Habits of wealthy people
Investor · Massillon, OH · Member since 2015 · 266 posts · 156 votes
Habits of wealthy people
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Investor · Malakoff, TX · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
9yI recommend 'The Millionaire Next Door'. It is based on research data on the wealthy and is probably my favorite financially-related book.
40 Replies
- Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2017 · 61 posts · 36 votes9y
You should check out Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
It goes in depth about what kinda of activities the most "Effective" people on the planet do day to day. The majority of "Effective" people are extremely wealthy!
- Investor · Vancouver, WA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes9y
Ditto about Stephen Covey's books and materials.
Also, one must spend time with those they want to emulate. Wealthy people don't hang with poor people and vice versa.
To be at one's best, three habits must be foundational.... proper sleep, proper nutrition, and proper exercise. This is the "three-legged stool". Without such, one will topple.
- Investor · Malakoff, TX · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
I recommend 'The Millionaire Next Door'. It is based on research data on the wealthy and is probably my favorite financially-related book.
- Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2013 · 103 posts · 55 votes9yHave a ridiculous work ethic, and associate with like-minded people.
- 9yAnthony GaydenPro MemberRental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
There is a lot of research on the subject. When it comes down to it, people who are successful obsess on being successful in all aspects of their life. They exercise, read, and constantly are working on improving themselves.
I am a strong believer in this sort of thing. I found that once I stopped wasting so much time doing activities like watching tv and instead focused on exercise, learning new skills, and reading, I became substantially more successful.
- 9yLevi T.Pro MemberRental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
Originally posted by @Jeffery Waicak:
I was looking at Grant cordone' s Twitter. He said that something like 68% of wealthy people do cardio 4x a week 26% of poor people do. 90% of wealthy people read 30 minutes a day. 2% of poor people do.
What other habits can you think of? Maybe there is a template of almost assured success
There's only one thing, obsession!
Wealthy people workout more than others because they have more free time to focus on themselves because they are now successful and can pay someone else to do all of most the labor that most people do.
Pick a high paying career that you have an aptitude for (hint, if it takes you 12 years to finish your 2 year MBA at Devry like a guy I know, you're probably not cut out for business/accounting).
Use the excess funds from your career to buy income producing assets. Avoid money draining liabilities. Live below your means.
Why?
Because cardio doesn't make you wealthy and is not relevant to wealth building anymore than the temperature of the room you are sitting in is. And reading 30 minutes of Cosmopolitan won't make you rich either.
People read into statistics way too much, without really understanding them...
- Investor · Massillon, OH · Member since 2015 · 266 posts · 156 votes9y
@Anthony Gayden. That's a great example, you're probably right. Most poor people probably watch more tv than wealthy people.
@Matthew Rogers. I'm not sure i agree that most effective people are wealthy . I might agree that most wealthy people are effective though.
@Levi T. I disagree that wealthy people exercise because they have free time. I could be wrong, but in my mind right now the up and coming wealthy are reading, exercising, meal prepping, budgeting. The poor are sipping their 4th beer watching reality tv.
Folks, i appreciate the input! I'm looking for actionable steps. Stop watching tv, exercise, read, i would guess limit drinking alcohol, or eliminate it.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes9y
@Jack B. and @Levi T. are right on the money. Don't read too much into statistics. Don't mistake correlation for causation (look it up if this makes no sense). Yes, I agree that the poor are often poor managers of their time, and often spend time on non-productive activities. I have read every book mentioned in this thread, and they were all worthwhile. But overlooking the time and leisure factor is a big mistake. I grew up dirt poor and everyone I knew was poor. They didn't spend time doing cardio and reading because they were plain exhausted from staying alive, not because they were swilling beer and watching All in the Family (yeah, I'm dating myself).
That said: nothing wrong with your list. TV is a big time waster, lack of exercise kills your machine, reading expands your mind and possibilities, alcohol to excess is fattening and poisonous (I'm a big proponent of the 1-2 glass wine/day, however).
Skyline Properties - Investor · Massillon, OH · Member since 2015 · 266 posts · 156 votes9y
@Jd Martin are you sure? If you eat like crap,and don't exercise, and drink you will be tired. The issue is that you have to start doing the things and for a time,you will be more tired. Kinda like a turbo. You make less power until it spools up. You may be right, but even if you are, I'm looking for myself. I work 50 hours a week minimum. Then put in time on my business. I still have wasted time. I should be working out more. I need to change, i need to grow.
I'm looking for the actionable things. Things I can do. Be obsessed is too vague. I'm interested in becoming better and wealthier. If 92% of wealthy people read 30 minutes a day, i want to look at reading more. If I could verify that 80% of wealthy people drive a pink car then i wouldn't own a yellow car.
KEEP EM COMING!
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes9y
Am I sure about what? I agree, if you eat like crap, drink and don't exercise, you will be tired. I am also sure that correlation is not (necessarily) causation. What if you were black and I told you that 90% of wealthy people were white? How would you solve that dilemma?
Point is: there are definitely good habits that *a lot* of wealthy people follow. No doubt some of them help create the space that makes obtaining wealth easier. There are also habits of wealthy people that are not necessarily helpful for creating or expanding wealth - ever heard the saying "from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations?" Leaving a profitable business or a boatload of cash to their kids is also a high percentage "habit" of the wealthy, and a good percentage of their progeny promptly blow all the cash or run the business into the ground.
This is what I mean when I say don't mistake correlation for causation. Just because wealthy people drive around in pink cars doesn't mean that it has any bearing whatsoever on being wealthy.
Skyline Properties - Investor · Massillon, OH · Member since 2015 · 266 posts · 156 votes9y
@Jd Martin you sure they didn't exercise, eat right, because they were tired or were they tired because they didn't eat right and exercise? I agree that everyone who works out and eats right is not wealthy, no most are not. If 90%of wealthy people were of a different race,i would have to accept that as I cannot change it. But if 80% of wealthy people show up to work early by 5 minutes, i probably should too.
You grew up dirt poor. Are you still poor? If not, Are any/most of the people you went to high school with still poor? If so what actual habits were different? Not were you obsessed, had a great attitude, work ethic. But do you read daily, etc. Unless you hit the lotto etc to get where you are, you did something different. That's what I'm asking. Btw I also grew up poor
- 9yAnthony GaydenPro MemberRental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
Originally posted by @Levi T.:
Originally posted by @Jeffery Waicak:
I was looking at Grant cordone' s Twitter. He said that something like 68% of wealthy people do cardio 4x a week 26% of poor people do. 90% of wealthy people read 30 minutes a day. 2% of poor people do.
What other habits can you think of? Maybe there is a template of almost assured success
There's only one thing, obsession!
Wealthy people workout more than others because they have more free time to focus on themselves because they are now successful and can pay someone else to do all of most the labor that most people do.
That's what I'm talking about. I know that Grant Cardone has it right.
BE OBSESSED OR BE AVERAGE!!!!!
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes9y
What @Anthony Gayden and @Levi T. and @Jack B. said. If your aim is to be wealthy, then that needs to be your primary motivator - or, as they put it, your obsession (even Grant Cardone calls it obsession in his new book, if you want to have something to read for 30 minutes each day). Everything you are mentioning thus far are habits without context. What good does it do you to come to work 5 minutes early if you spend that 5 minutes on the porcelain throne or reading Facebook? What if you spent that 5 minutes at the house examining your expenditures and noticing non-essential spending habits? Which habit would be more effective?
I'm not trying to be discouraging. Eating right, being prompt for work, all that stuff has value but none of it = dollars in your pocket. I'm no Grant Cardone but I fit in your metric and my "habits" mirror that of Jack: I lived below my means, improved my earning potential at a W2 (increased my education, for example), avoided purchasing money-draining objects like expensive cars, saved my money, bought income-producing assets, rinse and repeat. No real habits, no secret formula.
Skyline Properties - 9yAnthony GaydenPro MemberRental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
Originally posted by :
. I grew up dirt poor and everyone I knew was poor. They didn't spend time doing cardio and reading because they were plain exhausted from staying alive, not because they were swilling beer and watching All in the Family (yeah, I'm dating myself).
That is an EXCUSE. You aren't the only one to grow up poor.
I saw people watching HOURS of TV every night. People who knew everything about the NFL, MLB, or NBA and all the players and stats, but couldn't be bothered to read or study one thing that would help them grow and improve.
I saw people spending all their disposable income on alcohol, cigarettes, and at the casino. I saw people that did crappy work at jobs they hated. People who used every excuse in the book so that they would not have to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their actions.
I don't buy it. I don't buy that people were spending years on end exercising, reading, and working on personal improvement and the world was so rough on them that they never were able to get out of poverty.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Anthony Gayden:
Originally posted by :
. I grew up dirt poor and everyone I knew was poor. They didn't spend time doing cardio and reading because they were plain exhausted from staying alive, not because they were swilling beer and watching All in the Family (yeah, I'm dating myself).
That is an EXCUSE. You aren't the only one to grow up poor.
I saw people watching HOURS of TV every night. People who knew everything about the NFL, MLB, or NBA and all the players and stats, but couldn't be bothered to read or study one thing that would help them grow and improve.
I saw people spending all their disposable income on alcohol, cigarettes, and at the casino. I saw people that did crappy work at jobs they hated. People who used every excuse in the book so that they would not have to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their actions.
I don't buy it. I don't buy that people were spending years on end exercising, reading, and working on personal improvement and the world was so rough on them that they never were able to get out of poverty.
? Not sure where you are going with this since I was agreeing with you in the first place. And I'm not poor, so I don't need to make any excuses, so I also don't follow where you're going with that, either.
Anyway, back to my point, which is: correlation is not causation. Eating right and reading are not going to make you wealthy. And your personal experiences are not proof of the reverse, either. Your sample size is too small and biased. There are plenty of wealthy people who know all kinds of sports stats, drink and smoke like a fish, and work at jobs they hate. Your personal bias argument is the same one used by lots of people when they want to minimize another group, usually coupled with "Those people" and grouped by race, religion, etc. They "see" something and so that's how it is. Fortunately, that's not evidence with which truth can be identified.
As it happens, I agree with most of your post, anyway. People definitely make a lot of excuses why X doesn't happen, spend their money on non-income producing endeavors, and engage in other counterproductive behavior if wealth is a primary goal. What separates the wealthy from the non-wealthy, other than luck (lottery, inheritance), is proper focus and good financial decisions.
Skyline Properties - 9yAnthony GaydenPro MemberRental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
Originally posted by @JD Martin:
Originally posted by @Anthony Gayden:
Originally posted by :
. I grew up dirt poor and everyone I knew was poor. They didn't spend time doing cardio and reading because they were plain exhausted from staying alive, not because they were swilling beer and watching All in the Family (yeah, I'm dating myself).
That is an EXCUSE. You aren't the only one to grow up poor.
I saw people watching HOURS of TV every night. People who knew everything about the NFL, MLB, or NBA and all the players and stats, but couldn't be bothered to read or study one thing that would help them grow and improve.
I saw people spending all their disposable income on alcohol, cigarettes, and at the casino. I saw people that did crappy work at jobs they hated. People who used every excuse in the book so that they would not have to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their actions.
I don't buy it. I don't buy that people were spending years on end exercising, reading, and working on personal improvement and the world was so rough on them that they never were able to get out of poverty.
? Not sure where you are going with this since I was agreeing with you in the first place. And I'm not poor, so I don't need to make any excuses, so I also don't follow where you're going with that, either.
Anyway, back to my point, which is: correlation is not causation. Eating right and reading are not going to make you wealthy. And your personal experiences are not proof of the reverse, either. Your sample size is too small and biased. There are plenty of wealthy people who know all kinds of sports stats, drink and smoke like a fish, and work at jobs they hate. Your personal bias argument is the same one used by lots of people when they want to minimize another group, usually coupled with "Those people" and grouped by race, religion, etc. They "see" something and so that's how it is. Fortunately, that's not evidence with which truth can be identified.
As it happens, I agree with most of your post, anyway. People definitely make a lot of excuses why X doesn't happen, spend their money on non-income producing endeavors, and engage in other counterproductive behavior if wealth is a primary goal. What separates the wealthy from the non-wealthy, other than luck (lottery, inheritance), is proper focus and good financial decisions.
Sorry if I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
I agree with you that there are plenty of wealthy people who are the same way, however many of them worked their butts off and prioritized their lives so that they could have the time to participate in these activities. I have a very hard time believing that someone who is poor and struggling should be doing the same thing.
- Rental Property Investor · Torrance, CA · Member since 2016 · 724 posts · 1k+ votes9ySELF DISCIPLINE....In my opinion this is the #1 trait by far. I grew up around mostly poor people when I was young. When I was a sophomore in high school my family moved to another state and I ended up going to a "rich" high school. That last 3 years of high school changed me forever. All my new friend's parents acted nothing like my parents acted, or anybody I knew to be honest. Completely different habits and behaviors. It was a real eye opener. I remember walking into my friend's house for the first time (his dad was an airline pilot) and saw a bookshelf full of books. I know it sounds crazy but nobody in my family ever had a bookshelf, because they didn't need one lol. His parents got up early and went on a run every morning. My parents had a treadmill in the bedroom that was used to dry clothes. That's when I realized my family was poor. I also realized we were poor because of our behavior, and not because of circumstances. Someone I admire once told me that "poor people buy big tv's and wealthy people buy big libraries."
- 9yLevi T.Pro MemberRental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
There is a large range of wealthy people, with that said; Obsession is the #1 key to success. If you truly want it, it's not a matter of if you will get it, it's a matter of how long it will take for you to reach it. If the desire or goal falls off, and you never reach it, then you never truly where obsessed about it. Millionaires have a relentless obsession with whats in front of them, it is a single minded focus.
Einstein even reflected that a single minded focus, an obsession with whats in front of you, is what made him and others geniuses. The working class believe in multi tasking, which leads to a lack of focus. Wealthy people focus on 1 and only 1 thing at a time.
I known and meet plenty of millionaires, first generation millionaires. Some are very smart, some are dumber than rocks. Some hardly words to make their millions, others worked to the bone to make it happen, but no matter what they all have a single minded focus on whatever is in front of them and nothing else.
The idea that wealthy hangout with other wealthy people is bs. Most are so obsessed with what they do, they spend most of their time in saluted in their mansions, offices, or vacation destinations, only communicating with those who matter to their objective. - Rental Property Investor · Ventura, CA · Member since 2016 · 62 posts · 34 votes9yBig picture thinking (wealthy people I know are visionaries), effective use of time and ensuring time spent on anything is productive, being fully engaged (be where your feet are) whether it is business, time with kids and segregating the two, excellent and execution.
- Investor · Malakoff, TX · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
Regarding how many generations it takes to accumulate wealth: I was surprised to read the statistic (in the Millionaire Next Door) that 80% of wealthy (defined as net worth > $1 million) are first generation wealthy. They also tend to live well below their means in neighborhoods that are far below what they could afford if they wanted to spend more.
- Johnson City, TN · Member since 2014 · 586 posts · 705 votes9y
When was the last time you visited a cemetery, particularly an old one? Did you notice the big, elaborate stones often bearing the names of wealthy, influential members of the community? Did you also notice in the same cemetery the plain, small stones bearing names that you aren't familiar with? Men are impressed with the big stones. The contents under the stones all taste the same to the worms.
- Investor · Massillon, OH · Member since 2015 · 266 posts · 156 votes9y
I'm looking for actionable steps. Staying off Facebook would be actionable. Being obsessed, not so much
- Real Estate Entrepreneur / Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 688 posts · 367 votes9yFirst I would like to say grant cardone is one of my favorite people. He's very funny and what he says about the system we live in is spot on and his thoughts on life in general is great. But to get to the question at hand most people who are wealthy build the habits of eating right, getting proper rest and exercising as the foundations of having a better overall quality of life. When you eat and exercise this affects the way you think. It isn't just statistics. It's proven(you should try it) not to mention the recovery you need to by sleeping. So that's needed. Next is getting your mindset right. Almost every successful person at anything talk about how everything is mental first and foremost. So you can't be wealthy by having a poor mindset. Getting your mind right by reading and learning in all forms is very important. Improving upon yourself daily will eventually take place and by taking the necessary steps of executing the things that are needed to achieve whatever you want. I know I'm not a millionaire yet but I think the foundations that make up the character of a wealthy person is persistence. Self control. Focus. Discipline. And lastly and most important is helpful. I say helpful because the world is generally very selfish by nature. The world is based on instance gratification and generally when you help people you see more results in life. Granted a lot of people are takers but I believe in karma. When you give or help people constantly you will see the fruits of your labor. Also by nature most entrepreneurs are helpers and creators. They create, build or improve something that makes a change in a person or a group of People lives. So I'll end this with Help someone!
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