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Are you searching for ways to get out of the rat race?
Do you want to know how to stop being poor?
We’ve all heard the same old sayings from online and from people around us. They all tell us to, “create a budget,” and, “save money,” and talk about the same redundant things. But don’t you want to hear something different?
Today, I’m going to explain to you some of the characteristics that successful, rich people have.
These characteristics aren’t going to make you rich overnight, but keeping them in mind will certainly give you an insight as to how the rich think and operate, and ultimately, help you to stop being poor.
Think, “How can I afford that,” instead of, “I can’t afford that.”
If you’re from the poor or middle class, I’m sure you’ve heard your parents say, “we can’t afford that,” or “do you think money grows on trees?”
Saying such things is not a bad thing. It means your parents were conscious about their spending and saving money.
However, such phrases create a specific type of mindset that could limit your potential. You become what you think. If you think that money is hard to get, you’ll be trapped in that mindset, never attempting to expand or innovate from there.
To stop being poor, you need to change your mindset.
For example, let’s say that you hate your job. Every weekday you wake up, you dread going to work and wonder when your opportunity to get a new job will come.
The more you think that you hate your job, the more negativity will come out. You’ll underperform at work, and you’ll just continue to feel more stressed.
The same concept applies to your finances. The more you think you can’t afford many things, the more you’ll believe in it and the more it’ll become your reality.
Therefore, instead of thinking, “I can’t afford it,” think, “How can I afford it?” This will allow you to start thinking outside of the box.
It’ll remove the mental limit you set on your financial capabilities and allow you to get creative and learn new things.
Don’t work for money, work to create something of value
We all know the typical way to make a living. We’re told to go to school, go to college, study hard, and find a good-paying job.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this route. Many people have achieved high-paying jobs and are satisfied with where they are, and that’s completely fine.
But to understand how to stop being poor, you need to understand how to create value that can theoretically be scaled infinitely.
Think about how much money you can make earning a wage. Is it infinitely scalable?
No.
There is only one of you and only 24 hours in a day. The amount of money you can make is limited to the number of hours you work and the hourly wage you get paid.
Let’s take a look at some of the highest-paying jobs, which are mostly people in the medical field. A physician can earn an annual salary of $260,000 and a cardiologist can earn $350,000.
That’s a lot of money, but their income is capped. There is only a certain number of hours they can work until they exhaust themselves.
Now, imagine you’re the owner of the hospital and you have many doctors working for you. They all generate a significant amount of income. All you have to do is pay them their salary, and after expenses, you get to keep the rest.
This is how the 1% operate. Instead of trading their time for money, they create something of value and lend it out to other people. In this instance, the item of value is the hospital and the services it provides.
I’m not saying you get to sit back in your chair and do nothing. Of course, you’re going to have to manage your hospital. But you’re not selling your time for money.
The item of value doesn’t have to be a hospital, and you aren’t going to create passive income from building a hospital overnight.
Something more realistic can be an online business. Online businesses require very little startup capital compared to traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. If you have a passion or are good at something, find ways you can monetize it online.
Another thing you must realize is that money won’t start coming in immediately. Because you’re not working for money, you’re going to work hard and receive nothing for a while. But that’s part of the process.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs start from humble beginnings – they slowly but steadily work their way up.
Don’t trade time, create value.
Stop saving for the sake of saving
Saving money is good – it’s better than spending it all. If you want to stop being poor, you need to start investing.
Saving can come in handy when you’re anticipating a financial expense in the near future. Examples can include buying a car, buying a house, or moving to a new city.
However, if you’re not saving for a specific goal and you’re just saving for the sake of saving, you’re much better off investing that money. It’ll help get the ball rolling to stop being poor.
When you save money, you probably stash it into a savings account. The average savings account yields around 0.24% annually. In other words, if you have $10,000 in the savings account, you will have $24 after a whole year.
But did you know that the stock market yields multitudes of that? Historically, the S&P 500, which is a collection of the top 500 stocks in the U.S., has yielded around 9%. That’s more than 37 times a savings account!
If you were to invest $400 every month for 30 years, you would have $680,845. What’s even more amazing is your total contributions would only be $144,000, and the remaining $536,845 would’ve been interest you earned from the stock market!
Many people misunderstand this, but investing is not only for the rich. Anyone can start investing with any amount of money.
The main reason why I created this website is so you can learn how to invest in the stock market! Feel free to click around and check out my other resources. Use this article as a starting point.
Educate Yourself
One of the greatest ways to stop being poor is to educate yourself.
Investing in your education is one of the best things you can do. As the famous Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
To be like the 1%, you need to be smarter than 99%. There is so much information out there and so much to learn. It’s important to never stop learning and to stay curious. The more you know, the more you can earn.
Here are a few ways you can expand your knowledge:
- Go for a higher degree
- Read books
- Attend workshops or conferences
- Watch TED Talks
Blogs – Blogs are a great resource you can use to start expanding your knowledge. Some of the smartest people out there use their blogs to share their knowledge and ideas for free.
Online Courses – Before the internet, college courses were pretty much the only way you could take classes. Now, the internet has allowed us to take classes that are much more affordable.
Audiobooks – For those who are always busy and can never find enough time to read, you may be able to make use of audiobooks. For example, you can listen to an audiobook during your commute to and from work.
Not only should you educate your mind, but you also can’t forget about your body. It’s important to nurture your body by eating the right types of foods.
Give it a shot. If your diet hasn’t necessarily been on point, try eating healthy every meal for a couple of weeks and see how you feel. By the end of the two-week period, I guarantee you’ll feel better.
Become a personal finance expert
The last thing you need to do to stop being poor is learning about personal finance.
Just because you make a lot of money doesn’t mean you can keep it all. If you don’t understand how to manage your money, you risk the possibility of losing it.
Personal finance covers topics such as saving, managing money, investing, banking, insurance, and taxes. Basically, everything to do with managing your money.
It’s important to learn about personal finances if you want to manage your money properly. Learning about personal finance will equip you with the knowledge to make smart financial decisions.
Schools don’t teach us about personal finance because they want us to become good workers, and not good money managers. That’s why it’s important to learn through online courses or blogs like this one.
A huge part of personal finance is learning about taxes. Whether we like it or not, taxes are something we all have to file for at the end of each year.
There are many tax loopholes and write-offs which will allow you to pay less in taxes. For example, if you set up a business, you can plan a vacation and file the entire vacation as a tax write-off. The only catch is, you must conduct business throughout the vacation.
There are so much more tactics you can use to avoid paying more taxes, it’s worth looking into.
Conclusion
Today, we went over some characteristics of the 1%. These people follow these exact steps to stop being poor.
These traits won’t make you a millionaire overnight, but keep them in mind on your journey to get out of living paycheck to paycheck.
I hope this post has been helpful and given you some new ideas.