Let's look at a few things that poor people do that keeps them poor. You are likely guilty of a few of these yourself...
The Poor consume and The Rich Create
One of the main things that seperate the poor from the rich is the difference between consuming and creating. The average person who isn't rich, spend their time working to pay for things that others create. Poor people work to buy the latest iPhone, buy the latest fashionable shoes, watches, TV's, game consoles etc etc. They spend very little time creating things that others will want to consume.
The rich however spend their time on creating things that others consume. Actors spend their time creating movies and TV shows that others will watch, Internet personalities create content that others watch, succesful profitable companies create products that others buy.
The poor have a consumer mentality and the rich have a creator mentality.
The good news is that we can all be creators!! What can you create that others will want?The Rich use their time effectively
Poor people spend a lot of their time doing activities that do not bring any value. Browsing facebook, watching television etc. While watching celebrity gossip might be interesting, it does not bring any value or benefit to you. It does however benefit the rich celebrity who instead of watching TV is on TV. They are creating more content (gossip) while the poor are consuming it.
Of course not all media is bad, there are educational books, TV shows etc. And sometimes you need to simply disconnect from the World. That is fine. However, if you are spending a lot of your time consuming mindless content, it could be a sign of something going on in your life that you do not like.
The reality is to much time wasted on watching TV, browsing the internet, posting on Facebook etc is precious time that poor people could be using to work on their growth.
The rich and the succesful work on their growth, their mission and their problems first. Only then do they possibly consume some entertainment. Ask yourself, is it just entertainment? Or, are you consuming media to escape reality?The Poor spend a lot of time trying to save a little bit of money
Saving money is good! But, how you go about saving that money is important. If you spend all day searching for coupons so that you can save a few dollars at the supermarket then you are wasting time that you could have used to earn more money than you saved. Or are you spending hours on doing the lawns and gardens to save $20 that you could have paid a teenager to do for you, and instead earnt a lot more creating (see point 1 above).
The poor will spend their time doing tasks that do not much bring much value, while the rich will either pay more money to save time or delegate lower value jobs to others so that they can concentrate on higher value tasks.
Time is limited and valuable, value your time more! Look at ways you can save more time and spend what time you have on more valuable tasks. Get the most value from your time!
"Why do a $10/hr job when you can instead be doing a $50/hr job."Poor people try to look rich
How often have you seen people trying to impress others with the things they own, the new car, the latest phone. They are trying to look rich to impress those around them, even those that do not know them. These things are meant to show how succesful they are. How rich they are!
In fact, Poor people spend more on trying to look rich instead of working on actually getting rich. And, all of that stuff that they spend money on is holding them back. These things that they are buying do not bring any real value. These things become a burden, you have to keep working to afford these luxuries.
I bet that you have bought an item more than once only to regret it later.The Poor keep their money
The poor save their money or dont save at all. The rich invest it. I am not saying that you shouldn't save your money, it is important to have some money put away for a rainy day. The real difference is that most people leave their money in the bank so that they can buy something in the future (likely something they don't really need) or just leave it their doing nothing.
Money that sits in the bank doing nothing has no value. If I gave you one million dollars but told you that you could never spend it or use it in anyway, then it doesnt have any value. Money in the bank is the same, it only has value when you use it. If you leave it in the bank, then it in fact loses value due to inflation.
The Rich on the otherhand, out their money to work. They invest it (wisely)! This money then creates more money for them. It does not sit idle.
The Poor are afraid of investment, in fear of losing their money. Before investing anywhere else, they should invest in themselves. Educate themselves on how to use money wisely and then they will gain the confidence on how to make their money work for them.The Rich have more than one source of income
The Poor are afraid of losing their job, because in most cases that is their only form of income. This causes them a lot of stress, they worry about what will happen if they lose their job.
The Rich will have multiple streams of income so that they do not need to worry at all about this. If they lose one form of income, they still have income coming in from other sources.
What can you do to build other forms of income?Poor people aim to retire
Poor people work hard for 45 or more years with the goal of having a nice retirement and finally the freedom of being able to do what they want. That retirement will come at the age of 65! not leaving a lot of time to really enjoy life. Sometimes, sadly we do not make it to 65.
The rich on the otherhand do not worry about retirement, they instead focus on being financially independent. They have a goal of acquiring enough assets (things that produce income streams) to pay for their lifestyle.