In our modern times, many perceive material wealth as success and happiness. Even if people haven’t become rich, they do their best to give the impression of being well-off. Truly wealthy individuals live by different principles, and they are unconcerned about the opinions of others.
Millionaires don’t often lend money.
Wealthy individuals spend significant amounts on charity and help their loved ones. However, that doesn’t mean they will cover the bill for their friends every time. Wealthy people don’t spend money thoughtlessly. Moreover, some ungrateful individuals may quickly become accustomed to such assistance.
- I love helping people, but I hate more than anything when they just start assuming or expecting it. Look, I bought you a drink one time when I felt like I could financially handle that. If the next time you act under the assumption that I’m going to do it again, and don’t even ask, just demand? © CorsetofWords / Reddit
They take care of their health.
Any rich person believes that when it comes to their health, prevention is better than cure.
Rich people often use the services of concierge medicine. They pay a high annual fee to have whatever care they need available whenever they want it, without having to struggle to be seen by a doctor. © LarsAlereon / Reddit
All well-off people I know focus on preventative healthcare, more than on actual treatment when a disease strikes. Of course, they have access to high-quality early diagnostic methods, but each one of us has access to regular medical check-ups that can save our lives. © Anthon Lund / Quora
You don’t have to be wealthy to be healthy. Fresh air and a healthy diet with a combination of a good night’s sleep and the absence of harmful habits don’t cost anything except for the effort you have to put in to maintain them.
They keep their mouth shut.
Wealthy people do many things differently. They don’t talk too much about their money and they don’t try to show the whole world how rich they are.
The wealthiest people I know either dress exceptionally cheap or wear things that are expensive, but you wouldn’t know it just from looking at them. On the contrary, those who are trying to make an impression and demonstrate how rich they are love showing off their designer clothes. © Bran_Solo / Reddit
Wealthy people often understate all that they do and keep “quiet” about their financial status. Their clothes are good quality and tasteful, but nothing draws undue attention to itself. Whereas flashy types who are literally covered in brands, crave your attention and want you to think they are rich. © Back2Bach / Reddit
Obnoxious and ridiculous excessiveness reveals the truth about people who went from poor to rich very quickly, or who just want to feel like they belong to the group of more well-off people.
They understand the value of education.
There’s a famous saying that states: “If you give a hungry man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you give him a fishing rod and teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” A good education is this “rod.”
- A member of my family is a private wealth manager for rich people, so I know what I’m talking about. Rich people invest in their education like crazy. Do their kids want a Maserati? Nope, it’s not going to happen! Do their kids want to learn how to play the piano? Of course, they’ll have as many lessons on the piano as they want. They invest in the best teachers and the best universities and want to give their children the best education possible. © Priamosish / Reddit
My aunt and uncle are rich. They have never owned a new car in their lives or spoiled their 2 kids. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found out how much they had paid for the art school for their son. They spent $100k! But this investment has paid off, because their son works at some big NYC ad agency. © Kieffa / Reddit
New knowledge and skills mean new opportunities for development, personal growth, and increasing your wealth. That’s why education is an investment that lasts a lifetime.
They find time to express gratitude.
And it’s not about just being polite, which is an essential quality if you want to feel comfortable among well-off people. An ability to be grateful and express this gratitude has a strong power over people.
All wealthy people I know say thank you to their banker, their gardener, their attorney, their garbage man, their pool boy, and the chairman of their board, because they are aware of the vital contribution each one of them makes to their success. They appreciate everyone’s work, and they don’t take people for granted. They make others feel happy to be a part of their team. As a result, they get significant amounts of cooperation and 110% effort from those they work with. This gives them enormous success. © Steve Kobrin / Quora
Robert Townsend, the former president of Avis and one of the 20th Century Fox executives, mentioned: “Saying ‘thank you’ is a strongly underappreciated way of compensation for doing your job.” Simple words of gratitude help build an emotional connection with people and may even inspire others.
They don’t spend their energy trying to impress people.
They communicate with people who they look up to.
Millionaires are extremely picky when it comes to the people who surround them because they know that similarities attract and bind.
- Ultra-wealthy people would never allow toxic people to stay in their lives. They won’t spend time with people who are poor and only complain about their lives, because this is the reason why “poor people only become poorer.” © Ratna Kumar / Quora
Experience is priceless and well-off people think that if you know a successful person who is ready to share their knowledge, it’d be stupid to miss this opportunity. They look for people who can help them and have the same vibe as they do.
They buy comfortable, but not pricey clothes.
Money can make you feel more satisfied and help you solve your everyday problems. But as soon as you buy everything you need, it will start to bring you less and less happiness, even if your income grows. Sounds like a paradox, right?
- My parents have a lot of money and they’ve earned it all themselves. They have 3 rules: “Don’t buy stuff to impress people,” “Don’t waste money on luxury cars. They lose a lot of value and they cost a fortune to maintain,” and “Save whatever you can, and invest whatever you can.” Wasting money means going out to dinner more than one night a week or trying to buy all the new gadgets. Seriously, people who have tons of cash don’t pay attention to these things. They prefer to have a good amount of savings instead. © Powerlesshero111 / Reddit
Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple and Pixar, once said: “I watched people who worked at Apple and who made a lot of money, but they were so unhappy. Some of them bought Rolls-Royces, each one of them had a manager who took care of their house and a manager above that manager. Their wives went through so many plastic surgeries that they turned into these strange people who didn’t look like people anymore. I didn’t want to live that way. It’s madness.”
Well-off people are sure that all decisions connected to how much you can spend should be made based on your current financial opportunities and the objective benefits you might get from owning this exact object.
Rich people don’t go to great lengths to impress guests.
Poor people spend the whole day preparing before guests arrive. They want to make an impression, appear wealthy, and surprise with fancy appetizers. Truly wealthy people don’t care what others think. They can serve pizza or just invite guests for tea.