Don’t Act Rich!

I have read a lot of books about getting rich financially, and they almost all have one theme which applies to all of us who were not born into money or had some exquisite twist of fate come our way where money basically just fell in our lap. Let’s face it, how many people does that really happen to anyways?

They are definitely the exception, not the rule. What I’m talking about here, is the vast majority of us who were not born with silver spoons in our mouths, and yet we have that drive, that desire to become financially free at an earlier age and to retire very comfortably. I categorize myself in that niche. I grew up in a household where we had food on the table, but my dad’s job was of a volatile nature, and when money was tight, there were a lot of arguments between him and mom, and their spending habits were different.

I never wanted money to come between me and my spouse like that, and I never wanted to be wondering where my next mortgage payment would come from. Hence, I started working my butt off to create extra income, and started saving, saving, saving.

The main theme running through these kinds of financial wisdom books about getting rich from nothing is that you can never “act” rich and spend money like stereotypically rich people do, but rather you have to be frugal and save your money if you are to have hopes of retiring with at least a million, or several million, in the bank when your day finally comes to enjoy those golden years with abandon.

Books like “The Millionaire Next Door” and “Stop Acting Rich!” are just a few of the common sense books showing people that the most common millionaires are self made, and they usually don’t go around spending money on things that are expendable and disposable like fancy cars, lots of expensive dinners, lots of expensive entertaining, and huge mortgages and lots of toys like boats and other expensive bit ticket items.

Instead, they say that the millionaire, which means that you have a million or more in the bank and also aren’t ridiculously in debt, is more of a quiet type millionaire, not spending on flashy items, but rather is more of a practical kind of person who pays themselvs first before paying for items and “things”. They put money away before they run out and buy stuff. It does take discipline, but it will put you on the road to financial freedom quicker than walking the walk fo a rich person and talking the talk, trust me, I’ve learned that myself!