Poor and middle class people often feel resentment towards the rich – after working like a beaver for several decades and finding yourself not better off than when you’ve started, it is easy to assume that those who earn a thousand times more with seemingly lesser effort are either devilishly lucky or plain dishonest. In truth, the difference between the middle class and the rich is not so much about luck or morals as about state of mind. Which means that by learning to think like the rich you can make your first step to achieving the same level of success.
1.The Wealthy Prioritize Earning over Saving
Work hard, start saving early, live below your means – it’s all the usual advice for building your financial independence. And it is exactly opposite to what rich people do. They don’t put money away for a rainy day in order to ensure their future – they put it to work. They aim at increasing their earning ability, which is very rarely limited to simply working harder. Instead of trying to ensure the safety of already earned money, they try to make this money bring them even more dividends – and we are not talking about retirement funds but full-fledged investments: in real estate, in business, in everything middle class people consider too risky.
2. The Wealthy Live within Their Means
At the same time, the rich don’t increase their earnings just to feed their ever-growing appetites for consumption – they do it to satisfy their appetites for growing richer. When a middle-class person suddenly starts earning considerably more, he is quick to show it: by buying a more expensive car or moving to a larger house, for example. When a rich person increases his income, he looks for ways to invest it in assets, not liabilities. The richest people are indifferent to showing off their wealth – they don’t shy away from looking how to extend the life span of their old cars instead of buying new ones or living in a much smaller house than they can afford.
3.The Wealthy Are Always Ready to Change and Grow
The main feature that differentiates the rich from all the rest is their ability to change, grow and learn. They don’t feel obliged to follow the way of life they’ve chosen a decade ago just because there is so much time invested into it. If they find something better, they will immediately use the chance of improving their position. It means constantly learning new skills, reading things that inspire them to do better, drastically changing lifestyles and so on.
4. The Wealthy Care More about Wealth than Consumption
All in all, truly wealthy people are indifferent to all the nice shiny things their wealth can buy them – they value the wealth itself. Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on the planet, still lives in a house he bought back in the fifties for $31,500. Today Mr. Buffett is worth more than $68 billion – and if you compare the place he lives in with mansions owned by people that don’t have a fraction of his wealth you will get a very important lesson: possessions have nothing to do with success.
5. The Wealthy Are not Afraid of Aiming High
Since early childhood most of us are taught to be reasonable about our dreams and desires. Set easily achievable goals, move ahead a step at a time, choose a direction and steadily move towards it, hoping to achieve something one day. Somehow, with the rich this lesson doesn’t take. They don’t suppose that the goals they set for themselves are overly ambitious, impossible or just plain crazy – and quite often they turn out to be not that impossible after all.
The important thing to understand about wealth is all about thinking, not luck. You may win a jackpot in lottery, but if you don’t think like a rich man, you are most likely to lose everything you’ve won or stay a the same wealth level.
Featured photo credit: Rich Danbo 2/Mohd Haniff Mazlan via flickr.com
