I didn’t take a scientific survey or anything, but I’ve been trying to pay attention to the things that contribute most to other bloggers’ financial well-being. You can’t learn how to be wealthy from people who are not wealthy. Unfortunately, I don’t have any friends, family, or close acquaintances who I would consider wealthy. That means, in order to find behavior to emulate and attitudes to adopt that will help me on my journey, I have to use others’ blogs and financial articles to see real examples of people doing things that help them become wealthy.
So far, I’ve observed that people with healthy balance sheets:
Focus on ways to make their assets grow.
I look at folks’ balance sheets, if they make them available, and I’ve noticed that folks with good finances tend to have either a lot saved, a lot in their retirement accounts, a lot in the stock market, home ownership, or some or all of the above. They also pay attention to things like interest rates, tax consequences, property values, etc. You can’t do any of this stuff unless you take the advice to spend less than you earn to heart. Yeah, folks say it all the time, so it has that tendency to elicit a, "Yeah, yeah, I know" response. But I personally think it can’t be reiterated and emphasized enough. With all the temptations to spend money, every little bit of encouragement to stay focused helps me. Right now, trying to get out of consumer debt is important, because the interest rate on my debt exceeds any interest rate for growth of comparable savings deposits, so I have to get rid of that before I can emulate this "build your assets" behavior. I’m excited about building a retirement fund and saving regularly, because I know how important that is. As soon as I’m out of consumer debt, I’d like to get a stock portfolio started, too.
Recognize the difference between mindless consumption and money well spent.
It’s not like people are wealthy because they don’t spend any money (which is what I’ve been told by people who wouldn’t know, ‘cause they’re not wealthy). It’s more like wealthy people analyze their spending decisions well. They spend money on stuff that really matters to them, and they take the time to really think about what matters to them, so they can tell the difference between what they want to pay "good money" for, and what they’re willing to cut corners on. That’s probably better than the extremes of skimping on everything (which is pretty much what I do) or spending with abandon. I do have to remind myself sometimes that it’s worth spending more for things with better long-term value, so that I don’t wind up spending a little up front, but making up for it by having to deal with repairs, replacements, and the like. I’m trying to hone my "is it worth it" analysis skills.
Are creative.
Seems to me like a lot of people with money are the kind of people who look for a good return on their investment for the time they spend. They do stuff like start side businesses, negotiate good salaries, invest time in educating themselves about money, or leave their employers for their own entrepreneurial efforts. Most people I know don’t do things like this. They don’t try to find ways to do things differently so much as they follow the road they’re already on. I realize that I’m not going to get out of debt quickly and build wealth for my family by just following the road. I have ideas for generating additional income, and I have to value my time enough to get over my fears, step out on faith, and try those ideas while my youth and energy and optimism are still in my corner. I know people who come up with great ideas but never use them. I know people who want to leave their jobs but stay put. This is a big world with opportunities all over the place, and it looks to me like the people who have wealth are those fortunate folks who decided to seek or create opportunities instead of playing the lottery and hoping idly for their ship to come in.
Oh, I still have so much more to learn and observe. But right now, to be honest, I’m still getting up the nerve to believe that I will actually be out of debt with a healthy amount of assets one day. It’s one thing to say it, but it’s quite another to believe it - to act as if it’s a given. I think that attaining financial health is more than just what you do, it’s how you think. I’m just trying to get my mind in the game, not just my budget. So, I will continue to watch and learn.
