Tom Corley here, author of the Bestselling book Rich Habits (www.richhabits.net). The holidays are right around the corner. To most of us holiday come at a cost. We spend more money on things like gifts, dining, electricity etc. Successful, wealthy individuals are very careful with their spending during the holidays. They have certain Rich Habits that they follow to make sure they are not reckless with their spending during the holidays. If you would like a stress-free holiday this year take advantage of some of the following Rich Habits Money Savings Strategies:

Stick to a Budget

Set a maximum amount you will spend on gifts this holiday season. Even better, make a list of everyone who will be getting a gift and then budget how much you will spend for each person. This ensures you do not go over your budget. As a rule of thumb you should limit your holiday gift spending to 1.5% of your income. To find unique gift ideas within your budget visit sites like Gifts.com and select “Finder”. These sites give you great gift ideas that are within your budget.

Use Credit Card Reward Dollars

Many credit cards have attached to them Rewards Programs. Typically, these Rewards Programs generate Reward Dollars that you can use at participating vendors. For example, the American Express Reward Program gives you about .88% back on every dollar you spend using an American Express credit card. One of the participating vendors with American Express is Barnes and Nobles. 50,000 American Express Rewards Dollars translates into $500 in Barnes and Noble gift cards. You can buy 25 $25 Barnes and Noble gift cards and give them out as gifts during the holiday season and it will cost you nothing.

Send e-Cards

Want to save on the cost of buying holiday cards and postage? Then send out a holiday e-Card this year. There are numerous websites that offer free cards such as EGreetings.com

Unplug Holiday Lights After 10pm

Most everyone is asleep or in bed by 10pm so it makes no sense to keep your holiday lights on after this hour. This cuts down on the electricity costs for the holidays.

Interest-Free Financing

Sears, Home Depot, Lowes and many other retailers offer up to 24 months of interest free financing if you become a credit card customer. You must ensure that you pay off the interest free purchase within the free interest period and you must make your monthly payments on time. If you don’t you risk being back charged for ALL the interest you were saving on the purchase.

Dine at BYOB Restaurants

BYOB is an acronym for “Bring Your Own Booze”. Having your holiday meals at BYOB restaurants can save you and your family hundreds of dollars in liquor dining costs during this holiday season. You not only save up to 50% on the lower cost of the liquor but you also save on sales taxes and the gratuity. It’s a triple savings.

Holiday Parties

Transform this year’s holiday party into a culinary surprise holiday party. Ask each one of your guests to bring a special dish for the evening. You can even give out Awards such as a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card for the best dish. This will save you money on your party and add an element of fun and excitement.

Online Comparison Shopping

Thanks to the Internet you now have the ability to comparison shop without ever having to leave your home or office computer. Sites like PricegGrabber.com pr PriceBlink.com will scour the Internet online retail sites for the lowest price for your gift.

Re-Gift

I know it sounds tacky but just because you didn’t use or value a gift you received last year doesn’t mean someone else will too. After all it’s the thought that counts. Re-gifting is an obvious money savings strategy. If you feel embarrassed about re-gifting don’t. According to MSNmoney.com 68% engage in re-gifting. You’re not alone. For all you know the gift you are re-gifting may have been a re-gift of its own!

Understanding the Importance of Beliefs

Our subconscious makes up 5/6ths of our brain. The subconscious controls our breathing, heart, blood flow, metabolism and every bodily function without any conscious direction on our part. It is the seat of our emotions and memory. The subconscious never sleeps. It is an awesome machine, working tirelessly day in and day out. Our subconscious is incredibly sophisticated. Yet there is so much we don’t know about its capabilities. The few who are able to utilize more of their subconscious than the rest of us go on to achieve greatness, amass incredible wealth and change their lives and our lives forever. Think Einstein, Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, J.K. Rowling, Mozart and DNA double helix discoverer James Watson, to name but a few. Each asserted that many of their ideas came from dreams, intuition or from unknown places. The subconscious speaks to us in dreams, intuition or flashes of insight that seemingly come out of the thin air. For those who are able to tap into the subconscious mind, success is virtually guaranteed.

Our subconscious responds to our beliefs. Like software code, our beliefs direct our subconscious to manifest that which we think about and believe in. If we believe, without any doubts, that we are going to become wealthy and successful in life, our subconscious makes it happen.

How? There is something in our brain called the Reticular Activating System. This RAS resides in our subconscious. It acts as a a data filter. Our brain is constantly bombarded with millions of bits of information coming in from our senses. The RAS filters this data, eliminating most of it, and allowing in only that data the subconscious has been programmed to allow in. Some of this programming is old programming, hardwired into our brains through millions of years of evolution, and some of it is new programming, hardwired into our brains by our parents, environment and our self-talk.

What the Wealthy and Poor Believe
From the research data I accumulated over the past 9 years, it is clear that the wealthy and the poor have very different beliefs and that these beliefs are a major contributing factor in their wealth or poverty. Let’s look at the data:

What the poor believe:

• 87% of poor people believe you must be intellectually gifted in order to become wealthy
• 90% of poor people believe fate determines your wealth or poverty in life
• Only 13% of poor people believed they would be successful in life
• Only 11% of the poor believe creativity is critical to financial success
• 80% of the poor believe genes are critical to success
• 82% of the poor believe they are not responsible for their poverty
• 77% of the poor believe  lying is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth
• 90% of the poor believe rich people are rich because their parents were rich and they inherited money
• Only 22% of poor people believe optimism is important to success
• Only 5% of poor people believe rich people are good, hardworking and honest
• 52% of poor people believe wealth is accidental; a function of random luck

Now let’s look at what the rich believe:

• Only 10% of rich people believe you must be intellectually gifted in order to become wealthy
• Only 10% of rich people believe fate determines your wealth or poverty in life
• 43% of rich people believed they would be successful in life
• 75% of the rich believe creativity is critical to financial success
• Only 6% of the rich believe genes are critical to success
• 79% of the rich believe they are the cause of their financial condition
• Only 15% of the rich believe lying is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth
• Only 5% of the rich believe people are rich because their parents were rich and they inherited money
• 54% of rich people believe optimism is important to success
• 78% of rich people believe that rich people are good, hardworking and honest
• Only 4% of rich people believe wealth is accidental; a function of random luck

If you want to become wealthy you need to change your beliefs. Most of these beliefs were handed down to you by your parents, your environment or through your own doing. If you want to change your beliefs you need to reprogram you subconscious. There are two ways to reprogram your subconscious:

1. Daily Affirmations – Repeating certain daily affirmations three times a day will begin to reprogram your subconscious in as little as 30 days. The affirmations need to be in the present tense, such as “I am” and represent the future you or future state, such as “a smart person”. Adding emotional words to the affirmations is also important. Example: “I am so happy to be a smart person”.
2. Visualizations – Our subconscious thinks in pictures. It converts all data into pictures. Words, sounds, smells, life experiences are all reduced to pictures and stored in to memory by the subconscious. If you want to reprogram the subconscious quickly you need to speak it’s language. Create visuals around your new daily affirmations and review these pictures three times a day.

Based on a recent Rich Habits Institute study, 62% of children raised in a wealthy household were above average students. Compare this to poorer households, where only 26% had above average students. It gets even worse. Sadly, 74% of children raised in a poor household had grades below a B and 34% had grades below a C.

Why? Wealthy, successful parents teach their children certain success habits that give their children an edge in life. These Rich Habits, which give them this edge in life, begins to manifest itself in the classroom and continues into the workplace, where such children become working adults who receive higher pay, bigger raises and larger bonuses during their working career. As a consequence, they accumulate more wealth in life. Children of wealthy, successful parents pass along these Rich Habits to their own children. And so, the rich get richer.

Poor children never get the education in these Rich Habits at home and, in fact, learn specific habits that hold them back in life. The Poverty Habits they learn from their parents puts them behind the eight ball and this begins to manifest itself in the classroom and then continues into the workplace, where such children become working adults who receive lower pay, smaller wage increases and few, if any, bonuses. They eke out a living, living paycheck to paycheck, and accumulate more debt than wealth during their lives. Children born into poor households pass along to their own children these Poverty Habits. And so, the poor get poorer.

Politicians, pandering for votes from the poor and middle class, rail against the wealthy and this growing wealth gap without actually understanding the root cause. Instead of focusing their blame on poor parents for teaching Poverty Habits to their children, they shift the focus to income redistribution or increased spending as a solution. Because they are not offering the correct solution, despite all their legislative efforts, the wealth gap continues to grow and the poverty rate never goes down.

What is the solution to the wealth gap and income inequality?

Children living in poor or middle class households must learn the Rich Habits. These Rich Habits will help them get ahead in life. They must also learn about Poverty Habits. Poverty Habits hold them back in life, keeping them poor. Ideally this education should be the responsibility of parents, but in the absence of home mentoring, the education system must step in. Learning what to do and what not to do is the solution to income inequality and the wealth gap. Think of life as a seesaw. On one side of the seesaw are Rich Habits and on the other side are Poverty Habits. If you have more Rich Habits than Poverty Habits your seesaw tips in the direction of wealth. Conversely, more Poverty Habits tip the seesaw in the direction of poverty.

So what should poor parents be teaching their kids?

• Reading for self-improvement 30 minutes each day
• Exercising aerobically 30 minutes each day
• Saving 20% or more of all monetary gifts or income received
• Limiting junk food calories to 300 per day. Eating junk food is a poverty habit
• Goal education – Setting and pursuing goals and understanding that a wish is not a goal. A goal is only a goal when it has 100% achievability and some physical action
• Limiting T.V. and Internet use to 1 hour per day. T.V. and recreational Internet use are Poverty Habits
• Volunteering 10 hours or more a month
• Working 10 hours or more a month
• Never gossip. Gossiping is a Poverty Habit
• Calling people on their birthday
• Calling people for life events(births, weddings, death in family etc.)
• Never losing your temper. Anger is a Poverty Habit
• Sending thank you cards
• Not allowing every thought that enters your head to come out of your mouth. Saying what’s on your mind all the time is a Poverty Habit.
• Thinking positive thoughts and avoiding all negative thoughts
• Believing that you can be whatever you want to be and have whatever you want to have in life
• Being grateful. Never envy. Envy is a Poverty Habit. We need to teach children to give thanks to at least one thing in their lives every day

In the study 93% of the wealthy who had mentors in life attributed the accumulation of their wealth to one or more mentors. Parents are the best shot any of us have at having a mentor in life. If we want our children to grow up to become successful in life, it starts with parents teaching the Rich Habits. Where parents fail to teach these Rich Habits, schools must step in as surrogate mentors. Success is a process. Failure is a process. Which process our children follow is the responsibility of parents or our education system and will dictate the direction in which their seesaw of life will tip.

You’ve no doubt heard the saying “money doesn’t buy happiness”. It’s very likely you heard it from your parents. Even more likely, the person who shared that message with you was probably poor or struggling financially in life. The problem with that message is it’s not true. Let’s look at the latest research data:

• 82% of the wealthy are happy. 98% of the poor are unhappy
• 87% of the wealthy are happy in their marriage. 53% of the poor are unhappy
• 92% of the wealthy are happy because they are healthy. 22% of the poor are unhappy because of health issues
• 95% of the wealthy are happy because their children are doing well in life. 24% of the poor are unhappy because their children are not doing well in life
• 94% of the wealthy are happy because they like what they do for a living. 85% of the poor are unhappy because they do not like what they do for a living
• 0% of the wealthy are unhappy due to finances vs. 98% for the poor

When you study these statistics you realize wealth affects so many aspects of your life. It creates unhappiness overall, unhappiness in your marriage, causes health issues and affects your children. Looking at the flip side of this, wealth creates an overall sense of happiness. 87% of the wealthy are happy in their marriages. Wealthy people are also clearly healthier and thus happier. Their children are doing well in life and that makes them happy.

So when someone says “money does not buy happiness”, they’re wrong. Your level of wealth determines your level of happiness. Wealth and poverty have a domino affect on all aspects of your life. If you improve your financial condition in life you increase happiness in all aspects of your life.

Let’s take a look at just one of those domino affects caused by poverty – poverty causes marital problems.  Various studies identify money problems as the leading cause of divorce in our country.  Researchers at Kansas State University surveyed 4,500 couples. They found fights about money are the biggest contributors to divorce. The Huffington Post even ran a piece on the correlation between poverty and divorce not too long ago. When it comes to marriage, money does buy marital bliss.

If you want to end your unhappiness in life you have to end your poverty. In my research I identified three strategies the wealthy used to accumulate their wealth:

1. Live Below Your Means – In my research 94% of the wealthy stated they were wealthy because one of the Rich Habits they learned from their parents was the 80:20 Rule. They were taught to set aside 20% of their net pay which forces them to live off the remaining 80%.
2. Expand Your Means – Jay Leno famously said that he always had two jobs in life. He spent the earnings from the first job and saved the earnings from the second job. Expanding your means can be accomplished by taking on a second job, starting a side business, creating something that has value to others, taking risk to start or grow your business or taking risk and investing your savings in some way. I have many wealthy clients who started out with one rental property and expanded to many rental properties during their lifetime.
3. Do Both – Living below your means and expanding your means is what the wealthiest of the wealthy do.

This is a letter I decided to write and give to my three children who are going to be graduating college soon or have recently graduated.

Dear Kids:

You have all grown up so fast. I’m struggling with the fact that in a few short years you will all be out of the house and on your own. You will learn that life has its ups and downs. The ups will make you happy and the downs, unhappy. Some things that create these ups and downs are outside your control but, thankfully, most things are within your control. I’ve often told you that how you live your life determines your success and happiness. You’ve heard me say many times that your daily habits are the key to a great life.  If you have more good daily habits than you have bad daily habits life will be good, you’ll be successful and you won’t have to worry about money.  I think you all got that message. But there’s one more message I want to share with all of you before you set out on your own. It has to do with finding your main purpose in life and happiness. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that when any one of you are unhappy your Mom and I are also unhappy. So I am being selfish here. I want all of you to be happy so your Mom and I can be happy as well.

Happiness is elusive to so many. Most people are, in fact, unhappy.  Henry David Thoreau said it best when he wrote: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation…”. Most people who are unhappy are unhappy because they are struggling financially. They are struggling financially because either they are living beyond their means or their job simply does not provide them with a sufficient income. Odds are, when you are not making a sufficient income at your job, it is because you are doing something you do not particularly like. When you can earn a sufficient income doing something you enjoy you have found your main purpose in life and you will be happy. But how do you find your main purpose in life? Believe it or not finding your main purpose in life is within your control. Here’s the process:

1. Make a list of everything you can ever remember that made you happy in life. Hopefully, this will be a long list.
2. Now highlight those items on your list which involve a skill.
3. Assign a job-type designation to each of the highlighted items.
4. Next rank each of the highlighted items in terms of happiness with #1 being the greatest happiness and #2 the next greatest happiness and so on.
5. Now rank each of the highlighted items in terms of income potential with #1 being the highest income and #2 being the next highest and so on.
6. Total the two columns. The lowest scores represent your main purpose in life.

Here is an example:

This is a guide for selecting that job which will give you the greatest chance for happiness. Pilot each job for six months. You will know that you found your main purpose in life when your job does not feel like a job at all. You will know when time flies by and before you know it the day is over. You will know when you keep making more and more money at your job. You will know when you are happy.

I love you very much,

Dad

In my five year study on the daily habits of the rich and the poor I tracked over 300 activities that separate these two groups. When it comes to planning their day and getting things accomplished, the wealthy and the poor see and do things very differently.

Let’s take a look at the research:

• 62% of the wealthy are focused on their goals every day vs. 6% for the poor
• 67% of the wealthy put their goals in writing. 83% of the poor do not
• 73% of the wealthy plan out their day vs. 3% for the poor
• 81% of the wealthy, who do plan their day, maintain a daily to do list. Less than 1% of the poor use a daily to do list

The daily to do list is one of the tools the wealthy use to prevent procrastination, accomplish their goals and maintain control over their day. They set a daily goal of accomplishing 70-80% of the tasks on their daily to do list. Why? There are three reasons:

1. The wealthy understand that, at the very least, procrastination can result in poor quality products or services leading to unhappy customers/clients, causing a loss of those unhappy customers/clients or. At the very worst, procrastination can result in litigation, from customers/clients who were damaged in some way by those poor quality products or services.  Procrastination can cause a loss of income. Wealthy people understand that you cannot become wealthy if you procrastinate.
2. To do lists help the wealthy accomplish their short-term and long-term goals.
3. To do lists give the wealthy control over their day and their lives.

There are two types of daily to dos:

1. Goal To Dos – These are daily tasks tied to monthly, yearly and long-term goals. These are almost always fixed in nature, meaning the same to dos show up every day on the to do list. For example: “Make Ten Telemarketing Phone Calls”.
2. Non-Goal To Dos – These are to dos that are unrelated to any goals. They may be administrative tasks (i.e. Respond to Emails), client tasks (i.e. Meeting with Client) or daily obligations (i.e. Go to Bank). They may be fixed, daily tasks or they may vary daily.

It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor. Everyone has good habits and bad habits. Good habits will make you rich. Bad habits will make you poor. This is why I refer to them as Rich Habits and Poverty Habits. If you want to be successful in life you need to have more good habits than bad habits. Habits, whether good or bad, are hard to change. Experts debate how to change a habit and how long it takes. I’m here to tell you to forget about trying to get rid of your Poverty Habits by force of will. It doesn’t work. Instead, focus on adding a couple of Rich Habits.

Here’s why. Life is like a seesaw. On one side of the seesaw are your Poverty Habits and on the other side are your Rich Habits. If you have more Poverty Habits than Rich Habits you will be poor. If you have more Rich Habits than Poverty Habits you will be rich. Adding just two or three Rich Habits is all it takes to change your life and get your seesaw tipping in the right direction. You don’t need to worry about getting rid of any of your habits. Just add some good ones. The interesting thing is that Rich Habits are like dominoes. When you add a Rich Habit it changes your other habits. Adding Rich Habits actually makes it easier to eliminate your Poverty Habits.

Let me give you an example. Suppose you add the Rich Habit of jogging 20-30 minutes every day. What happens? You begin to lose weight. Someone notices and compliments you. You feel good. So you keep exercising. More people notice and they compliment you. You feel even better than before. Now you start to crave more of those compliments. So you start to watch what you eat. You throw in a few vegetables and throw out a few bags of potato chips. The number of junk food calories you eat (a Poverty Habit) starts to go down. Then you decide to jog even more. But the problem is you smoke cigarettes and you cough like a maniac after every jog. You decide to cut back on smoking cigarettes (a Poverty Habit), maybe even eliminate them.

This is the power of the Rich Habits. No will power required. When you add a few Rich Habits to your daily routine they compete with and eventually overpower your Poverty Habits. Your seesaw then begins to tip in the right direction….. towards success!