7 Things Rich People Do That You Probably Don’t
True wealth is not accumulating large amounts of money and assets but being independent.
When you read literature related to achieving financial independence for a long time, you realize that all those people who have been successful in the economic aspect follow a series of very similar, and sometimes even identical, patterns of behavior.
I intend to explain in a simple way a series of facts that people who are successful in their personal finances do so that you can start to apply them yourself and benefit from them.
As I said, many of the ideas I will present are taken from authors who have achieved financial freedom, and others are taken from people I have been able to meet who have achieved great economic success.
As you will see, these are not otherworldly actions, but they are measures that are characterized by their simplicity, but applied together over an extended period of time will give your personal finances give a big boost. Remember that in this life, simplicity is what generates the best results.
7 Habits of Financially Independent People
There are a number of ideas that I have detected throughout all this time in the way of acting and thinking of people who enjoy great economic prosperity, and here I will comment on those that I consider being the most important:
#1 — They have a clear idea of wealth
When people talk about wealth, about being rich, they immediately create in their minds the idea of having large sums of money in their checking account (millions and millions of dollars) and a large number of assets all over the world.
This is the vision of wealth that the media sells us, but usually, the people who enjoy this position are heavily in debt and highly exposed to the vagaries of the market.
Outside this bubble, people like you and me know that this is not the true idea of wealth. True wealth is not accumulating large amounts of money and assets but being independent.
In other words, we have to know what is the monetary value that will allow us, by putting it to work for us, to have the standard of living we desire without being forced to work.
#2 — They start planning their finances as soon as possible
People who achieve financial success realize that they cannot leave the evolution of their personal finances to chance. So from a very young age, they take care of their finances, which means they can reach adulthood with a much more comfortable financial situation than the vast majority of people.
If you want your financial situation not to take away your sleep, get to work as soon as possible because time is running against you. If you are over 35, you are already behind, and it is urgent that you start building your financial future through passive income and your own investment portfolio.
#3 — They build their financial freedom from the bottom up
When we enter the world of financial freedom, we tend to look for shortcuts to achieve our financial goals as quickly as possible. We often focus wrongly on the quest for quick money, and our lust for riches can cause us to put our money into assets or businesses that cause us to lose a large portion of our resources.
All people who have achieved financial independence know that there is no such thing as quick money and that the real key to financial independence is to create a solid foundation for our personal finances.
This is why one of the first exercises they do is to reduce debts. We will not be able to enjoy solid personal finances if our resources sink into debt. Not eliminating our debts is like turning on the faucet, but without putting the stopper in the bathtub.
Parallel to the elimination of their debts, they carry out a process of capital accumulation where they strictly apply the maxim of not spending more than they come in. Not only do they constantly create new sources of passive income, but they also apply a strategy that is basically when we are in the accumulation phase: Living with half.
#4 — They know that patience is a virtue
When they get fully involved in creating their own business, you know that results don’t happen overnight and that patience is money. They know that with constant work and a good focus on what you want to achieve, the results will eventually come.
This attitude makes a clear difference to those who fail in their quest for financial independence. The vast majority of people want immediate results, and as soon as they realize that it takes longer to materialize any of their goals than they expected, they end up giving up.
#5 — They are willing to pay the price
These people, when starting their own project, know that for an indefinite period, they will have to live below their means. They know that entrepreneurship has a cost and that it is not only economic.
They know that they will have to dedicate a lot of time to their projects, without the certainty that they will bear fruit; they know that for them, every day of the week will be a working day; they know that they will have to give up much of their leisure time and friends? In short, they know from the start that they are going to sacrifice an indeterminate amount of time of their lives.
#6 — They pay themselves first
The concept of paying ourselves first was exposed to the general public by Robert Kiyosaki and consists in the fact that, before assigning a portion of our monthly income to pay our obligations, we pay ourselves by assigning a certain percentage of that income to create our own system that puts our money to work for us.
#7 — Continuing financial education
Finally, another of the characteristics that differentiate successful people and those who don’t is their continuing financial education. People who achieve financial independence live immersed in the process of constant knowledge acquisition. They read books, attend seminars, talk to and relate to people who have achieved what they want …
In short, they are immersed in a process of constant improvement, and not just in the financial sphere.