Building wealth isn’t so much about how intelligent you are, or how high up the corporate ladder you can climb. Many wealthy people today acquired their nest egg by following some simple habits and strategies that, over time, ended up making them very wealthy people.

The exciting part is, not everyone that is considered wealthy, is a higher up executive at a corporate company. Not every wealthy individual founded an attractive business, and not every wealthy individual makes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. If you need a reminder, read this book called millionaire next door. You will find out that most millionaires are your average Joe. 

 

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Thanks to financial experts like Dave Ramsey and books like “The Millionaire Next Door”, we can see many studies that show how wealth is really acquired today. And the truth is, you don’t have to be a genius to get there. Here are 15 things that wealthy people do differently to obtain their wealthy status and maintain their growing net worth.

15 Habits That Make People Wealthy

You’d be surprised at how many people walk into the bank with holes in their wallets, wearing jeans they purchased for $10 at Walmart, while also having a bank account stuffed with millions of dollars. I know this first hand too based on my experience in my clinic as a physician.

Many times, I have patients coming straight from their construction sites with pain stained jeans and dirty shirts, only to tell me they own 50 houses and have millions in their account. This usually comes about when I asked them their social history and travel history as part of my history taking. 

Their lifestyle and perception of what is important are very apparent, and what’s important to them is certainly not whether they paid $10 for jeans of $100 for name branded clothing.

Here are 15 habits that wealthy people do differently, resulting in their hefty sized bank accounts:

 

 

1. Avoid unnecessary debt

Debt isn’t seen as a way to spend more money, but rather a way to leverage money to make more money.

Leveraging money means using the bank’s money in the term of a loan, to purchase an asset that will make you more money than the cost of the loan.

Wealthy people avoid unnecessary debt like credit card debt and costly car loans, but rather use debt to their advantage.

This is why we have a series called get out of debt to inspire others to get out of debt and never get into one if at all possible.

 

 

2. Invest in themselves

The biggest investment anyone can make is in themselves. How so? Whether you decide to get a college degree or invest in your education through reputable certifications in your field,  or reading books regularly, one thing is for sure; the wealthy make education a lifelong commitment and ever-growing experience and aren’t afraid to spend a little money in the process because the return may be limitless. 

We talked about how the richest people read more books than the poor. Bill gates read one book every week for example.

Here is a book review I did on the richest man in Babylon, where I talked about the value of reading and then did the best book review you have ever seen. 

 

 

3. They live within their means

What does it mean to live within your means? In other words, don’t spend more than you make. In fact, it means taking it a step further and spending less than you make. How is one to grow their wealth if they spend every dollar they make? Wealth can be acquired by regular budgeting, saving, and investing consistently.

Our best post on this topic is how to live below your means in 7 easy steps. Lots of wisdom in that post on how to get started today. 

 

 

4. Set goals regularly

We’ve all heard the importance of setting goals ever since we were in our beginning years of school.

But how many of us actually set goals and review them regularly?

One thing is for sure, and that is that wealthy individuals set goals regularly and set a high priority in reviewing and updating their goals consistently.

Not only do wealthy people set goals, but they actually write them down in a physical location where they can see and review their goals on paper.

Time in the market is an excellent financial blogger who not only write his goal on paper but actually put it on his website. Check out his 9 financial goals for the year 2019 and we aim to hold him accountable for them.

Just make sure your money and your goal align. If you value certain things, you might want to include that in your goals. For example, some love to give, then open up a charity or have a plan for it. 

 

5. Invest early

Investing seems to be a thing that people put off until they are forced to. It’s easy to spend money when you have money. But the wealthy see the value in investing from as early of an age as possible. 

From the time they get their first job, investing extra money may be the difference between millions of dollars over an adult’s career.

Investing early allows one to take advantage of compound interest from an early age, which results in large investment growth in the long run. This is a no brainer for the wealthy.

To better understand this, you need to see our article on time value of money and see why it might be better to invest early. Also why it might be better to take 100,000 dollars now rather than 1 million in the future.

The rule of 72 let you also know exactly when you will double your money, so you can plan accordingly. 

Check out our compound interest calculator to see when you will hit your first million because you know, hitting the first million is the hardest. The earlier the better. 

If you hit your first million in your 20s or 30s, you are unstoppable. 

 

 

6. Invest regularly

Actions followed over and over soon become habits. The wealthy don’t just invest early as mentioned above, but they do it regularly for their entire life. Many have their investing set on autopilot. By setting up automatic regular investment transfers, their regular investing builds upon itself and makes no room for second-guessing to invest. 

It is very common for me to see many investing batters on the white coat investor forum. 

Many would argue endlessly on how it is very important to optimize every little thing about your investments like the difference between 0.04  and 0.06 cost basis on your stock. It turns out the most important thing is to invest early and often (Motley fool). 

 

 

7. Think long term

Thinking long term is an absolute must if one wants to be wealthy. The problem with many consumers today is the lack of ability to delay gratification. Most consumers know what they want, and they want it NOW!

Wealthy individuals keep the long-term goals in mind and know that by delaying a small gratification today will mean endless gratification in the near future. This means taking impulse spending out of the equation and only making purchases that are necessary while putting the rest towards reaching their long-term goals.

This was conveyed in our article on how to budget to live the life you want. Sacrifice today to enjoy tomorrow.

Interestingly enough, when you ask these wealthy individuals, they never regret their decisions and you don’t necessarily have to deprive yourself either if done right. 

 

 

8. Great time managers

Just search on Google how much TV wealthy individuals watch each day, and you’ll find that many studies and polls have been done showing that the majority of wealthy individuals watch less than one hour of TV per day. This just paints a small picture of how much time most consumers waste on a daily basis.

Check out this video on 7 things poor people DO that the rich don’t.

 

Some strong language involved, stay away is you are easily offended.

Poor people watch TV, rich people read books Share on X

Number 1 is – Poor people watch TV, rich people read books. 

 

Wealthy people see the importance of time and value it as one of their largest and most valuable assets. The better you manage your time, the more opportunities you create for yourself.

Think about it…if we all spent the majority of our time doing tasks associated with growing and progressing our wealth, how many of us would be reading this blog post right now vs. being living proof of the concepts in this blog post? 

 

 

9. Surround themselves with intelligent people

Among the many successful entrepreneurial quotes on this subject,

Steve Jobs said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Share on X

In other words, by surrounding ourselves with people who have intelligent minds will only have a positive impact on our success. Furthermore, having a network of brilliant minds gives you a direct access card to top talent and help when your next million-dollar idea becomes a reality.

We discussed how even in the movie “Kill Bill”, our hero sought out a coach, someone smarter and better than she was, to help achieve her goal. If you want to have some fun, check out our post on 6 financial lessons I learned from Kill Bill

 

 

10. They focus on opportunities instead of obstacles

Poor people often focus more on the obstacle in the way of them accomplishing what they want. They come up with excuses rather than finding a way. Wealthy individuals know that obstacles will impede the path to success, but rather than using them as excuses for failure, they use them as ways to learn and excel toward their goals even faster.

Quoting the famous entrepreneur Steve Jobs again, he said “Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” Share on X Rich people focus on opportunities, not obstacles Share on X

 

 

PIN IT. IT TAKES 2 SECONDS.

11. They don’t take the easy way out

Those who have achieved true wealth and actually maintained that wealth never banked their success on winning the lottery.

Wealthy people didn’t just get lucky and fall into their riches (although a very, very, very small percentage may have achieved wealthy status by falling into their money) but rather their wealth is an accumulation of a lifetime of hard work. You might enjoy this article that attempts to explain why 70% of lottery winners end up bankrupt.

I'll save you the trouble, wealth is all about your habit. That's why over 70% of lottery winners end up bankrupt Share on X

In fact, a large percentage of millionaires today became millionaires while making an average income of just $50k – $60k per year (according to financial expert Dave Ramsey).

 

 

12. Live a healthy life

According to Dave Ramsey, 70% of wealthy people eat less than 300 junk food calories per day.  76% of wealthy people engage in aerobic activity 4 days per week.

Not only has this been proven through large polls, but even scientifically it’s been shown that living a healthy life physically has positive effects to other areas of your life, like money and finances, for example. 

 

 

13. Understand delayed gratification

Delayed gratification is setting aside your emotions telling you to make an impulse purchase so that you can save that money to achieve your financial goals. 

It’s taking your monthly bonus and using it to grow your wealth rather than purchase a depreciating new vehicle on sale.

Making a habit of delaying financial gratification to achieve a greater goal, aka wealthy status, will accelerate you towards that goal potentially years’ worth of time.

 

 

14. The Rich network regularly

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with - Motivational speaker Jim Rohn Share on X

Business Insider has a whole post on that concept. 

Going a step further than just surrounding yourself with brilliant minds (see tip #9), wealthy people are always seeking new opportunities to network with more brilliant minds.

Think about it, the larger your network of friends and associates is, the more likely it is you will be able to gain access to brilliant minds and help for your million-dollar idea.

Apart from the social aspect of having more friends, your network is like a priceless folder on your computer stored with unlimited knowledge and intelligence. You have it available to you if and when you need it.

 

 

15. They give

It’s no wonder that many popular authors have written many books on this subject. The more you give the more you receive. 

There is a compound effect on giving too on your wealth, believe it or not. 

The more people you help the more money you make. Another proven concept through studies and countless polls of wealthy individuals is the fact that giving in any form plays a large part in building their wealth.

We alluded to that as part of our 12 toddler steps to financial freedom and our blog post on how to build your financial pyramid the right way. 

 

 

Keeping The Right Perspective Is Critical

As you can see, it makes no sense to the wealthy person to spend money on things that are of no worth and are not necessary. Rather, their goal is to spend on a greater cause, something that aligns with their value and their focus is on the long term.

In the words of Dave Ramsey, “Don’t buy things you can’t afford, with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like.” This is a concept that wealthy people learned about long ago, and their bank accounts show for it.

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