Being able to maintain a massive wealth over a long period of time is not something easy if you don’t have the right mentality. How would you explain that a large number of lottery winners who go broke after a few years? They don’t have the rich people mentality. When you look at the way rich people think, you will notice some intriguing similarities.
They think about themselves first.
Before giving large sums of money to charities, they make sure they help themselves first. They did not get rich and stay rich by helping everybody carelessly. When they do something, they know what’s in it for them. It’s not selfishness, it’s staying rich.
They are constantly thinking about the future.
The future is only the present waiting to happen. Wealthy people know that if they want to keep their lifestyle, they have to think about the long-term. Globalization, financial crisis, and world conflicts are opportunities or threats for the rich individual. Not seizing long-term opportunities and ignoring potential threats is a recipe for becoming average.
They are action-oriented.
They don’t just relax and wait for interest to come in. In an ever-changing world, rich people think about the future, but have the means to act now. Good investors know how to make a quick decision to seize a fleeting opportunity.
They are passionate.
Their passions can vary, but rich people have the money and the time to fulfill their passions. If they don’t like to do something, they can always find somebody else to do it for them and then spend more time hunting deers if that’s what they like.
They prefer specific knowledge over formal education.
Since they are action-oriented, they prefer an education that serves a concrete goal. Education is important, but becoming excellent in a specific area is more important. Rich people become extremely rich by being excellent at doing something or at doing something nobody has dared to do. College drop-outs following their start-up dreams to become billionaires are a long-lasting cliché, but the truth is that developing specific expertise early on will give them an edge.
They are outrageously ambitious.
And they need to be. If they were not, they would settle with “richer than average.” Very rich people will never be satisfied with the amount of wealth they have. They have an internal compass that directs towards “more money,” which means bigger projects.
They are not afraid to invest.
Rich people have been presented with countless get-rich-quick scams, and they know what it takes to be where there are: effort, time, or money. Since they got to a point where the biggest leverage they have is money, and that’s what they have more of than the others, they know they will have to invest to earn. You win some, you lose some.
They know how to leverage other people’s money.
Even if they have a lot of money, they know how to use other people’s money to get what they want. Bank loans, strategic partnerships… a global vision will allow them to find other people’s money to make their investment worthwhile.
They surround themselves with like-minded people.
Having the lifestyle of rich people is very peculiar… they don’t share the same interests as other people, and there are not many people with whom you can share your concerns about having to pay millions in income taxes. They will flock together in similar gatherings and enjoy being together anywhere in the world.
They choose the best employees.
They know that their success lies upon the people that work for them. Rich people know what they want, have very little time for administrative stuff, and rely enormously on their employees. Since there is a lot at stake, they will choose the best and pay accordingly.
They can size anybody up in an instant.
Rich people are always solicited by average people, who always come to ask them for something. After a while, it becomes easy for them to evaluate people. It’s a matter of practice!
They have a very accurate detector.
They will ask few questions, but they will learn a lot from you. Since they have a global vision, they will challenge your proposals with their experience or outside-the-box comparisons. They will see if you are faking expertise, even if they don’t know your field.
They don’t care about what you think of them.
They don’t have anything to prove any more. They won’t feel the need to show off their money or to show some kind of status. They will be very subtle in showing that they belong to a higher social class.
They think of the world as a small place.
The super wealthy are not stuck in a specific country. They are buying the best places around the world and consider the world as being a small place. Being in three different countries in one day is not surprising for them, and they will get a feel of where the world’s pulse is.
They raise their children to be rich.
Their children will handle a huge fortune as well. It is quite a sad prospect to think that your children will dilapidate the money you or your parents made with hard work. They will try to teach them the value of money so that they learn to take nothing for granted.
