A lot of people want to know what are the things rich people have that poor don’t. And I think it’s easier to answer the question by asking a different question: What do rich people do differently from the poor?
If you’ve ever tried to ask rich people what they have that poor people don’t, you might be surprised at their answer. It isn’t money. Money is only a byproduct of all the qualities rich people have that poor people don’t have.
There’s nothing wrong with poor people. In fact, it’s not their fault that they find themselves in that situation. However, they have an opportunity to change their circumstances by simply changing their mindsets.
Mindset includes all self-limiting beliefs, cultural norms, and philosophies that inhibit a person from achieving their full potential. This can be easily achieved by studying what successful people do and modeling their success.
1. Discipline: Rich people have discipline, which poor people don’t. This discipline is reflected in everything they say and do, including their behavior, etiquette, and spending habits. As a result, most people are naturally attracted to them.
On the contrary, the lack of discipline in poor people pushes them further into debt and leads them to buy liabilities instead of assets, to impress people they don’t know, with money they don’t have.
2. Time Management: Rich people understand that “time is money”, so they don’t waste it. We all have 24 hours in a day to work, sleep and rest, so why do rich people seem to get ahead while poor people seem to fall back?
Poor people don’t have time consciousness, and can’t manage their own time unless it’s managed for them.
3. Mindset: Rich people have a different mindset, which poor people don’t have.
When we’re talking about the mindset of the rich, there’s a definite difference between those who have amassed great wealth and those who haven’t.
In fact, sometimes it seems like their state of mind is the only commonality between them all. That’s because building a fortune from scratch requires an entirely different mindset.
They’re not easily impressed by money. They’re impressed by the mindset of a person. Poor people don’t understand how a simple mindset change can alter the course of their lives.
4. Risk: Rich people take risks because they understand how risk and return are correlated. They understand that without taking risks there can never be a return.
In my life, I’ve taken great risks, and sometimes I lost a lot, but I don’t regret it. I only think it was part of learning. Poor people fear taking risks. As a result, they lose nothing, but also, they gain nothing.
5. Opportunity: Rich people will never miss an opportunity unless they want to. Poor people can’t see an opportunity because their eyes have not been trained to see it.
Furthermore, since opportunities are often dressed in dirty overalls and look like work, poor people won’t touch it.
6. Different Agenda: Rich people have a different agenda. They want fulfillment in life and get a kick when they think they’ve made a difference in other people’s lives. Poor people think their lives will be fulfilled when they get more money.
As a result, they work for money all their lives and sink deeper into debt because they don’t understand how money works.
7. Different Perspectives: The rich have a different perspective of life. For example, rich people look at failure as the route to success. They don’t easily give up. Poor people run away from failure because they were taught at school never to accept it.
So they’re inclined to look at failure as a bad omen and will easily give up at the first failed attempt because they’re afraid of repeat failure.
8. Hard Work: It’s no secret that rich people work hard. However, they also work smart by implementing the law of leverage and the compound effect.
They’re constantly seeking ways to make their lives easier so that they can save time and afford to think. Poor people don’t see the need to work hard. They’re constantly seeking ways to make their lives more comfortable minus the hard work.
9. Investing — Saving: Rich people invest. Poor people save. Rich people spend most of their lives studying money, how to make it, where to invest it, and how to hedge it against exorbitant taxation, and the ravages of inflation.
They desist from buying liabilities and use their hard-earned money to buy assets. This explains why they get richer. Poor people usually don’t have the time to educate themselves on financial literacy. Instead, they give their money to other people to manage it for them and give their money to banks as savings.
Savings are a boon to banks because they pay you a paltry interest while earning large profits by heavily lending the money to borrowers.
10. Generosity: Do you suppose rich people get richer simply by withholding what they have?
Rich people are not stingy as most people think. They’re very generous, and in fact, they’ll go out of their way to help out a helpless widow, an orphan, or give a generous contribution to a church, mosque, temple, or community.
Poor people will often withhold from giving out the little they have because they think by giving they’ll become poorer. They miss out on the universal principle of giving to receive.
