What exactly do rich people know that you don't about money? Plenty, but the difference might be less about what theyknow and more about their attitudes toward money. That was the common thread when we sat down to talk to our experts about how those with money relate to it differently from those who don't. What kind of mentality do you have about money -- a rich person's or a poor person's? More importantly, what can you do to change your attitude about money and start thinking like a rich person?
Steve Siebold, the author of How Rich People Think and a "mental toughness coach" who works with Fortune 500 sales teams, notes that one of the easiest ways to see differences in how the rich and the rest of us relate to money is that the wealthy think about how to earn more, rather than stressing over how to "save their pennies."
"Saving 10% out of $38,000 is a lot," he says. "Depending on where you live, that can be really hard."
But in this scenario, a middle class person will focus his energy on budgeting how they can save that money, delay gratification and have money for retirement. By contrast, the rich person is thinking about how to make more money, either by boosting that baseline salary or generating income through other means.
Siebold says a lot of it comes down to leverage. "We're taught to work hard," he says, "but that has very little to do with getting rich. There's labor and there's leverage, and they're on opposite sides of a spectrum." He notes that the rich leverage personal assets like talent and credibility, while others just try to "work harder."
So how can you make more money? Siebold urges people to think about what they can leverage in their own lives. For example, he knows a speech therapist who started her own company, because she had contacts with a vast network of speech therapists. Even trades that won't get you rich, but will probably make you more money, involve leverage. "Ironworkers leverage their mechanical ability and their lack of fear," he says. That's why they're among the highest paid in the building trades.
Leslie Bocskor, a partner with consulting firm Electrum Partners, also notes a difference between rich and poor. "Wealthy people don’t smell of desperation when it comes to spending and investing, and that dynamic makes a big difference," Bocskor says. No matter who you are, being able to walk away from a deal gives you a lot of leverage.
The Rich Take Action
Another thing the rich do that the rest of us don't is actually take action.
"66% of the American public play the lottery," Siebold says. "40% of them are poor. The people who have the least money play the most. 33% of the 66% playing think this is how they're going to fund their retirement." Siebold bluntly calls this "delusional thinking." More to the point, it's a type of thought that fails to recognize action as the fundamental driving principle behind making more money and keeping what you have.
Part of this goes back to the idea of thinking about earning more rather than saving more. "The rich think about moneymaking ideas, and they think about how they can put these into action," Siebold says. The rest of us are, Siebold says, "plugging holes in the roof."
In comparison, what Siebold calls an "action mentality" looks to lay out a plan. The person with an action mentality looks at his greatest talents, then figures out how they can use these as leverage to start earning more, then acts on that plan.
The Rich Give and Get Back in Kind
Bocskor noticed two things about the rich that intertwine with one another. First, he says "wealthy people are more inclined to do favors." He says that "the favor business is the business to be in." For the most part, it's not that the rich are looking for a favor in return. It's just that by doing favors for people when and where they can, they build up a small army of people who want to do them favors back.
Similarly, Bocskor sees the wealthy as more likely to give to others. "This loops back into not feeling desperate or feeling a 'lack' around money," he says. This is the kind of confidence that you need when going into make hard deals, but it also is an attitude that will help drive your ability to do for others. Not seeing the world as a zero-sum game makes it much easier to give of yourself and to help out other people around you.
The bottom line: The more you can give to people, be it in the form of money or in the form of favors, the more you can realistically expect back in return. But don't expect it. Just do favors, help out and give people what they need on a day-to-day basis. Over time, this will grow into a vast network of people who don't "owe you favors" but are actively looking for ways that they can help you out just like you helped them.
Now that's something you can really leverage.
Source:http://www.thestreet.com/story/13431991/1/what-do-rich-people-know-that-the-rest-of-us-don-t.html
No comments:
Post a Comment