitled to the same amount of time every day – 24 hours.

What separates those who achieve and succeed from those who struggle in life is how each group uses those 24 hours. Which group do you fall into?

“Yes” to the following questions means you’re on the path to success in life. “No’s” are the equivalent to a yield sign – they slow you down during your journey:

• Are you reading to learn every day, 30 minutes or more?
• Are you exercising 30 minutes or more every day?
• Are you pursuing at least one big dream every day?
• Are you pursuing goals every day?
• Are you minimizing “Time Wasting Habits” to one hour or less every day? TV, Non-Dream-related Facebook, Twitter, Internet use = a Time Waster.
• Are you getting at least 7 hours of sleep each day? Sleep deprivation impairs the brain, creativity and decision-making.
• Do you get up early every day to pursue your dreams and goals? Make the first three hours of the day your Growth Time. That’s when you pursue your dreams, goals, reading, exercise, etc.
• Are you building strong relationships with other success-minded people every day? One influencer can open up doors that are closed to everyone else. Devote time to building relationships with influencers. They are not only the fast track to success, they also make success possible.
• Do you accomplish 70% or more of your to-dos every day?
• Do you express gratitude every day? Gratitude is the gateway to a positive mental outlook. Most of the millionaires in my Rich Habits Study had a positive mental outlook. Positivity expands your ability to focus. It also increases creativity, enabling you to solve seemingly intractable problems.
• Do you practice good etiquette every day? Poor etiquette can derail relationships with influencers. It can also become a stop sign to opportunities.
• Do you seek feedback every day? Feedback is critical in learning what to do and what not to do. Those who consistently seek feedback are able to pivot, making success possible.

You’ve got 24 hours. How will you invest the next 24 hours? Are you processing success or failure into your life on a daily basis through your habits?

The greatest risk we all take is not how we invest our money. It’s how we invest our time. Make a habit of investing your time wisely.

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While it’s true that 86% of the self-made millionaires in my study either liked or loved what they did for a living, the more interesting statistic is how much of their work they were passionate about.

Surprisingly, this 86% indicated that they were only passionate about 25% of their job. The other 75% of their job, was a grind. But that 25% enabled them to tolerate that 75% of the job they did not like.

When you pursue a dream, passion is almost always the thing that spurs you into action. What keeps you going, however, are habits.

Habits put you on autopilot in the pursuit of success and this is critical because the pursuit is always a grind. That small, fractional 25% of passion keeps you motivated long enough in order for you to create the habits that will take you the rest of the way along your journey.

This is an important statistic because it shines a light on just how powerful passion can be.

Having passion for what you do allows you to persist through other aspects of your job that are not that exciting and interesting.

That 25% is a small amount but it’s a small amount that goes a long way.

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One very important by-product of my Rich Habits research has been the effect it has had on my children. As I’ve written many times, when parents forge Rich Habits, those Rich Habits consciously or subconsciously infect your children.

Well, my youngest has taken the Goal-Setting Rich Habit to another level.

My youngest informed me the other day that she is pursuing a specific job-related goal. In an effort to keep her stay focused on the achievement of the goal, she came up with a novel incentive. She is refraining from SnapChat until she reaches her goal.

By depriving herself of SnapChat, something she very much enjoys, she has created a powerful incentive to help her focus on the achievement of her goal.

We don’t truly appreciate what we have until it is taken away.

A Deprivation Incentive involves making a very specific sacrifice until you achieve a very specific goal. The reward for achieving the goal is the reinstatement of the thing you sacrificed.

The deprivation could be SnapChat, food, beer, TV, Facebook, candy, etc.

Deprivation Incentives only work when the thing you’re sacrificing is important to you or something you enjoy doing on a daily basis.

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The circumstances we are born into do not define us. We have the power to script our own lives. But this actually requires a script. You can’t wing it in life, hoping to get lucky.

You need to develop a blueprint of your future life. That blueprint gives you clarity and direction. You feel like you are in control of your destiny when you know where you are going.

• What is the perfect work you would like to do?
• How much money do you want to make?
• What amazing house do you want to live in and where is this house?
• What type of exotic car do you want to drive?
• Where would you like to go on vacation?
• How much do you want to weigh?
• What time do you want to wake up and go to bed?
• What books do you think you need to read?
• What type of successful people would you like to associate with?
• What does your neighborhood look like?
• What amazing dreams are you going to pursue?
• What goals do you have?
• How successful do you desire to be?
• What mad skills do you have in the future?
• What unique, special knowledge will you have?
• How many people have you helped because of your wealth and success?

Develop your blueprint today. When you iron out the details of your life, you remove all of the wrinkles.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Those who accumulate enormous wealth, irrespective of which path to wealth they choose, ALL share one common trait …. persistence. They just don’t quit in pursuing their dreams or their goals.

But persistence is not some genetic lottery win, some superhuman power bestowed upon a blessed minority.

To an independent observer, watching from afar, it appears as if successful, wealthy people are endowed with extraordinary powers of discipline and relentlessness. The word they use to describe those extraordinary powers just happens to be Persistence.

In reality, persistence is a conglomeration of certain habits that puts the pursuit of success on autopilot. The individual possessing these habits, typically would not describe themselves as persistent. They’re just engaging in daily habits. To them, these habits are nothing extraordinary. They are no different than brushing their teeth, combing their hair or taking a shower every morning.

Persistence Habits are the key to success in that they automate persistence. They make you persistent without the sweat.

So, what are these Persistence Habits?

Below are some of those persistence habits I uncovered in my five-year study on the daily habits of the rich:  [Read more…]

Getty Images

Unless you were born into a rich family, building wealth can be very hard — depending on the path you choose.

Many people look at multi-millionaires and desperately want to know: What’s their secret? How did they get there? What does it take?

Those are the things I wanted to know back in 2004, when I began my “Rich Habits” study, in which I spent five years interviewing and researching the daily activities, habits and traits of 233 wealthy individuals. All of them had at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets.

During my research, I found there are four predominant paths toward accumulating wealth. The “Savers-Investors” path is the easiest, while the other three involve much more risk.

1. The Saver-Investors path

Just less than 22% of the millionaires in my study chose to take the Saver-Investors path. Not only is it the easiest way to build wealth, but if you start early, it almost always guarantees a lot of money.

The Saver-Investors in my group reached their first $1 million around their mid-to-late 30s, and accumulated an average net worth of $3.3 million by their mid-50s.

2. The Dreamers path

3. The Company Climbers path

4. The Virtuosos path

Link to Actual Article: There are 4 main paths to becoming a millionaire—and this is the easiest one, says money expert https://cnb.cx/2nOmlpO

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Recent Media Coverage Courtesy Business Insider

7 bad habits that will keep you from getting rich, according to a man who studied over 200 millionaires

Tanza Loudenback

Sep. 27, 2019, 12:10 PM

Some habits inhibit your success. Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

• Thomas C. Corley spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in several books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”
• Corley interviewed 233 Americans with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets — 177 of whom were self-made millionaires— and 128 Americans with $35,000 or less in annual gross income and $5,000 or less in liquid assets.
• Through these interviews, he was able to identify the daily behaviors and habits that contributed to or inhibited a person’s success.
• The habits that worked against building wealth included overspending, engaging in negative self-talk, maintaining toxic relationships, and unhealthy eating and drinking behaviors.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Habits are daily, often unconscious, behaviors that either contribute to or inhibit our success.

Thomas C. Corley, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner, spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in multiple books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”

Corley interviewed 233 people with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets, 177 of whom were self-made. He also interviewed 128 Americans with $35,000 or less in annual gross income and $5,000 or less in liquid assets.

Through these conversations and further analysis, he was able to identify two types of habits: those that helped people build wealth (“ rich habits“), and those that worked against them. The latter habits have the power to cause financial, emotional, and mental destruction in a person’s life, he says. To achieve success, one must identify these habits and replace them.

“Adopting one rich habit has the effect of eliminating many poor habits. That’s why the rich habits are so powerful. Each one you adopt is like a double or triple in baseball,” he writes.

Below are seven habits that won’t lead to wealth, according to Corley.

1. Overspending

You simply can’t get rich spending more money than you make, whether it’s buying a car or house you can barely afford or racking up a credit-card bill.

“Ninety-five percent of the poor in my study did not save and most accumulated debt to subsidize their standard of living,” Corley wrote. True wealth comes from saving and investing a portion of what you earn, no matter the size of your salary.

2. Reading only for entertainment, or not at all

Reading with intention is a top habit of millionaires.

In Corley’s study, 92% of people with minimal assets did not read to learn. “Success requires growth. That growth comes from reading and educating yourself on a daily basis,” he writes.

3. Toxic relationships

It’s hard to sever ties with people who may be holding you back. But if you’re serious about setting yourself up for a rich future, it has to be done, Corley says.

He found that only 4% of the low-income people he studied associated with “success-minded” people.

“You are only going to succeed in life if you surround yourself with the right type of people,” he writes. That is to say, people who are encouraging, positive, curious, and helpful.

4. A single stream of income

Many of us rely on one job to make money, but that’s not how future millionaires operate.

Sixty-five percent of the rich people in Corley’s study had at least three different streams of income set up prior to making their first $1 million. This not only supercharges earning potential, it acts as a safety net against job loss.

“Poor people have one income stream. Their eggs are all in one basket,” Corley writes.

5. Engaging in negative self talk

“I’m not smart or educated enough.” “It’s not my fault.” “Life is a struggle.”

These are examples of negative self-talk, Corley writes. These internal conversations fill us with doubt and act as a directive for our actions.

“When you allow negativity to rule your thoughts, you are programming your brain for failure,” he writes. “You’ll have no chance in life at breaking out of your current financial or life circumstances. These negative thoughts will become beliefs that act like computer programs.” 

6. Having no plan

You don’t need resources beyond your own imagination and determination to make a plan for the future. The plan — what you want to accomplish and where you want to be in 10, 15, or 20 years — is the first step to achieving any type of success, especially financial success.

“Ninety-five percent of the poor in my study had no life plan,” Corley writes. “Without a blueprint, without long-term goals, we are like leaves on a fall day, floating in the air aimlessly.” 

7. An unhealthy lifestyle

Unhealthy lifestyle habits — like excessive drinking, unhealthy eating, and minimal exercise — don’t lead to wealth, according to Corley.

“Poor health habits create detrimental luck,” he writes. “This is a type of luck that is a byproduct of poor habits, poor behavior, and bad decision making.”

Link to actual article: 7 bad habits that will keep you from getting rich, according to a man who studied over 200 millionaires https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-habits-that-wont-make-you-rich?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=twitter via @businessinsider

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Recent Media Coverage Courtesy Business Insider

A man who interviewed 177 self-made millionaires says they all started with the same savings strategy

Tanza Loudenback

9.30.19

Whether you have a goal to reach $1 million or $10 million, you have to start somewhere. visualspace/Getty

• Thomas C. Corley spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in several books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”
• Corley interviewed 233 Americans with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets, 177 of whom were self-made.
• Corley found that in their pre-millionaire years, they started with the same goal: saving 10% to 20% of their income.
• They also used what he calls “the bucket system” to separate their savings into four categories.
• Read more personal finance coverage.

Whether you have a goal to reach $1 million or $10 million, you have to start somewhere.

Thomas C. Corley, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner, spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in multiple books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”

Corley interviewed 233 people with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets, 177 of whom were self-made. Through these interviews and analysis, Corley uncovered dozens of commonalities about rich people and their daily habits to piece together exactly how they got to where they were.

In his book, Corley wrote that 80% of the self-made millionaires he studied didn’t get wealthy until after age 50 — but that almost all of them started the same way.

“The self-made millionaires in my study all set a goal of saving 10 to 20 percent of their income during their pre-millionaire years,” Corley wrote. The average American has a savings rate of about 8%, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

More important, the pre-millionaires were intentional about where they put their savings. Using a strategy Corley calls “the bucket system,” they siphoned their savings into four general categories: retirement savings, specific expenses, unexpected expenses, and cyclical expenses.

Retirement savings includes IRAs, annuities, 401(k)s, and other workplace retirement plans — that is, money invested for growth and to be spent later in life. Future education costs, wedding costs, a home down payment, and other big expected costs are part of the second bucket.

The third bucket is more or less an emergency fund, a separate account with cash to fall back on in the event of sudden job loss or a medical emergency. And the cyclical-expenses bucket contains savings for birthday gifts, holidays, and vacations.

This savings strategy proved crucial for almost half of the millionaires in his study, who he says followed the Saver-Investor Path. They eventually were able to live on 80% or less of their take-home pay, remained consistent and patient, and never flaunted their wealth. Above all, they used time to their advantage.

“Self-made millionaires make a habit of saving,” Corley wrote. “The more you are able to save at an early age, the more wealth you’ll accumulate.”

Link to actual Business Insider Article: A man who interviewed 177 self-made millionaires says they all started with the same savings strategy https://www.businessinsider.com/self-made-millionaires-start-with-same-savings-strategy?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=twitter via @businessinsider

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Recent Media Coverage

• For five years, Thomas Corley studied the daily activities of 233 wealthy people and 128 people living in poverty.
• From his research, he’s pinpointed specific, foundational family habits that tee children up for success as adults.
• For example, parents should encourage reading, model healthy eating, and help their kids pursue passions and interests.
• Limiting screen time and avoiding gambling were also shown to have a positive effect on a person’s future wealth.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

When I travel the country speaking to high school and college students about exactly what they need to do to become financially successful in life, I like to begin my presentation by asking the same three questions: “How many want to be financially successful in life?”

“How many think they will be financially successful in life?”

Almost every time I ask the first two questions, every hand rises in the air. Then I ask the magic third question:

“How many have taken a course in school on how to be financially successful in life?”

Not one hand rises in the air, ever.

Clearly every student wants to be successful and thinks they will be successful, but none have been taught how. Not by their parents, and not by their teachers.

Is it any wonder that most Americans live paycheck to paycheck? That most Americans accumulate more debt than assets? That many Americans lose their homes when they lose their job? Is it any wonder that most Americans cannot afford college for their children and that student loan debt is now the largest type of consumer debt?

Parents who are success mentors to their children teach them specific, beneficial daily habits. If done right, these habits can put their kids on autopilot for financial success as adults.

In my five-year study, I uncovered specific foundational family habits that tee children up for success as adults.

1. They read to learn

Sixty-three percent of self-made millionaires in my study were required by their parents to read books in order to learn. Their parents made them read two or more books every month on topics such as history, biographies of successful people, science, and self-improvement.

2. They avoid gambling

Only six percent of the wealthy in my study played the lottery. According to Yale University researcher Nicolas Christakas, habits spread like a virus within your social network. Children are constantly observing what their parents do; and if the parents gamble, their children will very likely gamble as adults.

3. They experiment with passions

A whopping 82 percent of the self-made millionaires in my study pursued a dream or something they loved. By far, the wealthiest in my study were individuals who pursued a dream or something they were good at and enjoyed doing. On average, these millionaires accumulated $7.4 million in net assets in an average of 12 years. Parents who push their children to experiment with different activities during childhood increase the likelihood that their children will discover an innate talent or something they enjoy doing, which could lead to a lifelong vocation. Consider the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, which institutionalize experimentation through their badge system. This program enables scouts to explore things that interest them so that they can learn valuable marketable skills.

4. They eat healthy food

Just 21% of the wealthy in my study were overweight by 30 pounds or more, while 78 percent of self-made millionaires ate less than 300 junk food calories a day. Children eat what their parents eat; parents can help set the table for a healthy lifestyle, so to speak, by feeding their family nutritious, wholesome food and eschewing junk food as much as possible.

5. They limit screen time

Sixty-three percent of the wealthy in my study spent less than 1 hour per day on recreational internet use. Sixty-seven percent of the wealthy watched less than one hour of TV per day, and only nine percent of the wealthy watched reality TV shows. Other time-wasting habits included using Snapchat, Instagram, and video games. The lesson? To raise kids who turn out wealthier, parents should proactively monitor what their children are doing and become a bulwark against time-wasting, stare-at-a-screen activities like these.

6. They’re involved and supportive

Scott Barbour/Getty

Eighty-three percent of the wealthy in my study attended back to school night for their kids, and 29 percent of the wealthy had one or more children who made the honor roll. When parents are engaged with teachers and the school and when they act as accountability partners with respect to schoolwork, their children take notice of that time investment.

7. They hang onto their money

A good 73 percent of the wealthy in my study forged the habit of spending less than they earned, long before they became wealthy. Not understanding this critical smart money habit at an early age is why so many fall into the credit debt trap as young adults.

8. They choose friends wisely

Nearly 80% of the wealthy people in my study devoted time to building relationships with other like-minded, upbeat, optimistic, people. How well do you know the friends of your children? Do they possess the positive success traits you are trying to instill in your children? Are they like-minded in the habits you want to instill in your children?

9. They strive for a good work ethic

A whopping 92% of the wealthy in my study said they created their own good luck through hard work, persistence, daily practice, determination, and goal achievement. Are your children learning what it takes to have a good work ethic? Are your older kids required to have part-time jobs? Part-time work can strengthen their sense of what hard work and dedication look like — and can lead them to a brighter future.

10. They got exercise

Exercise matters: 95% of self-made millionaires in my study exercised aerobically 30 minutes or more per day, four days a week. Studies have shown that daily aerobic exercise improves brain health, brain efficiency, and IQ. Children mimic the habits of their parents. Do you, as a parent, exercise daily? Do you encourage your children to exercise daily?

11. They have good mentors

Many of the self-made millionaires in my study had some success mentor in life. Success mentors put you on the fast track for success by teaching you through example you what to do and what not to do in order to succeed in life. Typically, these mentors of my millionaires were one of their parents or a mentor who took an interest in them at work. Are your children part of any mentoring organizations within your community? You can find good mentors for your kids through the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Big Brothers associations, and other similar organizations.

Link to actual article: People always ask me how much money it takes to be wealthy, and after studying millionaires for 5 years I know what to tell them https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-it-takes-to-be-wealthy-2019-8?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=twitter via @businessinsider

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There are four ways, or paths, to building wealth. One such path is the Saver-Investor Path.

The Saver-Investor Path is, in a real sense, the easy or guaranteed path to building wealth ( Easy Wealth – http://richhabits.net/easy-wealth/).

You don’t need mad skills, advanced degrees or knowledge, powerful relationships with influencers, big company careers or a hard core, high risk entrepreneurial bent.

It’s a path that almost anyone can follow.

But, it does require sacrifice for those who make an average wage and have children to raise. If that’s you, the solution to saving as much as you can is to spend money as if you were unemployed.

When you are unemployed, your value and perception of money changes immediately. Buying a cup of coffee, paying to rent a movie or even wanting to meet a few friends at a pub forces you to evaluate that spending decision – “Is this something I want to spend my money on right now?”

Your spending mindset, when you are unemployed, forces you to be perpetually aware of how you spend your money. This spending self-awareness then becomes the antidote to anything and everything that acts as a spending trigger.

Instead of sending your clothes to the dry-cleaner, you learn how to iron.

Instead of buying your lunch, you brown bag it.

Instead of going to a bar for a drink, you have your cocktails at home or BYOB it to a friend’s house.

Spending money as if you were unemployed allows you to save and then invest those savings, enabling you to grow your wealth.

But the Saver-Investor Path is not for everyone. Not everyone is willing to make the spending sacrifices, often required of a Saver-Investor. And if you’re struggling with poverty, it’s very hard, if not impossible, to be save.

For those who make a middle-class wage, the Saver-Investor Path is within reach.

If you’re not sure you have the discipline it takes to make the commitment to spend like you’re unemployed, then try picking one month out of the year, say January, and experimenting with the Saver-Investor Path. Or, if a month is just too long, then pick one day out of the week, say Monday, and pretend you’re unemployed every Monday. Everyone hates Mondays anyway.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!