6 habits that will keep you poor for the rest of your life

[marty998]

http://www.kuzabiashara.co.ke/blog/habits/

Blog post (from Kenya of all places) I found referenced on another forum. One of those listicle type things...

1. You focus on linear income instead of passive income

Relying on linear income is similar to using buckets to fetch water from the river. With time, you’ll get too old and too tired to transport them to and fro and that means you’ll have to starve for as long as you don’t go to the river.

Relying on passive income on the other hand is similar to building a pipeline. It may require a lot of work at the beginning but with time, you’ll no longer have to go to the river to get water – the river will come to you and you’ll not starve.

2. You're still waiting to start your journey of success
3. When you earn more you spend more
4. You complain instead of committing
5. You live for today, hoping tomorrow will care about its worries

6. You just don't get it

The problem is that you keep learning but you don’t get it. You’re educated but you’ve never internalized what your teachers told you. You have knowledge but you don’t want to think too hard how to use it. You’re still stuck at the starting line all along because you don’t want to start small and grow bit by bit from there. You’re still stuck in the lottery mentality hoping that one day you’ll wake up and voila! discover “the newest, incredibly easiest way to get wealth.”

[DarthCreationist]

I like the last one. Certainly true for many would-be mustachians.

[bugbaby]

Love this too!

Sent from my KIW-L24 using Tapatalk

[whannah]

I don't like that last one. It conveys a smug elitist attitude about the whole thing. People shouldn't be made to feel bad about how they see the world. They'll feel bad for themselves anyway if they do the math and find out they've made some bad decisions.

[Frankies Girl]

They should add the biggest one that is going to keep people struggling for life:

Stop acting like you deserve "the finer things" before you have the money in hand to pay for them.

The cycle of working a bit hard for a while and then splurging on a fancy trip, another pair of $300 shoes or purse, the fancy car, the bottle of $$ wine or liquor... when you have debt, you should see those things not as rewards or indulgences, but as what they truly are: a heavy, chain hat to keeping you poor and silly and expensive ways to show off for your also-poor friends and family.

And to go even deeper: Labels, brand names and other silly signs of expensive spending are only ONLY for impressing others that equate money spend=self worth. Find other, healthier ways to define your self worth and get personal satisfaction.

[MasterStache]

They should add the biggest one that is going to keep people struggling for life:

Stop acting like you deserve "the finer things" before you have the money in hand to pay for them.

The cycle of working a bit hard for a while and then splurging on a fancy trip, another pair of $300 shoes or purse, the fancy car, the bottle of $$ wine or liquor... when you have debt, you should see those things not as rewards or indulgences, but as what they truly are: a heavy, chain hat to keeping you poor and silly and expensive ways to show off for your also-poor friends and family.

And to go even deeper: Labels, brand names and other silly signs of expensive spending are only ONLY for impressing others that equate money spend=self worth. Find other, healthier ways to define your self worth and get personal satisfaction.

+1 Well said! I can't tell you the number of times I have heard this.

[HipGnosis]

I don't like that last one. It conveys a smug elitist attitude about the whole thing. People shouldn't be made to feel bad about how they see the world. They'll feel bad for themselves anyway if they do the math and find out they've made some bad decisions.

I agree it could be worded better, but the point of it is that most people won't "do the math", which is valid.

Perhaps it should be worded; "You're in denial"

[Kuznec]

I will formulate this even shorter - you will not become richer until you stop feeling sorry for yourself. This feeling is difficult to eradicate, but it is necessary.

[nick663]

I don't like that last one. It conveys a smug elitist attitude about the whole thing. People shouldn't be made to feel bad about how they see the world. They'll feel bad for themselves anyway if they do the math and find out they've made some bad decisions.

I think part of the problem is the way that the FI message often gets communicated through the media.  There is usually too much focus on actions (ride a bike, buy a smaller house, etc)  instead of the underlying message of "prioritize your spending, spend it on what makes you truly happy, and save the rest."

People are lazy and always looking for an excuse why a change isn't for them.  I think more would internalize the FI concept if those excuses weren't so easy to find in every example the media pushes forward.