Many people who lead simple lifestyles are millionaires. Their wealth is the result of hard work, perseverance, planning and self-discipline. Many people already lead simple living lifestyles and don’t know it. And many of them are millionaires. Proof can be found in the bestselling book, “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. You’d never guess that the subject of millionaires could have anything to do with simple living, but it does.
Compulsive savers vs. the rest of us
The millionaires in this book were not born wealthy, nor do most of them have high level, exotic jobs. What they do have are simple lifestyles! It’s the simple lifestyles, not the big paychecks that turned these people into millionaires. According to the book, their wealth is the result of hard work, perseverance, planning and most of all, self-discipline.
So why aren’t all of us hardworking souls rich?
Answer: We regularly and continually give our money away to other people so they can become wealthy, while we live paycheck to paycheck. We buy the latest cars, biggest houses, full wardrobes, daily espressos, high-tech gizmos and gadgets of all kinds. As a result, we’re on treadmills, never allowing ourselves the time to create the kind of lifestyle we want. On the other hand, the millionaires are described in the book as compulsive savers and investors.
After surveying 1,115 millionaires around the country, authors Stanley and Danko came up with seven common denominators among those who successfully build wealth:
1. They live well below their means.
2. They allocate their time, energy and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3. Financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4. Their parents did not provide economic care.
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
7. They chose the right occupations.
Simple living is about living consciously and with a purpose. This means being in control of your money and your life. When you save your money rather than continue spending, you buy yourself control. Then you have a say in how you’d like to spend your time. With money saved and invested, you can live for years without earning money, or you can at least afford yourself the luxury of working part-time. This is vastly different from living paycheck to paycheck. These millionaires have created lifestyles and jobs that are meaningful to them because they took a look at the big picture and made choices accordingly.
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