By the time most people come to a financial planner they have usually achieved a state of financial equilibrium. They have a financial foundation and their lifestyle has leveled off (they live the same way month in and month out).
As a Certified Financial Planner I’m always surprised by some of the lifestyles that I see, namely the “rich” mentality. Many people see the millionaires as the ones who own yachts, a few big fancy properties and travel all around the world. The reality is that this is only about 2% of the millionaries (these are US stats as that’s where the study was done). The other 98% of the millionaires are your nextdoor neighbors who live drastically within their means.
The study was done by a Dr. Thomas J Stanley (Author of the book “The Millionaire Next Door”) where he studied people who are perceived to be millionaires and people who are. What did he find? He found that the people who are perceived to be millionaires are living their lives on credit buying everything to “live life to the fullest now,” whereas the millionaires are living within their means and saving roughly 20% of their income.
Can you do that? How badly do you want to be a Millionaire?
The reality is that most people aren’t saving enough for a rainy day, let alone their future.
Travis
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