How to get rich seems to be a never-ending question, many people are fascinated with the secrets of how to make money, but even more so how to keep it. According to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, the research director for the Affluent Market Institute who also studied over 600 millionaires for her book “The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth” there are 6 behaviors or as she calls them “wealthy factors” to enhancing your net-worth no matter what your income is. These behaviors are frugality, confidence, responsibility planning, focus, and social indifference.
To Be Frugal
The first “wealthy factor is” to be frugal. Don’t overspend and be mindful of keeping your day-to-day proportionate to what you’re actually making. Many of the millionaires Fallaw interviewed during her research were noted as saying that they stressed spending significantly both below and over their means equally.
It’s important to keep frugal habits even after you’ve made it big and can afford to splurge but it is a crucial mindset in maintaining the status quo. You don’t want to be a slave to your paycheck because of overspending but at the same time, you don’t want to have all this money in the bank that you never use. Proportionality and maintaining healthy spending habits that have nothing to do with wealth is the key to success because those will be the ones that stick and benefit you when you do strike it rich.
Warren Buffett is a prime example of putting this frugal mindset into practice. He doesn’t feel that having so many luxurious homes is necessary and still maintains a modest home despite being perhaps one of the richest people in the world. HE STILL HAS A FLIP PHONE! Although it may not be anything to do with his wealth and everything to do with his age. Famously paying only 18 dollars for his usual haircut, whatever he is doing it seems to be working. Mark Zuckerberg too, can be found shopping at Costco with his wife. No matter how wealthy you are or become you should never pass up a good deal, period.
Confidence: Is it Concrete?
Confidence also factors into that wealthy and healthy habit mindset. Not just in who you are and your abilities but also in your financial goals and what you want to achieve. To be able to produce fruits from your labor you need to believe that you can do so. It’s like the saying goes if you don’t believe in yourself how do you expect anyone else to?
You need to be able to be confident and invest in yourself. Don’t be afraid to take the risks you need to succeed, but only after you’ve thought everything out thoroughly of course. Being secure in your financial goals will then lead you to live within your means.
Responsibility: Creating Accountability
Responsibility is also a key “wealth factor” for the reason that being accountable will require you to learn from your actions, both the good and bad ones. Whether or not something you did caused a good or bad outcome doesn’t matter, what ultimately matters is the difference it made afterward which can always be channeled into a positive lesson.
Blaming other people for your downfall and crediting others for your successes takes away from yourself in equally negative aspects. Taking responsibility for your actions challenges you to example aspects of your life, including your wealth, and helps you hone in on what you can control. This new-found power will then push you to make the lifestyle choices that will lead you to progress and results that you wish to achieve as well as a bank account you can be proud of because of all your hard work and self-discovery.
Planning: X Marks the Spot
Planning can be the make-it-or-break-it point between success and failure, perhaps in everything you do but especially financially. The majority of billionaires interviewed for this book had their goals, both financially and otherwise, clearly defined. You must have a clear sense of direction and execution of where you want to be otherwise getting what you want financially and or anything for that matter becomes difficult and prolonged.
Focus: Eyes on the Prize
Having focus is an important factor in this journey for the simple reason that if you begin to bounce around from place to place you won’t be able to fulfill the steps it takes to bring you to your goals. Having your goals constantly on your mind allows you to make the immediate decisions necessary to be able to achieve your long-term goals. Focusing speeds up the process of checking the goals that matter most to you.
Social Indifference: Is It Expensive?
Once you start seeing the fruits of your labor literally “pay off” it becomes more challenging to keep your desire for fancy and luxurious things and lifestyle at bay, but this is the time to do so. Having such social indifference as a result of these “wealthy factors” keeps the urge to overspend at a minimum, hence taming dangerous impulses that can be detrimental to your long-term financial success. This in return creates more financial stability and promotes the positive cycle of confidence as your finances grow which then causes more focus since you can physically see the benefits of all your hard work. This in return catapults your goals into reality.
Let’s Get to Work
What are you waiting for? The path to getting wealthy and staying wealthy starts now. It’s amazing how ordinary these habits can be but they have the means to make an overwhelming difference in your bank account. Not to mention, by keeping such habits, they may just make you a better person too. Wealth isn’t just a number it’s a way of life.
