15 ways rich people think differently

[Moses Opondo]

May be i can agree with not more than 5 points.
Thanks for sharing your opinion though.

[jc013]

That's interesting, I want to try. My quick answer to the word MONEY is:

1. what I don't have enough to use every month now;
2. what I want to earn more and more in the next 10 years (because I have several significant investment losses in the last 10 years ><);
3. what I don't want to earn from illegal way or from the detriment of others (I don't want others suffer from fraud like me ><).

So what do you think ?
Cheers :-)

[Ahar]

What this reveals about yourself

Ok, I reckon you've all had time enough to think about this

So what this reveals about yourself is your attitude to money.....not a surprise surely.

But my friend claimed that your attitude towards money is what determines your likelihood of making AND holding onto any wealth you create/obtain etc.

So how exactly do you determine your attitude to money?

Look at your list and determine which of the things you said were positive, negative or neutral

To help you I'll give you some example of what I mean......


Positvie attitudes to money
makes life easy; holidays; gifting; can give up work; fun; opportunity

Negative attitudes to money
greedy; filthy rich; selfish; might lose my friends; people might like me for the wrong reasons

Neutral attitudes to money:

Responsibiltiy; work hard



Now go back and count how many positives and negatives you have.....it's the relative numbers of positives and negatives that reveal your attitudes

If your list contains mostly positve remarks, then you have a great attiude to money and will be more likely to make it AND keep it

If you list contains a large number or greater proportion of negatives, then you are a lot less likely to make money and more likely to do silly things that will cost you your wealth. After all, such people often feel the need to compulsively shop i.e. get rid of their wealth because deep down they feel to be wealthy is to be selfish, greedy and they might lose thier friends etc.

This is why many people who win lotto lose the money very quickly.....more than one winner has ended up on a benifit within a very short time.....the money all gone....they had to get rid of it!

Now my friend said that if you did indeed have many negatives, then you need to work on your attitude to money.....NOT impossible to change.

And once you've changed your attitudes then wealth will follow.

Naturally enough, being young I thought he was a smug ars*h*le and ignored his well meant advice.

Wasn't till many years had passed AND I'd made some wise decisions that I saw and did this "test" again.....and then I remembereand the first list I'd written....all very negative etc.

My second list was very positive....not a single negative to be seen

Made me wonder if there was any truth to what he'd being trying to tell me

[Glizzle]

No such thing as position and negative, its bloody money the sum of all ****en evils.

[firsttimecaller]

Which brings me to point 10.....
Was always told I was money hungry, miserly etc.........and all because I worked hard and really watched my spending
To my family and others, this translated to "being a bit tight"....not so, it's just I've always been reluctant to squander my money on do dahs

Doesn't this contradict #15 Average people focus on saving and miss big opportunities by trying to live frugally. Rich people constantly focus on the big picture – and how to earn the big bucks.

Many points on the list are quite true - bar points 1, 11 and 15, you can replace the word Rich with any goal and it's a guideline list for success.

If I were to add one point to the list it would be this #16 Many (most?) rich people are lucky enough to be born into favourable circumstances, whether that be in a developed country or an already wealthy family. So if you're born into a starving village in Somalia, shoot yourself now and try again in the next round.

And one more, specifically about being rich - #17 Choose a career path that revolves around money rather than anything humanitarian focussed or many of the careers that are essential to the framework of society

[firsttimecaller]

Wasn't till many years had passed AND I'd made some wise decisions that I saw and did this "test" again.....and then I remembereand the first list I'd written....all very negative etc.
My second list was very positive....not a single negative to be seen

Or it could be because you already knew what the answers were.

Also about your lotto points, I don't think people who buy lotto tickets just sit back and wait to hit the jackpot and in the meantime don't do a damn thing else to become successful. If you have a certain allocation in your budget for frivolous items, e.g. overpriced coffees, then logically speaking you may as well use the money to buy a lotto ticket. It's going to lead to more chance of becoming rich than drinking a milky beverage, and it also provides a form of entertainment. How many people buy a lotto ticket and then spend the night thinking and talking with their partner about the joys winning the lotto will bring? I think it's actually a real syndrome...lottoitis?

[Ahar]

Doesn't this contradict #15 Average people focus on saving and miss big opportunities by trying to live frugally. Rich people constantly focus on the big picture – and how to earn the big bucks.

Many points on the list are quite true - bar points 1, 11 and 15, you can replace the word Rich with any goal and it's a guideline list for success.

If I were to add one point to the list it would be this #16 Many (most?) rich people are lucky enough to be born into favourable circumstances, whether that be in a developed country or an already wealthy family. So if you're born into a starving village in Somalia, shoot yourself now and try again in the next round.

And one more, specifically about being rich - #17 Choose a career path that revolves around money rather than anything humanitarian focussed or many of the careers that are essential to the framework of society

Gosh where to start?

# 15.....no I don't think I've contradicted it at all........ poor people never get past the saving. In my case after I saved I invested my money rather than leave it in the bank OR passing it on to an "expert" to invest for me.....thinking of finance cos here

#16 .... it might seem to help to be born in a country such as NZ BUT most people in NZ aren't wealthy! The advantage to being born here is that even the poor have a higher standard of living than the poor in say Somalia.

#17.... in the book The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko, they proved/showed that being wealthy is NOT the same as taking home a large pay packet. As for myself I never took home a large paypacket....BUT I always believed that it takes money to make money....hence the saving.

Oh and I know most folk will say that you don't have to have your own money....but when I was a youngster and was looking at property, the banks DEMANDED you have a largish deposit saved from your wages.

[firsttimecaller]

#16 - my point is that the list has been written based on being born in a country where you can focus on such things as being rich rather than worrying about whether you are going to die tomorrow from malnutrition. Newsflash - "wealth" is a relative term.

#17 - there are freaking tonnes of people who are well off and earn a pay cheque. Maybe I should find a book that says that and it will make it more true.

Aiming to be rich by your own means is great and if you make it then you have done extremely well. After seeing many of my smart, talented friends flee New Zealand to chase larger pay packets across the ditch, I often wondered why more people don't just stay in NZ and try to start a business and make their own success. I agree with your philosophy and it's the path I am personally trying to follow, but it's certainly no walk in the park and it can just as easily turn out for the worst than it can for the riches.

[Ahar]

Or it could be because you already knew what the answers were.

Also about your lotto points, I don't think people who buy lotto tickets just sit back and wait to hit the jackpot and in the meantime don't do a damn thing else to become successful. If you have a certain allocation in your budget for frivolous items, e.g. overpriced coffees, then logically speaking you may as well use the money to buy a lotto ticket. It's going to lead to more chance of becoming rich than drinking a milky beverage, and it also provides a form of entertainment. How many people buy a lotto ticket and then spend the night thinking and talking with their partner about the joys winning the lotto will bring? I think it's actually a real syndrome...lottoitis?

Actually I really feel that my attitudes towards wealthy folk have changed.......And no, I didn't know the answers...the tests were 20 yrs apart and took me a couple of days to realise I'd seen it before.

As for the bit I highlighted......I DO think just that......a lot of poor people do very little to activally improve their lot in life.

I believe that some American researchers have shown that poor people, especially those in very menial jobs are not only more likely to buy lottery tickets, but they allocate a disproportionally large chunk of their income to such items.

Wealthy people are a lot less inclined to buy lottery tickets.....it would seem they don't like the odds.

I believe wealthy people are wealthy because they deserve to be! It takes balls to back a hunch and a huge amount of work to make it pay off.

Poor people tend to be poor because they lack courage, aren't disciplined, tend to be lazy and don't have a plan.

It's all to hard for them.

[Ahar]

#16 - my point is that the list has been written based on being born in a country where you can focus on such things as being rich rather than worrying about whether you are going to die tomorrow from malnutrition. Newsflash - "wealth" is a relative term.

#17 - there are freaking tonnes of people who are well off and earn a pay cheque. Maybe I should find a book that says that and it will make it more true.

Aiming to be rich by your own means is great and if you make it then you have done extremely well. After seeing many of my smart, talented friends flee New Zealand to chase larger pay packets across the ditch, I often wondered why more people don't just stay in NZ and try to start a business and make their own success. I agree with your philosophy and it's the path I am personally trying to follow, but it's certainly no walk in the park and it can just as easily turn out for the worst than it can for the riches.

I too agree that wealth is a relative term.....and yes you are quite right.... we can focus our energies on things other than survival.

And you are also quite right about the large number of well off people who earn a pay cheque.

BUT if you read the book you will see that the authors make a very clear distinction about being "well off" from a pay cheque and being wealthy. They found much to their amazement that many high income earners are actually quite "poor" (another relative term)

Many high income earners spend almost all of their pay living a rather expensive "lifestyle" and hence underinvest....resulting in a "poor" outcome.

And again, I also agree with you that investing is no walk in the park ....and yes, I agree that it can just as easily turn out for the worst.

That's the thing about life and investing..... their are NO guarantees

[firsttimecaller]

I purchased a book called Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them: Lessons From The New Science Of Behavioral Economics. It hasn't arrived yet so maybe I will read your book afterwards. It's certainly an interesting subject.

[halfempty]

#16 .... it might seem to help to be born in a country such as NZ BUT most people in NZ aren't wealthy! The advantage to being born here is that even the poor have a higher standard of living than the poor in say Somalia.

And America, And Britain and....most places.

[Learning]

I purchased a book called Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them: Lessons From The New Science Of Behavioral Economics. It hasn't arrived yet so maybe I will read your book afterwards. It's certainly an interesting subject.

9. Rich people use other people’s money
I think you may have slipped up on this point right there. Doesn't your local library have/could get this book for you to borrow for free?

[donna]

Rich people get up early. Poor people sleep in.

A generalisation but I've noticed it.....reading biographies etc. The Rich are up at the crack of dawn, whereas the poor often struggle to make it to work on time (8.30 or 9am).

cheers,

Donna

[firsttimecaller]

9. Rich people use other people’s money
I think you may have slipped up on this point right there. Doesn't your local library have/could get this book for you to borrow for free?

No, it doesn't! Ironically I ended up purchasing this book twice because I forgot I had purchased it in the first place. Online shopping ay!