Found this article online (posted below) on a home page and it is interesting to see some of these habits described in general terms which somewhat apply casually to me... getting in trouble in high school, not opting for materialism, being generous and probably most importantly, staying focused. I cannot stress how crucial this element is to success. The goal writing/achieving is so much more important than this article emphasizes.
Achieving goals and happiness are both extremely important elements, but I suppose many people confuse materialism with choosing desires. We have nice cars and live in a modest home, with very nice income producing assets, but we do not buy the extravagant $5000 pocketbooks or the extravagant $500 name brand jeans, but we will spend our money and time on traveling and events for the family which also includes dining out together. I think our lifestyle does not reflect our net worth by most Americans standards.
it seems apparent that most Americans need to indulge into expensive food, home, travel experiences, clothing and cars well before there is any financial planning involved. A recent article in the newspaper confirmed this and claimed that Americans today believe that many of these luxuries are crucial elements of happiness vs. the Americans surveyed in the 1980s who believed only a couple of the extravagances or luxuries were important to happiness. These are the vast majority of folks who are lacking any focus or planning (and should pay heed to the article below)
This other article (that I wish I could find now) also claimed the person driving a Toyota and wearing a Timex is generally just as happy and actually happier than the person driving a Jaguar wearing a Rolex. That article justified the person with the Toyota/Timex has goals that they most likely continue to achieve, either educationally, in relationship(s), or some other aspect that is important to life. I found this tidbit interesting and confirms my experience that a $40 metal Swatch did the trick for years while I leapt into 7 figure net worth (until my in-laws bought me a nice watch that I wear everyday) and I drove a jalopi 10 year old Nissan Maxima that got into a fender bender ($3000 worth of work was more than the value of the car, so I tossed it. Wife was thrilled)... my calculated risks involved in focusing on my goals rather than what will afford me the laps of luxuries rather than jumping into the game the other way around, as most Americans seem to unfortunately be doing.
But, dont fret all of you- to keep the car spirit consistent with this board- the Porsche GT (or now with all of these pix of Lambos, I might do some fretting of my own) is still on my list of wants and while currently achievable, I have other goals to attain in my life financially and relationship-wise before I will allow myself to get one. I heard we have to wait a couple of years before getting one, anyway...
Anyway, here is the article below that inspired my post - I just wish I could find the other article relating money with happiness.
http://content.comcast.monster.com/articles/3482/16785/1/home.aspx?WT.mc_n=comcast006
Five Habits of Millionaires
by Barbara Reinhold
Monster Contributing Writer
Related Articles
According to a study of college students at the Ernst & Young International Intern Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, 59 percent of these young leaders expect to be millionaires within their lifetime. What's more, 5 percent of them expect to hit the million-dollar mark while in their 20s.
And the super-rich are a growing group. The top 0.1 percent of the population's average income was $3 million in 2002, up two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980.
Earned Money vs. Easy Money
Easy money usually comes from inheritance or luck, such as winning the lottery. The track record of people who get their money through the lottery or other windfalls is usually very different from those who created their wealth themselves or who planned for an expected inheritance. Lottery winners are often a sorry lot; more than 90 percent use up their winnings within 10 years -- some go through their money in weeks or months.
But there are some consistent patterns among those people who earn or plan to inherit their money, and these five strategies may be worth emulating.
1. Avoid the Earn-to-Spend Mentality
Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Millionaire in You, points out that to increase wealth, it's essential to emulate millionaires who view money as something to save and invest, rather than income to spend. Many wealthy people live quite simply, he points out, choosing less pretentious homes than they could theoretically afford and opting for financial independence over material showmanship.
2. Focus
LeBoeuf also counsels resisting the impulse to be scattered in your efforts and interests: "Winners focus; losers spray." And goals that are clearly written down are easier to keep in focus.
3. Do Whatever Is Necessary to Meet Your Goal
People who earn their millions are able not only to focus but persevere in the pursuit of their goals. One single mom entrepreneur, Melissa Clark-Reynolds, started her first business, a health and safety consultancy, when she had a young son. En route to her goal of being a millionaire by age 35, Clarke-Reynolds and her son ate lots of pizza, did homework late at night and often slept at the office. She is now a chief executive mentor for Empower New Zealand, a global business consulting firm headquartered in London.
4. Take Calculated Risks
You have to take strategic risks to earn and grow money. And a little rebelliousness seems to help too. One interesting study found a majority of male millionaire entrepreneurs had been in trouble with school authorities or the police during their adolescence.
5. Be Generous
And why doesn't it surprise us that millionaires are often very generous? Sometimes it's for the tax breaks, obviously, but often it's not. One Jewish Swiss millionaire, for instance, flew to Israel to give $5,000 in cash to a waiter at a Jerusalem café who foiled a Palestinian suicide bombing. Among the most generous of millionaires are those from North America, who are, according to a Merrill Lynch Cap-Gemini report, two to five times more likely to give to causes they value than their European counterparts.
These five habits are a pretty good prescription for living happily even if you're not a millionaire.
But LeBoeuf insists it's not so unusual to be a millionaire. As of 2004, there were 8.2 million households with a net worth of more than $1 million. And are the folks in those households happy? Yes, says professor Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in the UK. After studying more than 9,000 people over eight years, Oswald concluded that people who come into money are happier. The happiest among them, he says, seem to be "highly educated, well-paid women who have jobs."
And how much money does the professor say it takes to be happy? "About $1 million, give or take a little."
Achieving goals and happiness are both extremely important elements, but I suppose many people confuse materialism with choosing desires. We have nice cars and live in a modest home, with very nice income producing assets, but we do not buy the extravagant $5000 pocketbooks or the extravagant $500 name brand jeans, but we will spend our money and time on traveling and events for the family which also includes dining out together. I think our lifestyle does not reflect our net worth by most Americans standards.
it seems apparent that most Americans need to indulge into expensive food, home, travel experiences, clothing and cars well before there is any financial planning involved. A recent article in the newspaper confirmed this and claimed that Americans today believe that many of these luxuries are crucial elements of happiness vs. the Americans surveyed in the 1980s who believed only a couple of the extravagances or luxuries were important to happiness. These are the vast majority of folks who are lacking any focus or planning (and should pay heed to the article below)
This other article (that I wish I could find now) also claimed the person driving a Toyota and wearing a Timex is generally just as happy and actually happier than the person driving a Jaguar wearing a Rolex. That article justified the person with the Toyota/Timex has goals that they most likely continue to achieve, either educationally, in relationship(s), or some other aspect that is important to life. I found this tidbit interesting and confirms my experience that a $40 metal Swatch did the trick for years while I leapt into 7 figure net worth (until my in-laws bought me a nice watch that I wear everyday) and I drove a jalopi 10 year old Nissan Maxima that got into a fender bender ($3000 worth of work was more than the value of the car, so I tossed it. Wife was thrilled)... my calculated risks involved in focusing on my goals rather than what will afford me the laps of luxuries rather than jumping into the game the other way around, as most Americans seem to unfortunately be doing.
But, dont fret all of you- to keep the car spirit consistent with this board- the Porsche GT (or now with all of these pix of Lambos, I might do some fretting of my own) is still on my list of wants and while currently achievable, I have other goals to attain in my life financially and relationship-wise before I will allow myself to get one. I heard we have to wait a couple of years before getting one, anyway...
Anyway, here is the article below that inspired my post - I just wish I could find the other article relating money with happiness.
http://content.comcast.monster.com/articles/3482/16785/1/home.aspx?WT.mc_n=comcast006
Five Habits of Millionaires
by Barbara Reinhold
Monster Contributing Writer
Related Articles
- Send to a friend
- Send feedback
- Discuss this article
According to a study of college students at the Ernst & Young International Intern Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, 59 percent of these young leaders expect to be millionaires within their lifetime. What's more, 5 percent of them expect to hit the million-dollar mark while in their 20s.
And the super-rich are a growing group. The top 0.1 percent of the population's average income was $3 million in 2002, up two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980.
Earned Money vs. Easy Money
Easy money usually comes from inheritance or luck, such as winning the lottery. The track record of people who get their money through the lottery or other windfalls is usually very different from those who created their wealth themselves or who planned for an expected inheritance. Lottery winners are often a sorry lot; more than 90 percent use up their winnings within 10 years -- some go through their money in weeks or months.
But there are some consistent patterns among those people who earn or plan to inherit their money, and these five strategies may be worth emulating.
1. Avoid the Earn-to-Spend Mentality
Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Millionaire in You, points out that to increase wealth, it's essential to emulate millionaires who view money as something to save and invest, rather than income to spend. Many wealthy people live quite simply, he points out, choosing less pretentious homes than they could theoretically afford and opting for financial independence over material showmanship.
2. Focus
LeBoeuf also counsels resisting the impulse to be scattered in your efforts and interests: "Winners focus; losers spray." And goals that are clearly written down are easier to keep in focus.
3. Do Whatever Is Necessary to Meet Your Goal
People who earn their millions are able not only to focus but persevere in the pursuit of their goals. One single mom entrepreneur, Melissa Clark-Reynolds, started her first business, a health and safety consultancy, when she had a young son. En route to her goal of being a millionaire by age 35, Clarke-Reynolds and her son ate lots of pizza, did homework late at night and often slept at the office. She is now a chief executive mentor for Empower New Zealand, a global business consulting firm headquartered in London.
4. Take Calculated Risks
You have to take strategic risks to earn and grow money. And a little rebelliousness seems to help too. One interesting study found a majority of male millionaire entrepreneurs had been in trouble with school authorities or the police during their adolescence.
5. Be Generous
And why doesn't it surprise us that millionaires are often very generous? Sometimes it's for the tax breaks, obviously, but often it's not. One Jewish Swiss millionaire, for instance, flew to Israel to give $5,000 in cash to a waiter at a Jerusalem café who foiled a Palestinian suicide bombing. Among the most generous of millionaires are those from North America, who are, according to a Merrill Lynch Cap-Gemini report, two to five times more likely to give to causes they value than their European counterparts.
These five habits are a pretty good prescription for living happily even if you're not a millionaire.
But LeBoeuf insists it's not so unusual to be a millionaire. As of 2004, there were 8.2 million households with a net worth of more than $1 million. And are the folks in those households happy? Yes, says professor Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in the UK. After studying more than 9,000 people over eight years, Oswald concluded that people who come into money are happier. The happiest among them, he says, seem to be "highly educated, well-paid women who have jobs."
And how much money does the professor say it takes to be happy? "About $1 million, give or take a little."
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