In my last post, I confessed that at this point in my life, I am finally interested in finances. As someone who earned a C in economics (no joke) and honestly doesn't pull in a large income, who would have thunk it? But perhaps it is because I find myself more and more committed to education, a career that famously doesn't pay well, that I also find myself more and more committed to saving and spending wisely. Let me make one thing clear, however: I am not interested in financial freedom so that we can be "rich" and have lots of nice things. No, I am interested in financial freedom: being able to afford having children, perhaps one day owning a house, one day providing our children with a good education (we do believe in education, after all), and being in a place where we can take care of the people around us whom we love and cherish. I never want money to limit my ability to do what is right for my family. Simple as that. However, we simply don't make enough for this to be possible without careful thought, attention, and planning. I started paying attention to good financial advice because I had to...now I want to. And there is a lot of it out there.
One interesting article I came across today was on Oprah.com. One thing I like about Oprah is her committment to spreading the word about financial stability and knowledge to her millions of viewers. Experts like Suze Orman and Jean Chatsky regularly appear on her show, often offering free book downloads and "make it right" plans of attack that help viewers get back on track. On her website now is an excerpt from Chatsky's latest book, The Difference. Evidently, Chatsky has spent a lot of time lately studying the habits and traits of financially successful individuals and outlining them. Here were some highlights! Very interesting!!
Financial Attitudes and Behaviors
• They feel stocks are worth the risk.
• They devote money to personal savings or a 401(k) each month.
• They save regularly for emergencies.
• They have invested for retirement.
• They have reduced outstanding debt.
Goals
• They want to be financially comfortable during their working years.
• They aim to retire comfortably.
• They always knew what they wanted to do (for a career).
• They made it a goal to accumulate $1 million.
• They want to own a home.
Personality
• They are confident.
• They are happy.
• They are optimistic.
• They are competitive.
• They are leaders.
Nonfinancial Behaviors
• They have a college degree.
• They socialize with friends at least once a week.
• They exercise at least two to three times a week.
• They read newspapers regularly.
• They are married.
Seven Traits of the Wealthy Personality
1. OPTIMISM. Optimism is an expectation that good things are going to be plentiful. The wealthy generally have the sense that life will bring good rather than bad outcomes. That doesn't mean they believe that good things will be omnipresent, but that they will outnumber the not-so-good.
2. RESILIANCE. The wealthy are confident in their abilities to overcome bad situations—on the job, in their personal lives, with their finances. Many have triumphed over dismal financial starts. And, unlike most of the population that hops from job to job, career to career, the wealthy are much more likely to stick with what they start.
3. CONNECTEDNESS. The wealthy are people magnets. They are connected to people in all aspects of life—they have circles of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. One sign of a wealthy person is that others are willing to work for him or her, sometimes for less than they are worth on the open market.
4. DRIVE. The wealthy want to succeed. Some want that success to arrive in the form of money (and that's OK). But most are quite passionate about the careers they choose to pursue. Not succeeding at these pursuits is, quite frankly, not an option.
5. CURIOSITY. The wealthy are likely to have gone to college. But it's not just classroom education that sets them apart. They are always learning, consistently reading books for pleasure and newspapers to keep up with the world. This may be a habit learned in childhood; most wealthy individuals report that their parents read to them when they were young.
6. INTUITION. The wealthy somehow know precisely whom they should be dealing with and whom to walk away from. And they listen to those gut instincts.
7. CONFIDENCE. When the wealthy take a calculated risk—such as starting a business or buying investment real estate—they don't see it as much of a risk at all.
Four Habits of the Wealthy
1. WORK HARD. The wealthy work harder—and sleep less—than other people. They are more likely to mix work with their downtime, sacrificing personal time for professional success. But because they tend to be passionate about what they do, it's less likely that they see it as a chore.
2. SAVE HABITUALLY. Wealthy people certainly have the funds to be crazy spenders, but most are not. In fact, some seven out of ten say that saving more money has been an "absolutely essential" financial goal as an adult. They typically pay off their full credit card balance each month.
3. INVEST SOUNDLY AND AGGRESSIVELY. The wealthy are more likely to invest in stocks or stock mutual funds. They understand that even in down markets they need to take risks in the market in order to make their money work as hard as they do. They are also more likely to invest in real estate (above and beyond buying their own homes).
4. GIVE BACK. The wealthy are grateful and they show it by giving back to their communities, to organizations they believe in, and to people they care about.
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