Sunday, February 10, 2008

Millionaire Next Door: #3 and #4

This is continuing my series on the common denominators of those who successfully build wealth.

Ummm, ok, I didn't mean for it to be this long before I continued this series. And this, my friends, is why I don't do series like this. Life gets in the way, blogging gets delayed, yadda yadda yadda. So here are next two thrown together, short and sweet.

3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.

As I was walking to my car the other day, I was nearly run over by a Hummer. As it went by, I noticed the driver was probably around my age, which is mid-30s. For REAL. I hate to make assumptions, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that she drove home that day to a highly-mortgaged home in the best neighborhood in town.

There really isn’t any reason to own a Hummer other than to try to impress people and make them think you are wealthy. “Think” is the key word there – most millionaires wouldn’t think of wasting money on such a thing.


4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.

This refers to parents providing for their kids, such as helping them pay their bills. If kids learn that they will always have your parents to fall back on, how will they ever learn to be responsible?