Living What You Aspire To Be – Lessons From Wealthy People
Dear Reader,
We trust that you and your wonderful family are well and hope that 2020 has started on a positive note for you despite the many financial and other obligations that come with such times. These range from school to other necessary bills we take care of at the beginning of the year such as road and other taxes. January is considered a financially challenging month with people likening it to quite horrible things such as ‘injury’, ‘Tsunami’ and simply ‘worry’. Some even refer to it as the month of JanWorry! Dear Reader, in this week’s story, we remind you yet again that the beginning of the year need not be this miserable in as far as finances are concerned. This is because you have the power to change this narrative to a more positive one and ultimately change the quality of life for you and your loved ones. Always remember that mastering good Money Management is more behavioural than it is a skill. This means that you can change your wealth destiny if you are intentional about it and are committed to the cause. Others say that making a decision to manage money well is the easier bit and that what is more challenging is sticking to that which we say we will do such as always ensuring that we live within our means, budgeting and avoiding unnecessary debt. Whereas this could be true, it can also be argued that it is possible to adopt positive behaviours that can help us to achieve our financial goals. The fact that some people achieve it means that it is attainable. It also means that there are certain behaviours wealthy people have that help them to become and remain wealthy. It is these behaviours that we would like to share with you so that we can all learn something and begin to emulate them so that we also grow our money and become wealthy.
Purposeful Mind Set
Wealthy people have a mindset that sets the ground for what they achieve. Some principles guide the way they think which include the following:
Cheap and proud
Wealthy people do not spend money unnecessarily even when they can afford to. They are extremely cautious with how they spend, they bargain and lookout for special offers and are not ashamed about it.
Not spending money is the same as making money They avoid unnecessary transactions
Wealthy people interpret not spending money to be the same as making money. This means that they will only spend on necessary things. Here is how it works, they may, for instance, decide to fly economy as opposed to business class and save, say K10,000.00. Their interpretation of this is that they can surely agree to be paid that amount of money for deciding to forgo the comfort of flying business class because it is a great bargain! As opposed to conducting various banking transactions such as withdrawals, they have a habit of either drawing out what they will need to use during the month or strictly separating money for spending from money for saving/investment. Along the way, they also challenge themselves to ensure that they keep reducing on what they use monthly where they can so that they increase on what they save and invest.
They loathe waste
Wealthy people are not wasteful. They believe in reusing what they can. Pat Brennan, co-owner of Brennan Builders, a premier custom home builder in Pennsylvania tells of a story when she encouraged her granddaughter to keep some paper clips as she was sorting out some stationery so that she could use them again to which she answered, ‘Grandma, do you know how cheap paper clips are?’’ her response was, ‘‘Do you know how far a penny can stretch when you need it?’’.
Ordinary people, they are not as sharp as we think!
Sounds consoling right? Despite them being as ordinary as we are, wealthy people do things differently. They are always up to date with trends in wealth creation, and they always keep their eyes and ears open for such developments in various markets depending on what they do. Peter Shankman, entrepreneur and angel investor says ‘’It’s amazing how much smarter everyone thinks you are once you have money. Two days after I sold my company, I got asked to speak at a conference I had been trying desperately to speak at for six years.’’
Not quitters- they go all the way to get what they deem right
August Turak says, ‘’I once went all the way to the head of customer support at Dell over a problematic computer that was out of warranty, and I was shipped a new one the next day. If you are willing to go up the chain, you will very likely reach someone who is willing to bend the rules to rectify a complaint and fix the problem’’.
Finding investment ideas in everyday life
Wealthy people are deliberate and intentional about the art of being or living wealthy. Being wealthy and investing is part of their everyday life, and they ensure that they identify opportunities from observing everyday life. A manager at Fidelity Magellan fund says, ‘’After my wife got excited about the fact that Hanes sold its L’eggs pantyhose in grocery stores, I figured that the company was on to something. I bought Hanes’s stock and watched it rise, six-fold!’’ Dear Reader, now that you have learnt about how wealthy people think and behave, we will go a step further in our story for next week and share creative ways of spending money wisely as they do. You need to ‘live’ that which you want to become. If you desire to be wealthy, you need to behave, think and live like one! Until next week, be blessed and be a blessing to others!