5 Wealth Lessons From 20 Percent of a Millionaire (Blog)
 

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

5 Wealth Lessons From 20 Percent of a Millionaire

Thanks, Steve! Good article!

OK, to be a millionaire you wanna keep a lot of cash in your wallet and not worry about spending money. So far so good.

But, the rich people I know hold on very tightly to their money. They don't buy things all over the place, because that is how they got rich in the first place!

I understand the idea of behaving like your rich and thereby manifesting the vibes of a rich person. This eventually becomes self fulfilling and, bang, you are a millionaire!

The trick is to keep this in balance. How is that done? I want to get in to the details of this thing. Anybody got any ideas?

I think every aspect of life should be in balance. Try not to make one thing your complete focus, because when you want something, and always think about it, you push it away. You have to send out your intention, and then let it go. But still be open to when opportunity knocks. Pay attention. Steve and Erin have discussed this, along with synchronicities. You can take any topic they've discussed, and turn it towards whatever you are dealing with at the moment.

But, I did reply to this thread to discuss the financial trolls. The trolls, in general, reminded me of the Dark Entities that Sylvia Browne talked about in her books. Again, we let them go, just as we let our "wants" go. Give it to the universe to handle, so you can spend your energy in more beneficial ways.

I read your blog post Steve.

In regards to people accusing you of exploiting others I don't think that is the case. I don't agree with every last thing you believe in, but I can tell, most of the time, when someone is just out for cash. There are people like that on this forum, but I don't think you are one of them.

I have gotten a lot of use out of your material....all of which I have read for free. I haven't had to buy a CD set or pay for a dowloadable pdf.

Hey I liked the description of the trolls in this article. I had never heard this definition before and it made me smile because that's so true, everyone has to deal with 'trolls' in life. Especially the people who dare to think differently I guess. I just never put a name and an exact definition on the 'trolls' before.

My attitude about them is to say to myself : "ok, just have compassion, love them without condition, but don't EVER let them influence you. Live your life and don't care AT ALL about what they think."

Another great post. I'm very interested in growing my financial wealth and had heard most of the first part of the article before although it's always good to hear it again. The second half was new to me and I’ll be using those techniques to deal with financial trolls. Very similar to a book called Taming your Gremlin.

I like your comment. I've heard that wanting something to much pushes it away, how does that work? How does it compare with having a burning desire for something? My initial thought would be that wanting is a feeling of scarcity, but where does desire fit in? I have a large commitment and focus to my finances and often feel I'm projecting maybe too much want and am so intrigued by what you say.

All the best,

Dan

Trolls are attention seekers.

The best thing ( for them and you ) is simply to not respond to them.

1. It saves you time.

2. It saves you from being upset.

3. It discourages them from more trolling, which helps them move on and
get a life.

People usually object to this approach because not everyone does it so "it doesn't work". Well, if you do it #1 & #2 will work for you.

Other people feel compelled because the troll might convince someone of something that is not true. Hardly. Silence on the internet doesn't necessarily mean agreement and most people can see through BS themselves.

I think people who use this excuse to continue feeding the trolls suffer from a similar problem as the trolls --- not having anything better to do ---which is usually the result of not having the courage to pursue things they want.

Why not work on uniting the many little ones that already exist? Why not work with people like yourself to do more? Why does it have to be a single-person endevour?


Btw, if you want to make a ton of money and impact lots of people, one needs lots of know-how valuable to others. No other way around it. Personal development is fine. But to me, it is only step #1! Once you attain this basework, the real work begins! For example, you don't learn calculus for the sake of learning it. You apply it to physics etc.

Read the Millionaire Mind. That's a much better start than trying to imagine or feel what a millionaire would think. If you are not one, you have no idea and pure visual observation will not tell you either. Warren Buffett is a billionaire. Has he even moved once? How much cash does he carry? On the other hand, Donald Trump is a different kind of millionaire. I can imagine him carrying thousands of dollars in his wallet.

At the risk of being called a troll I must challenge the claim that your goal of making a million dollars is not motivated by self interest. Self interest is the root of all motivation, and money is not the only accepted form of payment. I completely believe that you are not materialistic and that the financial reward is not your primary motivation, but don't you also derive a great benefit from the respect and admiration of your readers? Doesn't it motivate you to be considered intelligent? To be regarded as someone who has helped many people? These things are often more valuable than financial gain, and they are motivated by self interest just the same.

I'm not trying to criticize you for this, self interest is what motivates all people, especially myself. I just think it is important to recognize the true source of motivation, even for people doing benevolent things, is always self interest.

I think I will take your advice about carrying more money in my wallet and not caring about trivial sums. However, I think many people will misinterpret the second point to mean you should spend small sums of money at every whim. Small leaks sink ships, as Ben Franklin said. One person above said that many rich people are very cheap and I tend to agree.

Thank you for yet another thought provoking post.

I just wanted to point out this quote from the article:

I have heard Steve discuss earning money is terms of "creating value" before, but this quote really made sense to me. I really like the idea of focusing on creating value rather than making money. The latter seems like it encourages things such as scams and tricks to get people to buy things. Creating value seems like a win-win situation for everyone.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I really understand the whole concept of spending more money leading to making more money. Certainly, there are tons of people already who spend way above their income and they aren't getting any richer. I'm sure some of those people even believe that they are rich but in reality they are deep into debt. When I look at some of the wealthy people I admire, such as Warren Buffett and see how they are incredibly wealthy yet don't spend their money foolishly (OK, except the private jet!) I question the sense of the idea.

I also think that its important for anyone that wants to be rich to change how they think about money, but is spending more really the best way? There really is a difference between a $20 and $50 dinner, regardless of what you believe. The difference is that $30 not spent on dinner could be used in other, possibly more constructive ways such as making a loan to a developing-world entrepreneur. Not that people shouldn't be going out to dinner, I don't think that. But is the belief that "there’s no financial difference whatsoever between a $20 dinner and a $50 dinner" really wise?

Unless you're talking from a subjective reality point of view, which I think you're not, I have to disagree with that. To quote Steve, self-interest is insufficient motivation. Maybe, for Steve, self-interest is insufficient motivation to make a million dollars, but to me self-interest is insufficient motivation to get up in the morning. I'm fine there in my bed, why am I getting out of there if not for a really good reason (which, most of the times, involves interacting with people)?

I thought today's post was as interesting as it was motivational. I've always wanted to have a million dollars. That's why I joined the Million Dollar Experiment. BUT, my self-interest has always been to spread it around for the most good. I say my intention(s) everyday, throughout the day. That doesn't make me good, or bad, or indifferent. It makes me focus on achieving my potential through writing and helping others, which obviously helps myself. Thanks for the timely post, Steve.

kljsadfhklj,

You are confusing self interest with greed and assuming they are synonymous. The self interest from money alone isn't enough to motivate Steve, but the reward he gets from helping people and being considered wise and benevolent is great motivation. The drive to obtain this reward is still self interest, even if it's not related to money at all.

"I'm fine there in my bed, why am I getting out of there if not for a really good reason"

There must be some reason to get out of bed or else you wouldn't do it. And even though you may be tempted to stay in bed, self interest gets you up. I don't know about you, but most people have to work jobs to provide for their physical needs, so getting up and to avoid being fired is definitely in their self interest.

If you wish to donate money to worthy causes, you'll do far more good if you start thinking in larger amounts. Don't stress over a potential $30 donation when you're capable of donating thousands. No charity will care what you spent on dinner when you hand them a five-figure check. I can't imagine being a millionaire and thinking of $30 as a generous donation -- I might as well donate a penny.

To haphazardly start spending more money in the hopes it will increase your wealth is foolish. The suggestion was to change how you feel about money to resonate with the level of wealth you want to achieve. To a millionaire a sum like $30 would be too insignificant to matter. Fussing over such amounts means you're thinking way too small. Start thinking 1000x bigger, and notice how it changes your outlook and your opportunities.

Yeah like the Gasoline club. You know, the people that you talk to who are always talking about what the gas prices are today and how one station has the gas for 3 cents cheaper than the other, or how the gas prices keep going up or whatever. Making a big deal about a few bucks creates poverty. Seriously, how much money do gasoline chasers save on a yearly basis? $50? $100? Is it worth it? I just fill up my car at the closest station and don't even look at the price. I need gas and I get it.

It doesn't mean you throw away money, it just means you don't value/hoarde it as much.

I agree that its vital to think bigger and change your outlook if you want to make more money or make a bigger difference. However, I think there are millionaires who would disagree that any amount of money is not "insignificant." Certainly, to many people in our world a small sum of $30 would make the difference between life and death. Warren Buffett realized that wasted money is a waste no matter how much it is. He also realized that every penny he spent from his company bershire hathaway would result in many dollars lost down the road. $30 invested with Berkshire when Warren took over would be $300,000 today.

I guess what is comes down to is that I don't agree with the need to devalue money to make the mental switch necessary to making large amounts of money. I don't really think that pretending $30 is worth as much as $1 will really do much good when it comes to finding more opportunities.

I don't think the ultimate point is to devalue money in any amount, but rather to force your brain to stop obsessing over small amounts (and also progressively increase what you consider to be small). I think a valid analogy would be that if you think a 5 kg weight is very heavy, it's going to be very hard for you to picture yourself lifting 50 kg weights. Steve takes it even further, suggesting that if you never get over thinking that 5 kg is heavy then you'll never get to a point where you're lifting 50 kg, because 5 kg will always remain heavy for you. That's my understanding of it.

That's exactly it. The idea is to raise your standards to think bigger. To do that you must stop thinking small. Small thoughts... or thoughts of small amounts... must be regarded as pointless and irrelevant, so you can shift more of your focus to big thoughts.

Ironically when I focused on the goal of earning $10K per month from this website, I found it very difficult. But when I starting thinking about how to earn $100K per month (my current monthly income goal), it forced me to think bigger, and I blew past $10K/month without hardly noticing it. If $100K is challenging, it makes $10K seem easy by comparison.

Partly I got this idea from a very wealthy person who said, "Anyone who thinks $10 million is a lot of money probably doesn't have what it takes to make $10 million." That quote gave me a lot of hints: 1) Some people don't consider $10 million a lot of money, 2) Those people are capable of making $10 million because it's a comfortable amount to them, and 3) I also earn an amount I'm comfortable with. Then I asked, "What would happen to my income if I became comfortable with larger amounts?"

John Wesley, details aside, what I mean is that one can do lotsa thing out of complete selflessness. There is honest interest in doing things completely for the benefit of other people. To me, atleast, this holds true for many situations.

Dan, I think it's great to have a burning desire for something, as long as you go for it in a positive way, and it's more beneficial to you and others, and wouldn't hurt you or others. Like, I have a burning desire for chocolate cake, but too often, and in too large quantities, it wouldn't be good for my health or for my kids, in that I'm their role model. I also have a conflicting burning desire, to be thin, which can't happen if I focus too much on eating chocolate cake. lol, you know what I mean? A burning desire will motivate you, but like Steve has said in prior blogs, you have to choose, not want, and intend for it. It's wording, and wording helps you psychologically. It's ok to have preferences, just work with what you have. If you have the talent and motivation, work with them, and then notice the synchronicities coming your way. Notice that what you wanted is coming to you. Don't dwell on how fast you're not getting it, or what form it's coming in. That's focusing on thinking you don't have what you desire. Instead, focus on knowing it's coming, and already is in bits and pieces. And use Steve's suggestions for keeping it coming. It's all attitude. JM2C.

Steve, I have to add about giving to charities, that I throw whatever I can to them whenever I have extra. To me, right now, I nickel and dime things, because I see them in material terms. I mean, when I use coupons at the supermarket, or look for specials, etc, I can save $30 on occasion, and that adds up at the end of the year. That goes towards other things like dinner out for us, or museum admission for us, or towards another bill, etc. I always see money as going towards one thing or another. I can't see paying $200 on shoes, when I can get them for $20 (unless I can wear better quality ones for 10x as long.) But I won't drive to 10 different supermarkets to save a dime, and I won't go to a far gas station to save 40 cents. That to me is a waste of time. My mom scrimped all her life, and stretched my dad's check and they never seemed unhappy. Money was there when they needed it. And now, years later, when we kids ask them for something, they are generous. That's how I was taught. I am caught up in that now. I can't work full time until my youngest goes to school full time. My husband's check is the only stable finance we have. It has to be stretched. I cannot commit to $1k charity donation. I think women are caught up in this economy. When you talk about what we can do to become millionaires, I always think it refers to men. But I look how Erin is managing, and I look at your blogs, and it motivates me. I'm trying my best to get some work from multiple sources, things I can do at home, or when I can get babysitting.
How about either of you writing some blogs for stay at home moms?

Back to trolls for a minute ....

How do you deal with a troll that is (1) your mother-in-law (2) at an age where change is not likely (3) already chooses to ignore you ..:)

I put a smiley in there but it really isn't funny.

Shanti,

Ron

Trolls are trolls. Stomp on her like the rest. Cut her out. No exceptions even for family.

For me, the biggest influence has been surrounding myself with other wealthy people. To achieve a net worth of $1 million, deliberately reduce the time you spend with people that have a net worth below $1 million and deliberately increased the number of people with a net worth over $1 million. You'll notice several interesting changes:

1) After listening to them talking about $10 million and up business transactions, $1 million won't seem like so much money.

2) As you become an accepted member of the group, you'll start to think of yourself as "one of them," slowly transforming your identity from someone trying to become a millionaire to someone that is a millionaire.

3) Simply by hanging around them, you'll be exposed to more opportunities that can make you a millionaire.

The same holds for making any amount of money. I'm working on achieving a net worth of $10 million now, and to do that, I'm surrounding myself with people that are making $100 million or more. Just in the last 60 days, they've involved me in two real estate deals that should make me $10 million over the next three years. So, I'm well on my way.

Moving 300 miles away works pretty well. :)

Seriously though if you have an in-law problem, then it's really up to your spouse to enforce those boundaries, especially if your spouse is the door through which trolls are entering.

Definitely. This works not just with money but with any growth area like fitness, relationships, time management, etc.

Over the past few months, I've been spending more time with millionaires, both in person and on the phone. I realized that things that seem big to me are matter of course for them. This helps raise my standards by osmosis. One of them even asked me, "Why are you thinking so small?" That got to me because I'd thought I was thinking fairly big, but to the other person it was small by comparison.

Yep!
 

This is what I have been working on for the past couple of years, and it's probably the most stressful, difficult, but most successful method of improving any aspect of life. I'm a senior in high school right now, and for the past two years I have made it a personal goal to go from "that guy" to "Ryan B." whom everybody recognizes and likes. I have moved from group to group, only staying with one set of people long enough to absorb their mindsets and gain enough of a springboard to move into the next popular group. Consequently, I've moved through the ranks of the kid who nobody knows, to a person who is greeted practically every day by three to five people in the school hall (in a school of 2,000 kids, it's impressive to have any1 recognize you.) Basically, what I'm getting at is that YES this is a very tricky way of doing it, but I believe it is the fastest way to propel yourself to the top of any chain.

Excellent article Steve. Your stuff really helps grease the wheels when bumpy roads come along. The part about trolls really brought to light several ongoing situations that were just draining my energy and had no real purpose. It seemed very similar to Brian Tracy's "zero-based thinking", except more specifically with certain people. Sometimes, there are just toxic people out there that you simply can't argue with.

The section about keeping $300 in your wallet was also an eye-opener. You see, I already do such "stocking up" operations as buying all of the toothpaste, trash bags, paper towels, etc. I will need for a year at the beginning of each year in order to save on mental RAM. However, I hadn't before thought of saving time on ATM trips by carrying more than just $50 or so in my wallet at a time. As I see it, the only reason not to carry around $200-$300 at a time is that you think there's a chance your wallet is going to be stolen. Now, if I lived in a high crime area, I might be more hesitant, but otherwise there's not a large chance of that happening, so it can only be beneficial to carry around more money and save yourself some trips to the bank.

Keep em comin Steve. Thanks again.

Ayn Rand and the capitalist manifesto
 

I'm curious if Steve or any of the other readers have read or heard about Ayn Rand. She was an author and philosopher that suggested that a society based around laissez faire capitalism and self interest is far superior then other systems. Her work has been called the capitalist manifesto, her books are cited by many top CEOs as the best business books they have ever read.

She has answers for many of the issues that have come up in this thread.
Specifically I think her work rather then getting you into the ( superficial) mindset of a millionaire will get you into the mindset of a productive successful entrepreneur.

I know which one I prefer!

Great Article
 

I really enjoy your presentation and style Steve. I'm fairly new to blogging but started it as a result of a need I was noticing with some of the people I work with. I think you are absolutely correct, if your sole purpose is to make money, it's damn near impossible to earn a mill. But if there is something else that drives your passion, it's only fuel for the fire.

I'm new to your site, and I'm finding it very rewarding. If you don't mind I would like to refer your site to some of my clients and students I work with. I think they would benefit greatly.

Keep up the good work and if you have any advice for someone starting off...just shoot it this way ;)

However, the more I read, the more tips I get...

Thanks,

Jane