If You Act Poor, You Will Become Poor, Regardless How Wealthy You Are
While no specific attitude or behavior can be directly tied to a poor person, the aggregate of some behaviors and choices can definitely impact a persons ability to become wealthy, and break out of the poor mindset.
The overall premise to thinking poor is not being able to separate the “wants” from the “needs” of life, to only purchase the “wants” when it is prudent to do so, and then only at a bargain. The poor mindset makes people generally think they “need” things that they merely want, and lack the self-control to delay the gratification until they can actually pay for it.
The poor mindset also causes people to generally fail to, or fail to recognize the need to, plan. While planning, budgeting, etc., are generally considered mechanics of debt reduction and wealth building, actually sitting down and creating these tools, working through those defined steps actually takes some motivation and desire, and that’s behavior.
Failing to sit down and plan plays hand in hand with their reluctance to delay gratification. A paycheck on Friday funds a vice for the weekend, regardless if a bill is due on Monday. This usually causes a poor mindset in the person to reach out to the first available means of credit, which is usually a pawn shop, payday loan center, or the likes of companies that charge usury rates to borrow money. Come next payday, pay the loan off, they’re once again broke, and the cycle repeats.
Living within their means is also usually a concept that escapes the poor mindset. People living in 1 bedroom apartments with a $30k car sitting outside are not making living within their means, and expensive cars, especially at the beginning of debt reduction and wealth building is a huge stumbling block.
These are a few of the attitudes and behaviors of the poor mindset. Remember, acting poor will make you poor, regardless of how wealthy you are.
Source: Mike Jones, Yahoo! Contributor Network