10 habits of rich people

summer attire: me, my sis and my aunt in 1963

summer attire: me, my sis and my aunt in 1963

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this.  Actually I am….I feel kind of creepy.  My parents were both depression era babies so I grew up in a home that was very thrifty, where happiness was based on things that had nothing to do with the things that money can buy.  Although we were comfortable, when we traveled we stayed at Motel 6 (when it really cost $6) or at a relative’s home, and a big night out to dinner was at Denny’s.  And I occasionally got a stern “not this time Les” when I tried to order the prawns.  Being rich was never something that I aspired to.  If anything both  the thought of aspiring to wealth and having wealth make me feel uncomfortable.  In our house we buy what we need, give what we can, try to teach our children that stuff doesn’t make people happy and generally focus on other things that we truly value.  

But some people do aspire to wealth.  And Tom Corley has written a whole book about it.  He has a list of 10 things that rich people do (and  poor people don’t).  Although he freely admits that this is a work in progress, his methods have been heavily questioned, and in my opinion rightfully so.  But I’m not posting this because I agree or disagree.  It’s just a list.  Tomorrow  I’m going to find and post habits of happy people.  The next day I’m going to see what I can find about habits of successful people. Then we can compare and contrast and see if we all think that wealth, happiness  and success have anything to do with one another.

Before we start, do you want to be rich?  If you were rich would you be happy?  And what do you think success is?

1. 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.

3. 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically 4 days a week. 23% of poor do this.

4. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% for poor people.

5. 81% of wealthy maintain a to-do list vs. 19% for poor.

6. 63% of wealthy parents make their children read 2 or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% for poor.

7. 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% for poor.

8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor

9. 67% of wealthy write down their goals vs. 17% for poor

10. 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs 2% for poor.

4 replies
  1. Russ says:

    Hi, I can relate to a lot of that too Les…rich or poor or in between, we can’t take any of it with us….if one is happy/content in all situations, one is blessed…

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] habits we need to develop to get there.  The lists include 21 habits to be happy, 10 habits to be rich and 7 habits to be successful.  There are only two habits that all three lists […]

  2. […] habit 7 is pretty huge.  That’s why this list is so much shorter than the prior 2 lists for wealth and happiness. Next post is a comparison of the three lists.  I’ve already got a few habits […]

  3. […] ← 10 habits of rich people […]

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