Psychology of Money

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 Your Money Mentality Matters: 

  1. Rich people believe: “I create my life.” Poor people believe: “Life happens to me.” (This is HUGE. Every successful person I know is control of her life. Unhappy people are constantly complaining to me how this, that, or the other thing prevents them from doing something.)
  2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
  3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
  4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
  5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
  6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people. (This is important, too — it seems to hold true among my friends.)
  7. Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people. (Another important one.)
  8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
  9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
  10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
  11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
  12. Rich people think “both”. Poor people think “either/or”.
  13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.
  14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people mismanage their money well.
  15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
  16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them. (This is big for me right now. I’ve accomplished most of the goals I set for myself, and need to set some new ones. But I have this nagging fear, because I’m moving into the unknown. Eker says that successful people act in spite of this fear. They move beyond worry, they “fake it til they make it”, learning as they go. Unsuccessful people do nothing at all.)
  17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.

These are seventeen differences taken from Harv Eker's Secrets of the Millionaire's Mind. See also a Review of 'Secrets of the Millionaire's Mind' and an Audio Excerpt of the book.

Intriguingly Harv Eker does not emphasize discipline as a key differentiator, which ties in with the Personal Excellence Blog which questions the importance of self discipline, suggesting the real problem is a lack of desire instead.

Money and knowledge

Besides mentality, knowledge matters too. According to the PhD research of van Rooij the difference in wealth accumulation between households with low and high financial knowledge is EUR 80,000.

Money and happiness

The link between money and happiness is controversial. That said, GDP per capita does appear correlated with a new OECD well-being index according to an Economist Chart.