Becoming rich means taking risk or making sacrifices, you get out what you put in.

In Tom Corley’s five-year Rich Habits study of 233 rich people and 128 poor people he discovered that your habits dictate your circumstances in life.

He discovered that daily habits dictate how successful or unsuccessful you will be in life.

There are four ways to become rich:

• Live Below Your Means
• Expand Your Means
• Do Both
• Getting Lucky

1. Living Below Your Means

Living below your means and investing your savings prudently is the only guaranteed way to become rich.

But, this approach requires enormous sacrifices – you must manage your spending your entire life and that requires making sacrifices: small house in an inexpensive neighborhood, no vacations, no restaurants, no kids. 

If you do have kids your kids are forced to sacrifice along with you.

They have to buy their own stuff: iPhones, movie tickets, toys, cars, college education, etc.

Most are unwilling to make those sacrifices.

We want the nice home in the safe neighborhood, we want the nice vacations, we want to give our kids their iPhones and a college education.

So, for the vast majority, living below your means requires too much sacrifice.

But, for those willing to make the sacrifice, wealth is virtually guaranteed.

So, the question is, how bad do you want to be rich? Is being rich so important to you that you are willing to make the sacrifices that are required?

2. Expand Your Means 

Expanding your means usually requires taking on risk and working long hours, by pursuing a dream or starting a business.

According to my research and many other studies on wealth creation, about 80% of the multi-millionaires and billionaires make their money this way.

The upside is enormous wealth where everyone in your family benefits from your risk taking and hard work.

The downsides include time away from family due to long work hours or poverty, you could fail.

3. Doing Both

Living below your means and expanding your means requires the most sacrifice.

4. Getting Lucky

Getting lucky means you fall into money somehow without any real effort. 

Examples of this are big gambling wins such as hitting the lottery, the slots, horses, etc.

Or, you you inherit your wealth – you’re born into a rich family or inherit money from a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister.

The reason so many gamble is because they are unwilling to make the long-term sacrifices required.

Almost everyone wants to be rich, but they want that wealth without having to take on risk, work long hours, or make sacrifices for themselves or their family.

Becoming rich is not easy.

How much are your spending habits affecting you level of wealth?

In Tom Corley’s five-year Rich Habits study of 233 rich people and 128 poor people he discovered that your habits dictate your circumstances in life.

He discovered that daily habits dictate how successful or unsuccessful you will be in life.

There are two groups of poor people.

The first group are individuals who simply do not make enough money to meet their needs. 

The second group are individuals whose income exceeds their needs but who, nonetheless, spend more than they make.

According to Census Bureau data, there are approximately 46 million poor people who cannot meet their needs.

They are forced to rely on assistance in one form or another from federal and state governments.

According to this same data, there are approximately 30 million other people who make more than they need but who are, nonetheless, one paycheck away from poverty.

These individuals engage in something called Want Spending.

Want Spenders spend more money than they make on their wants.

They surrender to instant gratification, eschewing saving in order to buy things they want now: 60 inch TVs, nice vacations, expensive cars, bigger homes and jewelry.

Want Spenders routinely gamble away part of their income.

They also spend too much money at bars and restaurants.

Worse, they incur debt in order to finance their standard of living.

Want Spenders create their own poverty.

They are undisciplined with their money.

They have been brainwashed by advertisers and a consumerist society into buying things they do not need.

When Want Spenders are no longer able to work due to old age, they live out the remainder of their lives in abject poverty.

They become dependent on family, friends, the government or the charity of others.

Their poverty is the byproduct of a Poor Habit known as Instant Gratification.

Want Spenders rationalize their Want Spending in a number of ways:

• I’ll make more money in the future
• I’ll get a better paying job
• I’ll get a second job
• I’ll get a raise
• I’ll get a bonus
• The economy will improve and I’ll make more money
• I’ll get more clients or customers
• My children will take care of me in retirement
• I’ll move to Florida, or some inexpensive place, and live off Social Security

Most people in society do not make a lot of money.

A fortunate few have the Rich Habit known as Delayed Gratification.

These individuals live within their means and do not engage in Want Spending.

These individuals are disciplined savers. 

They diligently save at least 10% of their income, paycheck by paycheck, month by month, year by year.

Their savings grow either by the power of compounding or by prudent investing.

When they retire, they live out the remainder of their lives financially independent, not reliant on financial support from others.

If you’re like most people, you don’t make a lot of money, but the money you do make exceeds your needs.

You have a choice on what you do with this Excess Money.

You can engage in Want Spending, live for today, and rationalize away why you do what you do with your Excess Money.

Or, you can take control of your financial life, by saying yes to saving your Excess Money and saying no to Want Spending.

What is an entrepreneur?

On the surface these are wealthy and successful people – but there’s much more to them than that.

Entrepreneurs posses beliefs that are a great part of their success – they take risks and they are fearless.

Beliefs represent the acceptance of something without any proof to back up what we accept as fact.

In Tom Corley’s five-year Rich Habits study of 233 rich people and 128 poor people he discovered that your beliefs dictate your circumstances in life.

Those who are wealthy have different beliefs than those who are poor or stuck in the middle class.

We adopt the beliefs our parent, family, mentors, culture, and environment.

Most who were raised in poverty inherited limiting beliefs that hold them back in life.

Those who are able to rise from poverty and become wealthy found mentors who possessed success beliefs or employed certain strategies that enabled them to remove their limiting beliefs and implant success beliefs, effectively re-programming their entire belief system.

In this week’s video we discuss 5 key habits of Entrepreneurs:

These include:

1. Prepare Educated and calculated risks
2. Pivoting according to the situation
3. Keeping eye on the ball -focusing on the dreams
4. Surrounding themselves with successful people
5. Expecting failure

You can catch up with past episodes of this weekly webcast here – Rich Habit, Poor Habits – Tom Corley & Michael Yardney

You may also be interested in viewing:

RICH HABITS POOR HABITS EPISODE 17 | POOR BELIEFS PART 2

RICH HABITS POOR HABITS EPISODE 16 | POOR BELIEFS PART 1

RICH HABITS POOR HABITS EPISODE 15 | RICH BELIEFS PART 8

RICH HABITS POOR HABITS EPISODE 14 | RICH BELIEFS PART 7