People have a lot of strange ideas about getting rich, and most of them come from their own psychology. People who grow up with poor or middle-class parents have a bias toward viewing themselves in the same light. In almost all cases, they follow in their parents’ footsteps, taking on the same unconscious beliefs as them when it comes to money.
What’s strange about these beliefs is how pervasive they are, and how many of them most people have. All sorts of bad things are said about money but, ultimately, it is a means to an end. It’s what lets you have the lifestyle that you want.
Here we take a look at the real reasons you’re not rich yet, and what you can do about it.
You Think Being Rich Is For Other People
If you never believe you can be rich, you never will be. That’s because getting rich takes a certain mindset. If you don’t think it is possible, you will never try. And if you don’t try, nothing will happen in your life.
Many people fall into the trap of believing that getting rich is the preserve of the ultra-smart or shrewd. But when you actually look at the people who have net worths over $2.1 million, most of them got there by simply taking action when others didn’t. They weren’t afraid to move forwards in their lives and get the things that they wanted. That’s what ultimately set them apart.
You Don’t Believe In Compounding
Most people look at the task of becoming a millionaire and imagine it will never happen to them. Their income is $75,000 per year and they can save a maximum of $25,000 per year. That means that it will take them more than 40 years to get to the $1 million mark, so they better start in their early twenties.
But, of course, that’s not really how the world works. If you invest that money and keep saving, it actually only takes around 15 to 20 years to get to that point. And that’s just doing a regular job, not including other side projects or methods to boost your income.
You Don’t Track Your Spending
Most of the super-rich on Wealthy Gorilla got wealthy because they always tracked their spending. If they were splurging too much, they cut back, particularly in the early years when it was more important to dedicate their income to wealth building.
Unfortunately, most people don’t track their spending. They aren’t strict with it, so they wind up wasting a lot of money on things they don’t need, living too much in the present without really considering the future.
Tracking your spending ensures that you only spend money on things that you find beneficial or fulfilling. It lets you avoid things that cost you money unnecessarily or spend your disposable income on gambling.
You Behave Like You’re Rich When You Aren’t.
Flying business class or taking four two-week vacations per year are the sorts of things that wealthy people can do. But that doesn’t mean that you should emulate them. By spending money today, you are sacrificing your own financial future.
It’s nice to have a positive attitude towards spending money and, occasionally, you’ll want to give yourself a taste of the high life. But, in reality, it’s not a good idea. Unless you’ve built up capital, you’ll need to continue living simply until the point where you can splurge.
You Work Too Many Hours
Hustling is the latest approach to getting rich. You’re supposed to work every hour that God sends to “make it.” But most people can’t follow this strategy. It’s just too intense. After a few months, they get burned out and can’t carry on.
Working harder has become a kind of “new normal”. Wages have been stagnating since the 1970s, so people are trying to put in more hours to make up the difference. The only problem with this approach is that it simply doesn’t work. You wind up destroying your body and feeling stressed and exhausted all the time.
The trick here is to think about a different way of working. Instead of just dedicating more hours to the cause, find a way to work smarter. Look for opportunities to earn more money in less time. And if you can find a way to scale and automate money making, do it.
You Can’t Get Started
Some people have the opposite problem. They don’t work enough. This crowd expects everything to come to them automatically when, in reality, it never does.
The trick here is to get an early start every morning. Wake up at the crack of dawn and just get on with all the things that you don’t want to do. Don’t even think about “hard work.” Just tell yourself that you’re working joyfully and that, in the end, it’ll all be worth it.
Make sure that you stick with an iron-clad routine. Never deviate from your schedule unless you absolutely have to. If you need time for fun, do something to enjoy yourself in the evenings or on a Sunday. Never allow your inner voice to tell you that you can slack off. Give every day you all and the rewards will quickly start to mount.
You Have Friends Who Hardly Make Any Money
Most people earn within 20 percent of what their closest friends earn. That means that the company you keep can have a profound impact on your earnings potential. If you’re hanging around with the wrong crowd, you might be sabotaging yourself.
The trick here is to be the least successful person in a new group. Peer pressure will unconsciously program you to seek out higher, better pay
You Think Being Rich Is Bad
Lastly, you might be holding yourself back because you believe that being rich is fundamentally bad. You find it quite unpalatable.
Throughout history, there has been a lot of talk about the evils of money. But the measurement itself isn’t the problem, it’s how you use it. The truth is that you can do good and earn a decent income at the same time.