
To truly become rich, you need to stop acting like it - simonreed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013000031_pf.html
======
dkarl
Few people just want to _have_ money for no reason. Most people want to have
money because of what they want to spend it on; their outrageous expenses are
their passion in life and their reason for wanting money. It isn't helpful
advice to say, "Don't spend money on Manolo Blahniks, and then you'll have
plenty of money," if your whole reason for wanting money is so you can wear
Monolo Blahniks.

In other words, it sounds like a sermon on loving money for itself instead of
loving it for what it can buy you. Or, if you read it charitably, it's a
sermon on loving security more and short-term pleasures less. As much as I
sneer at expensive fashion and gravitate toward the <$10 wine bin at the
grocery store, this article strikes me as nothing but unhelpful moralizing.
Yeah. I get it. If I don't spend money, I'll have more. Yeah, I really,
_really_ get that looking good and living it up is a vacuous pastime -- I'm
totally with you on this one -- but it's the most common passion on the
planet, and it's a cop out to tell people to stop enjoying the one aspect of
life that gives them the most pleasure and call it financial advice.

~~~
megablast
You don't have to spend money straight away, you can use money to make your
life comfortable, or buy crap. Money does not have a time limit on it.

It is not just about spending less, it is about getting people to realize that
rich people do not do show of there riches buy buying crap. (86% of luxury
cars are owned by people with less than <$1m). So maybe you should not buy
that crap either?

It is only a recent event that we have become such a consumer driven society,
just after WW2 when we had all this extra factory producing capabilities (due
to the war), and the advertising industry really kicked it up a notch.

~~~
loewenskind
I agree with most everything you said, but money does have a time limit in
effect. If you hold cash it will become worth less over time. If you invest it
your investment may go down.

Some people are buying nothing but garbage (there are whole markets based on
selling garbage), but I think right now there are also people trying to move
the money they have right now into some other source they trust more. If you
try to build a house in Switzerland right now be prepared to wait. A _lot_ of
people have emptied their pensions to build houses (they cost a lot in
Switzerland) since the crisis hit.

------
_delirium
I buy the general principle that living a high-income/high-expense lifestyle
isn't the path to accumulating wealth, but you can rephrase the stats to get
different results as well.

For example,

 _86% of all luxury vehicles are driven by people who are not millionaires_

can be rephrased in a way that makes it seem like driving luxury vehicles _is_
a trait of rich:

 _millionaires are 3x as likely to drive a luxury vehicle as non-millionaires_

I wonder if this is also skewed by the "millionaire" cutoff not being as high
as popular culture thinks of it being; the millionaires of 1970s films
correspond to $5m+ today, and the millionaires of the roaring 20s correspond
to $12m+ today. A huge proportion of people with net worths in the low single
digits of millions have almost all their money in their retirement plan plus
house, and not a particularly large disposable income. Sure, in theory they
could get money out of the 401(k) and blow it, but the fact that it's semi-
locked-up and a hassle to get out makes it easier to preserve it.

It's possible it generalizes to higher tiers of the rich, but I'm not that
sure. Do people with net worths of $10m+ have similarly frugal lifestyles? Or
is this mainly a feature of people with net worths in the $1m-3m range?

~~~
sosuke
I just realized after reading your comment that my family were millionaires
when I was in high school. We had about $25k a year income, no new cars, no
college fund but we owned two properties that put us over the millionaire
mark. I qualified for and ate the 25 cent lunches at school and had hand me
down everything.

Have a million dollar net worth isn't necessarily fun or comfortable, my
parents divorced, cashed out the houses and nothing is left, good times.

~~~
angstrom
Similar story. Grew up on a dairy farm. Our taxes stated our income as around
$13K for a family of 5. Farm & equipment sold for 1.2 million (2001).
Government got about $600K in taxes. Another $200K went towards existing
loans. $120K towards a 1000sqft 1 story ranch home for my parents to move to.
They gifted 20K to each of us kids to avoid further taxes on that. Each of us
has done well using it to pay off education, buying land, or reinvesting.

Anyways, they both have medical problems that no insurance would cover in the
past decade (part of the reason for selling the farm). Having just turned 60,
they're both sitting on about 150-200K to retire on. One can't look at this as
anything except a system rigged towards a Sisyphean outcome.

~~~
Andrew_Quentin
200k to retire on? And you guys each got 20k at the age of 18 for the sole
reason that chance had you born to those particular parents?

I suppose your parents or grandparents were suffering so much that they were
willing to pay " $120K towards a 1000sqft 1 story ranch"

you know, my soul is shattered to tears that you personally especially have
been treated so badly by fortune.

~~~
angstrom
This isn't the "Ovarian Lottery" Warren Buffet talks about. I doubt anything I
say could get through to someone clearly after troll bait and offering no
insight.

Each of us worked harder than most people who complain about being slighted by
the hand of fate. I started working on the farm when I was 10 and continued
helping out until I was 19. It ranks below minimum wage. As for my parents,
you think that chastising their frugality and having a paid for house within
their means is something to mock? Really?

Farming ranks as one of the 10 most dangerous occupations; you can be injured
in pretty much any way imaginable. In fact my father was. Once while my
brother was in high-school and again when I was. We each did our part staying
home from school running things until my father was recovered on both counts.
Trust me, 1.2 million over the course of 30 years isn't as much as it would
seem.

------
jamiequint
"86% of all luxury vehicles are driven by people who are not millionaires."

This is a good example of one of those stats designed to fool people who don't
understand statistics.

According to wikipedia there are ~9.3 million millionaire households in the US
representing ~7% of US households. [1] Meaning that millionaire households
purchase luxury cars at a far higher rate than non-millionaire households
which is the opposite of what this article implies.

[1] <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire>

~~~
groaner
I don't think I got the same message from the article as you did. The unstated
assumption that the article is trying to challenge is that luxury vehicles are
the exclusive domain of the rich. Even if the statistic were that 43% of
luxury vehicles were purchased by non-millionaires instead of 86%, it would
still say a lot about how these purchases are actually distributed.

~~~
jamiequint
I think the fact that luxury goods have become attainable by non-millionaires
says a lot more about the decrease in cost in luxury goods than the
irresponsibility of non-millionaires.

The classification of these goods is also confusing. For example, I drive a
Lexus IS250 AWD which would be considered a luxury vehicle but actually comes
in at the same price point as Toyota 4Runner.

Additionally, the variance in prices between luxury and non-luxury goods is
decreasing. A low-end Lexus now costs less than $10k more than a similarly
equipped Subaru Outback or Honda Accord, making the difference when it comes
to actual affordability pretty small.

~~~
byoung2
The difference in cost between a luxury item and a regular item is also masked
by the availability of credit. You can lease a high end Mercedes for the same
monthly payment as buying a Honda Accord. It could be that a large portion of
that 86% of luxury cars driven by non millionaires are leased.

~~~
timr
_"You can lease a high end Mercedes for the same monthly payment as buying a
Honda Accord. It could be that a large portion of that 86% of luxury cars
driven by non millionaires are leased."_

...which makes the bottom line even more pathetic. You make your payment on
the Honda Accord, and after a few years, you _own_ it. It continues to be
drivable, and the amortized cost of ownership begins to decline.

If you hop on the luxury-car leasing merry-go-round, then sure, you get to
drive a new car every few years, but the payment _never goes away_. Meanwhile,
you've almost certainly over-paid for the car relative to what it would have
cost to buy up front.

When it comes to cars, the financially responsible question is not "4Runner or
Lexus?"; it is: "can I live without one?"

~~~
jamiequint
I think 'can I afford to live without it' is a miserable way of going through
life. I certainly could live without ever going to nice restaurants, trying
things like kiteboarding and skydiving, going snowboarding or mountain biking,
but why forfeit things I enjoy so I can look at my bank statement and see a
slightly larger number at the end of the month than I would otherwise?

~~~
timr
I'm not advocating asceticism -- if owning a car is so important to you that
you're willing forgo other luxuries to do it, then that's your choice. But
don't pretend that it's always a sacrifice to live without owning a car, or
that the choice to own one is automatically financially prudent.

For many of us, cars are nothing more than a rarely used, depreciating asset
with high maintenance costs that gets us from point A to point B. I'd rather
rent one occasionally, and spend the money I save on all of the other things
you mention.

~~~
jamiequint
Cool, I see your point. If I rented a car to go snowboarding/mountain biking
as much as I do I'd very likely spend almost as much as owning one ;)

------
nostromo
In a recent TED Talk, Tim Jackson talked about conspicuous consumption. I
really liked this quote:

"This is a story about us, people, being persuaded to spend money we don't
have, on things we don't need, to create impressions that won't last, on
people we don't care about."

~~~
limedaring
Since I'm creating a wedding startup, the insane amount of money people throw
at one event has been in my mind lately...

It's a brutal cycle — the weddings featured in magazines and online are almost
always out of the average couples budget, and what those stories do is create
the idea of "this is what you should have". Couples then concern themselves
with having the best card boxes, the perfect playlist, hand making favors that
will be thrown out the next day by the majority of their guests, because this
is what they're told is the right way of throwing a wedding. A one day event
that people spend way too much money on because they're persuaded to by this
industry.

~~~
rdtsc
This calls for another startup -- the funeral startup.

Weddings and funerals are businesses with huge markups. There is a lot of
emotional attachment involved in both, and people will be willing to shell out
enormous amounts of money on such events.

~~~
limedaring
Oh my goodness, I totally agree.

Did you know they sell decorative boxes to be cremated in? Nevermind you're
never going to see the box, nor will the deceased care which box they're in,
all it's going to do is _burn_ but the funeral people are all, "what, you'd
burn your father in a cardboard box? How horrible."

~~~
hartror
Put me in a cardboard box, bury me and plant a tree above me.

~~~
silverbax88
I tell my wife all of the time, "if I die first, get the cheapest funeral
possible. A cardboard box is fine. If you spend too much I will come back and
haunt you."

------
thibaut_barrere
If like me, you consider that "wealth = how long you could sustain your
current lifestyle (same expenses) if your income stopped, today.", then it
becomes clear that learning not to show off is really a key to becoming
wealthier.

~~~
jkahn
I think that is a real key. That's what we (my wife and I) try to do.

It can be difficult at times, when we see others flaunting their awesome new
stuff. We just remind each other that the default behaviour in society these
days is to live beyond your means.

Not that we don't have nice stuff. But we limit it and pay cash.

------
psawaya

       What do we often tell a child who expresses an interest in teaching? "You won't 
       get rich as a teacher."
    
       Yet, there are more than 350,000 millionaire educators, working or retired
       teachers or professors, according to Stanley's research.
    

I think it's a little misleading to include college professors in the same
group as public school teachers here.

~~~
ciupicri
I would also bet that those teachers/professors are working on some lucrative
(research) projects or are members of a board of directors, e.g. John L.
Hennessy at Google[1].

[1] <http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#johnhennessy>

~~~
samg
Hennessy actually got rich founding MIPS Computer Systems Inc, years before
Google.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIPS_Computer_Systems_Inc>.

------
jacquesm
What a world we live in, where 86% of the non-millionaires are apparently able
to afford a luxury vehicle. That's fantastic news, that means that money is no
longer as important as it used to be for simple stuff like that. Either luxury
vehicles have gotten cheaper (what's a luxury vehicle anyway) or banks are
stupid enough to give lots of money to people that can't afford to pay the
interest (forget about the principal) when it's due.

Any statistic like that can be bent to make it say whatever it is that you
want to say.

Before Henry Ford made the first production automobile even the millionaires
couldn't drive them and now such luxury items are within reach of most of the
gainfully employed people in large parts of the world. That doesn't mean they
should stop doing it, what point is there in having money if you can't enjoy
it, whatever floats your boat I'm fine with you having it, but there is a
catch.

Here in the EU there used to be a save first, spend later mentality. The only
thing people would think of borrowing money for were houses, and if you
couldn't afford to buy a house then you would be renting one (or if you didn't
want to own a house).

Over the years that has changed, with people spending first their own money,
and then their banks money on 'conspicuous consumption'. Cars, boats,
furniture, package holidays and so on. Little by little the save-first, spend
later mentality has been replaced by spend as much as the bank will let you
borrow, worry about the consequences later.

Those people that are buying those automobiles they can not afford are being
allowed to do so by lending institutions that are pushing cheap credit, no
make that ramming, down peoples throats. That's where the real problem lies,
given the opportunity to borrow money at initial rates that are designed to
lure people in with the nasty consequences written in very small print in gray
on slightly-less-gray backgrounds people will fall for it every time.

Banks are the problem, not the people that think they in fact _can_ afford
this stuff.

~~~
techiferous
"86% of all luxury vehicles are driven by people who are not millionaires."

is not the same thing as

"86% of the non-millionaires are apparently able to afford a luxury vehicle."

~~~
jacquesm
Yep, you're right. That doesn't change the rest of it though.

------
bambax
But... why bother being a millionaire if you can just pretend?

The author of this article seems to assume that it's better to actually _be_ a
millionaire, even if it means living like the poor. I would think it's better
to drive a luxury car (whatever that is) and drink expensive wine, even if you
can't afford it, than the other way around.

It's "bad" to pretend, only if it doesn't end well: if you have to repay what
you borrowed, and can't -- but if you die before you're bankrupt you win!

Now, none of this means much; it doesn't matter to live like a millionaire, or
to be or not to be a millionaire, etc. What matters is peace of mind,
happiness, fulfillment.

A subject for another article maybe? Although probably not in the "Color of
Money" column.

~~~
megablast
Why? Do you really believe that driving a fancy car and buying expensive wine
actually makes you happier? This is the illusion.

It seems better to me to be able to buy a fancy car and know that you don't
want one, than it is to live in a fantasy world were buying stuff makes you
happy.

~~~
gyardley
_Buying_ expensive wine - no, that doesn't make me happy. _Drinking_ high-
quality wine, which sometimes happens to be expensive - absolutely. I enjoy
that very much.

Claiming that my enjoyment of high-quality wine is an illusion because _you_
can't see a difference is just arrogance. The same goes for the consumption of
any other luxury good you might not have a taste for yourself.

~~~
_delirium
I do think that there are high-quality things that are expensive, but I think
people buy by price rather than by blind quality tests relatively frequently.
There are good expensive wines, but the wine price/quality correlation is not
very strong at all. If you actually know what you're buying and how to judge
it, though, by all means buy whatever you want!

I've personally been something of a beer aficionado for 5-6 years now, and
I've seen this creeping into craft brewing quite a bit lately. Especially
after the explosion in the last 1-2 years of mainstream popularity, there's
now a very weak relationship between the quality of beer you get and whether
you pay $3 or $30 for a 22-oz bottle. Tons of good stuff and crap across the
spectrum, and increasingly manufacturers are pricing as a way of status-
signaling rather than based on either cost or quality. There have even been
cases of brewers rebadging the same recipe from a middle-range beer as high-
end premium stuff with a fancy label, and it sells and gets good reviews! (But
it doesn't do any better in blind taste tests.)

------
sosuke
There is a large gap between being a millionaire, net worth of 1 million
dollars or more, a being a billionaire but there is a point in between when
you make enough money to be rich and act like it too. Is there a word for that
point that everyone can agree on. The millionaire people want to be is the one
that makes enough money to be able to spend it without worry, not the
millionaire that is still making a $50k yearly salary with a nice house.

------
spaghetti
I realized something this morning: when I spend almost all of my life doing
something I don't want to do (working a full-time job... Leave the house at 7
am and get home around 6:30 pm) recreational consumption is almost completely
full-filling. When I have as much time as I want to work on stuff I like and
am passionate about recreational consumption does almost nothing for me.

~~~
mkramlich
I've had a similar experience. When I've had work lifestyles where I had to
get up early in the morning, long commute, bureaucrapritude job, long commute
back, get back late, but every 2 weeks get a huge paycheck, I'd end up
spending way too much on discretionary consumption & toys to make me "happy".
When I've had more happiness-oriented work lifestyle phases, with no commute,
no bureaucrapritude, but smaller or more irregular paychecks and less
"security" I've ended up spending way less money on unimportant stuff, saved
way more, and was way more happy in a substantive sense.

------
hasenj
The whole point of accumulating money is to spend it. Sure, you can accumulate
more if you don't spend (I actually sorta doubt it, but let's assume it for
argument's sake).

Then, if you live by "the less you spend, the more money you'll have" you'll
basically end up having a "big number" on your bank account, but nothing of
what you really want.

I'd rather have a super fast laptop and a nice clean apartment, and only $8000
in my account[1], than a crappy laptop and a crappy apartment and $50,000 in
my bank account.

[1] assuming I have a steady income, and/or can generate enough revenue so
that I can keep getting nice things without draining my bank account.

I said that I doubt the correctness of the logic behind "the less you spend
the more you'll have".

I think that to generate wealth, you need to spend some amount of investment
upfront, and if you're afraid to "pay" for things, (because it reduces the
"number" in your account) then it follows that you don't have the courage to
invest in anything, and therefore you are not likely to become rich.

~~~
Bostwick
<i>The whole point of accumulating money is to spend it. Sure, you can
accumulate more if you don't spend (I actually sorta doubt it, but let's
assume it for argument's sake).</i>

I disagree. Once you've learned the basics of investing or stock trading,
accumulating capital becomes about increasing your income.

Let's look at your laptop & apartment example.

Case 1: Super fast laptop & nice clean apartment. I can max out a Macbook Pro
for about three grand, and a nice 2br apartment in Boston will cost about $3k
per month in rent. With your $8,000 bank account, you'll need to earn at least
$3,000 per month from your job just to pay for your apartment. More to save up
and purchase that laptop, and even more still if you want to afford to eat.

Case 2: Crappy laptop and crappy apartment with $50k. A crappy laptop is about
$500 for a really nice netbook, and a cheap apartment in Boston is about $600
per month (for those in Boston, think JP and Forest Hills). Let's invest that
$50k in an ETF called "PFF", which currently costs $40 per share and pays a
monthly dividend of, on average, .20c per share. That gives you 1250 shares of
PFF, for an average monthly income of $250. With $50k, you can buy a $1000
laptop in four months, or pay for almost half your monthly rent.

On a forum where people are constantly trying to generate passive income
through webapps and side businesses, I'm surprised people continuously
overlook the passive income power of large amounts of capital. $50k can buy
you $250 a month for life.

~~~
hasenj
You didn't understand my point.

In case 2, the hypothetical person who has all this money but is hesitant to
spend any portion of it on a decent laptop is probably scared of the concept
of the "number" in his bank account dropping. This hypothetical person would
_not_ invest in stock.

If you invest in stock, then you sorta already agree with me. I mean, you
_are_ spending your money, and that's my whole point: if you're afraid to
spend money then you're not likely to become rich.

And in Case 1, the hypothetical person already has a means of generating
enough revenue so that he can continue to spend/invest without going broke.

------
nezumi
What's the point of having it if you don't enjoy it? This article doesn't seem
to do justice to those who:

\- have enough savings on hand to cover a few months' living expenses \- have
a sensibly invested pension plan \- spend their surplus cash on things they
enjoy

I'm sure the book is simply using the popular, but arbitrary and out-dated
'millionaire' tag as a hook for sound financial advice. But if your goal in
life is just to be a 'millionaire', you're missing the point.

~~~
jacquesm
That's very true, those people are living within their means, not outside of
it, and there are plenty of them.

------
petercooper
The gist of this article is a paradox. Rich people don't act like rich people?
Surely, then, you _should_ act like rich people if rich people are spending
less, etc.

------
ziadbc
Money is a commodity like anything else. Talking about wealth in the context
of consumption means you've already lost. Better to think about how to produce
the most than how to consume the least.

------
harshaw
My parents are fiscally conservative "millionaires". They are 70 and 71 and
may never need to tap their investments for operating cash (they can live off
of pension + social security + misc income). My pet peeve is that I hope they
spend a bit of money on themselves before it is too late.

I used to think their "conservative" consumption habits were a generational
thing. However, they recently had a college friend who sold their paid off
house, bought a very expensive townhouse in DC with their equity plus a giant
mortgage (why does a bank give a 30 year mortgage to someone who is 70?), and
then proceeded to loose the new house plus all of their equity because they
had unexpected medical bills for one of their adult children.

~~~
avar
> Why does a bank give a 30 year mortgage to someone who is 70?

Presumably they're counting on the mortgage being paid off by the estate of
your fiscally conservative parents once they die.

Even if that isn't the case they can claim the townhouse from the estate and
try to sell it to someone else.

------
brainproxy
Being rich is an enticing prospect. When I consider it, I often imagine it as
"the freedom to do/buy/go what/where you want, without delay".

But then the following warning comes to mind and I'm reminded to carefully
scope the bounds and purposes of my worldly ambitions:

"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you that
hunger now, for you shall be satisfied ... But woe to you that are rich, for
you have received your consolation. Woe to you that are full now, for you
shall hunger." (cf. Luke 6:20,21,24,25)

------
ruang
It's not about spending less, it's about spending your money on the correct
things.

People need to spend less on status/signaling goods, and more on creating real
value. Spend less on investing/speculating on things you have no control over.

To paraphrase Tim Ferriss: Wealth is what is left over when all of your money
and material goods are taken away from you.

------
sdizdar
I wonder what people will do with their money when they die? Spend all that
money in after life?

As my father says: money is irrelevant - think about what you are going to
think about your life on dead bed. And the other important saying is: don't
think too much about how you spend your money think about how to create
wealth.

------
retroafroman
I'm surprised that no one has cited that there was already a book just like
this called "The Millionaire Next Door" which was all about pointing out how
the millionaires don't act like we expect "rich" people to. It originally came
out in 1998. This seems like a rehash.

------
bradshaw1965
The whole "Millionaire Next Door" franchise is a massive example of selection
bias. Frugality is not causality for millionaire status. There are plenty of
valid reasons to be anti-consumer and frugal, but it might be a less then
ideal path to riches.

------
sliverstorm
> $16: what most millionaires pay for a haircut (including tip)

I wish I knew where to find a decent haircut for $16, including tip. Or are
they just so rich and powerful they don't have a use for a decent haircut, and
elect for the bargain-sub-basement chop?

-

EDIT: I should characterize this statement a bit. My hair is very thick, and
has a mind of it's own. It has been my experience, over many many years, that
stylists at low-end shops repeatedly

1) fail to blend my hair well, making it look so ragged it looks like a 5yo
cut it with craft safety scissors.

2) fail to understand my hair. It won't go the way you want it to go without
GLUE, so the stylist has to work WITH my hair.

Mid-range shops usually have barbers who are up to snuff. Costs me $20-25
usually.

~~~
thibaut_barrere
What about relocating to a place where 16$ is a decent price for a haircut ?
That's what I did roughly, and the haircut seems to be welcomed by my wife,
too :)

~~~
patrickaljord
Haircut is $2.5 here :D

~~~
dagw
Haircut (that doesn't look like shit) is at least $50-60 here.

~~~
mkramlich
where is 'here'?

I'm in Colorado, USA and you can get decent hair cuts for around $15. It's not
hard really, just have to cut hair.

Speaking of which, I've tried doing it myself for free, in a mirror, and it
did not come out well. Paying $15 or so for a professional to do it is worth
it.

~~~
dagw
Sweden. There are a few places where you can get a haircut for 25-30$, but
I've had nothing but horrible experience with those places.

------
laut
It doesn't have to be very expensive to drive a luxury car. Buy a used one for
under $10k. You don't have to be a millionaire to do that.

Here's a BMW 5 series for less than $6k.
<http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ctd/1997867593.html> Or an S class Mercedes
for under $10k. <http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1994579346.html>

------
coliveira
I think the biggest trouble with this kind of idea is to think that you can
get rich just by saving. It is true that you need to save in order to have
lots of money, but producing value is what makes you rich.

If you save money during your whole life you will be millionaire when you're
60. By then, 1 million will be more like 100k, and you be still unsure about
your future.

It is far better to think about creating value using equity on your own
business or real estate, for example.

------
jbr
There's a lot of causal ambiguity in this article, particularly due to the
fact that no small percent of millionaires likely come into wealth by way of
inheritance or marriage. For example, the author cites the presence of 350k
millionaire teachers as contradicting the statement "you won't get rich as a
teacher." "get rich" implies causality, but "are rich" (the cited fact) does
not.

But yeah, conspicuous consumption is tacky.

~~~
scottkrager
Having read a few of the books discussed in the article, the author makes a
point of showing how actually a small % of millionaires came into their wealth
from an inheritance. He states that 80% are first-generation affluant.

[http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-
millionaire.htm...](http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-
millionaire.html)

------
rbxbx
I find it interesting there's no mention of luxuries such as freedom and
travel. IE: Paying more to rent things than own them, touring various cities,
flying out to see friends for a week. Things that aren't easily placed into
rampant consumerism, yet still require something of a luxury budget, and can
enrich our lives to no end. (Also food, for that matter)

Hm.

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nradov
What is a "luxury" vehicle? A certified used Mercedes-Benz C-class can be had
for $20K. A new Chevrolet Tahoe lists at $37K.

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thewordpainter
reminds me of one of my favorite messages from guy kawasaki: if you make
meaning, you'll often make money.

the ones who end up the wealthiest often don't consider money as their driving
factor...so are they that likely to drastically change their habits that got
them there?

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awongh
idk, I think this article just makes me realize how little a million dollars
buys now-a-days.

I think the author is setting the bar way too low; There's certainly a
psychological appeal to having a specific amount of money with 6 zeros at the
end, but let's face it, to live out our collective cultural conception of what
it means to be wealthy takes a lot more than just 1 million dollars- I can't
really say how much it is today. Probably even more than tens of millions,
more like reaching towards 9 figures, if not mid 8 figures. I think that
really invalidates the author's point about supposedly wealthy people being
frugal, buying habits of non-millionaires aside....

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known
I believe millionaires constantly think in terms of
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost> while spending a dollar.

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dbrannan
Life passes by us faster than I care to acknowledge, and while saving your
money is important you also need to live. The key, I feel, is finding a happy
balance.

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jlgbecom
It's articles like these and the responses they engender that I'm very glad I
grew up working class, and lived my 20's punk rock. I can appreciate the finer
things in life, but I've also got the skills to survive a near-apocalypse.

Getting rich has never been my motivator for being involved in technology, and
to be honest, I'd probably be happier if the industry were de-funded
(hopefully in favor of something like biotech or alternative energies, instead
of url shorteners like bit.ly), and it cut the fat out, of all the people who
prefer schmoozing to hacking.

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arsh
I don't believe that "Nearly four in 10 millionaires buy wine that costs about
$10". That does not look how our world works...

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known
This attitude is prevalent among white collar workers. And almost nil among
farming community.

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known
Real millionaires prefer to _invest_ rather than _spend_ their money.

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nutjob123
A penny saved is a penny earned - ted turner

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groaner
BREAKING: People don't actually want to be rich, they want to live like they
are "rich" people. Film at 11.

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theoneill
Your comment would be more effective without the parts on either end.

