The biggest difference between people who manage their money well, and those who don’t, is all in the personal finance mindset they possess. And you can usually spot these people by the lifestyle they choose to live.
They’re most likely living pretty modestly. Nice cars, but not over the top. Nice house, but not too huge. Nice things, but not always the best.
But they rarely complain about money… because they know they’ve got it under control, and they have a plan to keep increasing their net worth.
People who tend to manage their money well have a long-term, big-picture outlook on life. They’re not focusing on saving $12 on their grocery bill by clipping coupons. They’re not worried about spending $2.50 on a coke at the airport. They’re not worried about where their next paycheck is going.
They’ve got things together, and they focus on significant financial wins that will result in a huge long-term financial difference – things that they can do once that will result in several hundred and likely even several thousands of dollars with only a little bit of effort.
They’re always focusing on always improving themselves so they can not only save money, but also improve their financial lifestyle.
Their Personal Finance Training Is Obvious
They have a life list of goals that they want to accomplish and they know that money is going to be a large part of those goals. They understand that each chunk of money they spend, even if its only a few hundred dollars, can result in being tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars later in life.
- They’re thinking about saving $20,000 on their next car purchase by making a smart decision
- They’re thinking about how to kill three financial birds with one stone, and get a vacation out of it
- They’re thinking about how to systematically increase their credit score
- They’re thinking about optimizing their monthly expenses to save thousands per year
- They’re thinking about smart ways to use their tax refunds, or other large chunks of money
- They’re learning about negotiation to lower their credit card interest rate, get a lower cable bill, or drastically increase their salary
- They’re focusing on paying off debt before making additional purchases
And they understand that when they’re able to make those big financial wins, that they shouldn’t go out and buy an 80″ flat screen, they should allocate some for their long-term goals, some for their retirement, some to make a difference in the world, and some for leisure. They’re smart about their financial decisions.
And they’re also thinking about doing all of this in the most time-efficient, hands-off manner possible. They’re always developing systems to automate their finances so they can focus on the other things they want to accomplish in life.
And it all adds up to them being eventual millionaires.
Always see the big picture.