The Difference between the Rich and the Poor

One of the financial gurus who has been known for writing books that have been best sellers which pertain to financial education and increasing your financial I.Q. has quoted in one of his published works that if you want to become financially free, you must see and learn from the rich. One might actually ask, is there a difference between the rich and the poor aside from the fact that they are occupying a higher state or status in society?

In that same chapter of his published book, this financial teacher and financial expert has discussed that there is a huge difference between the mentalities of the rich as opposed to the mentality of the poor. As you go on with this article, we encourage you to figure out what your mindset is in order for you to determine if majority of what you think is a rich man's mindset or if majority of what you think is more of the poor guy.

I am in control of my life. Have you ever noticed how rich people seem to be innovators or creators? It is because rich people believe that everything that happens in their life is something that they have destined themselves into. They are not victims of life situations but rather they create life situations that would allow them to succeed.

There was once a documentary of how Bill Gates came to be who he is right now which was entitled "Pirates of Silicon Valley" and in this particular documentary, they have highlighted and shown how Bill Gates started off with Microsoft. In the said film, they have specifically highlighted how MS-DOS began. Just to cite, one of his friends knew a programmer who was selling a software program for a certain amount. The problem is, Bill Gates and his 3 other friends did not have the financial capability to purchase the program. What did they do? They met with the board of IBM and discussed the program and its features according to how they knew it and the deal was on. IBM purchased the software which gave Bill Gates money to purchase the software from the actual programmer.

You might say that Bill Gates cheated the programmer with such a deal but then, come to think of it, it was he and his 3 other friends who had the guts in order to present the software in a board meeting of IBM. He created a way in order for him to start up his company. Then he also ensured that the board of IBM agreed that his software would not be exclusive only to IBM computers as he knew that there would be other people who would be interested in purchasing it.

If Bill Gates did not have that mindset that he is in control of his life and if he were like any other poor people who would have the mentality that they are victims of the events that happen to them in life, would you think he would even be able to close the deal with IBM? Do you even think he would be able to have his first software or his first Operating System which was known at that time to be MS-DOS? The answer would be clearly a big NO. If Bill Gates was bound by the fact that he did not have the financial resources to purchase the software, maybe another person could have purchased it and Microsoft would not be the huge and big company that we know now.

I dream big. Here is another difference between the rich and the poor people. The rich would always dream big while the poor would not and would just think small. Going back to the discussion between the rat race and how people are bound to it, we would notice that majority of the people who work as employees do not even dare to dream big. Why? Because they can see that with the current salary that they have, they would not afford to have the dreams that they have. However, we should not stop dreaming and we should not stop trying to achieve the goals that we have in life whether it be: to have your own home, to have your own car, to have a million pesos or more that you are able to maintain in your bank account. Never stop that dream. One of the financial teachers who is a Filipino and has continuously been educating people on how to increase their financial wallet said that our dreams were planted by God in our hearts and God will fulfill them. However, if you stop dreaming, in a way, you are rejecting what God has in store for you.

Furthermore, when rich people dream big, they would make it as big as they can. A certain example would be, when we were kids, we often tell our parents "I want to earn a million dollars in a month." What would be the common response that we would get from our parents? Either they question your dream and ask what you are going to do with such amount of money or they tell you "son, we are only poor and since you're a son of a poor family, you are destined to be poor." This mindset goes hand-in-hand with the first one that we have discussed. The poor always think that they were destined to be poor in life. However, such is not the case. It just takes one to change their mindset and have the mindset of the rich people.

Another possible factor which relates to this particular mindset of dreaming big is our religion and faith. Apparently, there are priests and ministers who would want us to think that money is the root of all evil. However, is it really true that money is the root of all evil? Why are they teaching us this? Apparently, since the rich people would often dream big, part of what they dream is to expand whatever business they have where, on our end, we interpret it as the rich being greedy. However, this is not being greedy and dreaming of expanding one's business does not have any intentions of being greedy. The Truly Rich People would want to expand their business in order for them to help out more people by giving more jobs. This is something that we fail to see because pastors, and priests of our religious group would often tell us that these rich people are becoming greedy. In the end, we tend to associate being poor with our religious or theological belief that God blesses the poor (see the Beatitudes).

I focus on solutions and opportunities. Another difference between the rich and the poor is their focus in life. The rich would often focus on solutions and opportunities in an effort to resolve a particular problem that they encounter in life but the poor people would often focus and wallow on the problem. Let's take a particular example of this and make it concrete. One of the common and usual problems that we encounter in life is debt. Yes, face it or not, we often have debts that we need to pay. However, the difference lies with where we focus our attention to.

The rich would not dwell and wallow on the fact that they have incurred debt but rather, they would focus on finding ways and means on how to earn more in order to pay off the debt. The poor would wallow on the idea that they have a debt which they need to pay and thus, you would see that all their emotions are dwelling on the fact that they are in debt, they start worrying, they start to think or worry about the debt itself that the more they think of it, the more they find themselves in a situation where they are unable to get out of debt. Rather than dwelling and exerting all your emotions in the debt, why not focus on getting ways or finding ways to make more money in order to pay off the debt. You would be surprised, if you have that mentality, you would just have the money enough to get yourself out of that debt.

Opportunities come to us on a daily basis and some opportunities would involve risks. Another difference between the rich and the poor is that the rich often take that risk while the poor would often let the opportunity pass. Have you ever heard of extra-income opportunities? One of the common and frequently offered extra income opportunities are often through direct selling or multi-level marketing. When you join any of the direct selling companies, your goal is to earn extra income but then, joining would mean shelling out a certain capital. Those with a poor mindset would often say "I don't have that amount of money to start up this opportunity" but the rich would often say, "I'll find a way to get that money so I can immediately start up this opportunity." Do you see now where the difference lies? It again goes back to the first mindset where the poor would often think that they are victims of the scenario. They were born poor so they don't have any way in order to start up with the opportunity that was presented to them while the rich would think otherwise.

I am committed to my dreams. In line with the first previous discussions about the difference in the mindset of the rich and the poor, this is one very obvious and glaring difference. Yes, a lot of people have dreams, however, if you come to think of it, how many of us would place in actions in order to achieve the realization of our dreams?

Let's take the example that was given prior... debt. It is normal to incur debt and if ever you find yourself in debt and you want to break out from it, then what you need to do is to create action plans where you would focus on in order to get out of debt. Another typical example that is common to Filipinos. We often dream of wanting to have our own house and lot, and our own car. This is not bad as we are, as humans, supposed to continue to dream. However, what actions have you taken in order to achieve your dreams? Often Filipinos would say, they would place their bet in the lottery. Is this a concrete action plan in order for you to achieve and have your own house and lot and you own car? We all know that lottery is a game of chance and have you even asked yourself what is the probability that you would be the winner in the next lottery draw? Here in the Philippines, we have several lottery draws such as: 6/42, 6/45, 6/49, 6/55, and 6/58. All of these lottery draws have a corresponding combination of numbers, i.e. 6/42 would have 42 numbers where you need to select only 6 digits which are being drawn. You would be lucky if you get the said combination but what if you don't? How long would you be placing bets before you get that luck and become the grand winner? By then, how much accumulated money have you spent just to place your bet in a single lottery draw of 6/42? If you have only saved up the money that you have placed as a bet in the lottery, you might have been able to have capital for other investments or other opportunities where you can have concrete steps in order for you to fulfill or achieve your dreams.

This is what financial gurus and experts would mean when they say that the poor are simply dreaming about their dreams. There is nothing concrete in the steps that we take in order for us to achieve the dreams that we have in our lives compared with the rich who would do something and work on something in order to achieve the dreams that they want in life.

These are but some of the clear differences in the mindset of the rich and the poor. If one would ask you, what makes the rich different from the poor, the answer would be plain and simple. It is the mindset or how they think that makes them different from each other. The rich are more into the mindset of creating opportunities because they are committed in fulfilling their dreams while the poor would often think of themselves as victims of situations and scenarios in their life where they are helpless or they can't do anything.

Do you want to start wearing the rich man's mentality? Then start committing to your dreams. What can make your dreams turn to reality than by starting your business? Start off your business now! Ask me how.