FIVE HABITS THAT ARE KEEPING YOU POOR AND BROKE

 The top 100 richest people earned their first million by the age of 37 on average. It took them 37 years to make a million dollars, but a much shorter time to make their second million or even their first billion dollars. Warren Buffett is a great example; he made his first million by the age of 30 and just 25 years to grow it to a billion dollars. And trust me, there is a huge, astronomical difference between a million and a billion, that's the difference between flying business and owning a private jet. The real challenge is to cross a certain threshold; once you cross it, making more money becomes much easier. Even if Warren Buffett makes 1 percent of his investments annually, that is still over a billion dollars. He literally can spend a billion dollars to year buy a new yacht, and a new jet every single year, and it still wouldn't affect his wealth at all! So the reason why most people don't get rich is that they get flexible with money a bit too early. If they had pushed themselves a bit more and invested that money, they would have become financially independent way faster. However, life often moves in such a way that your spending constantly grows, especially when you start a family. But how come that there are still people who create families but still end up millionaires or even billionaires? That's because they avoid some fundamental bad money habits that keep people poor. Making one bad financial mistake is not always a  big deal, but when it turns into a habit, that's when you are screwed. That's when you know that you are on your way to becoming broke. So, let's take a look at  5 money habits that keep most people broke.

1.     1.  Being reactive

Most people live their lives reacting to what's happening. They wake up early in the morning because they found a job and now they have to be there at 8  in the morning; otherwise, they won't be able to put food on the table. A perfect example is someone who suddenly starts working out because his health has deteriorated so badly that if doesn't start eating healthy, he won't survive for long. But wait a second, what's the problem with that? Isn't that how life is supposed to be? Not! That's why we have reactive people on one side and proactive ones on the other. Proactive people don't let the circumstances around them dictate their decisions. They want to have a productive morning routine, so they just do it regardless if it's Monday or Sunday. They don't wait until they get overweight to start going to the gym but rather plan how to stay healthy regardless. If you just keep reacting to what's happening,  you will just go with the flow and then find out that you have wasted your life. Now, how does this relate to money? Do you know why people waste money? Why do people constantly buy things they don't need? Because they felt emotional and splurged an excessive amount of money on this or that. How often have I seen young people buying expensive cars in debt because  their friend is driving a nice car? I don't have anything against nice cars; I wish everyone who is reading this article would end  up driving a Ferrari. But you made that decision reacting to your friend who bought a new car and not because it’s the best decision for you now. This doesn't just happen with money but with life in general. People go and take two jobs to be able to afford a lifestyle that they don't even want but feel they have to meet certain expectations. If I were poor and could barely afford to pay the bills, the first thing I would do is make sure I have enough free time to think and learn what will make me rich instead of working 12 hours at McDonald's. Yes, working 12 hours at an office will get me the latest iPhone, yes, I will be driving a car, but what's the end game? Where am I going? I would rather keep the same iPhone for 4  or 5 years, eat simple food for a few years,  share an apartment with friends, but have plenty of time to learn skills that will make a lot more money in the future than work at the office for the rest of my life.

 

2. Not loving yourself enough

Nowadays, everyone talks about love and how love alone will save the world. But frankly speaking, most people don't truly love themselves, and they don't even understand what it means to love oneself. If you genuinely loved yourself, you would already be a millionaire today, driving a Ferrari. Let me tell you now what it means to love yourself, write it down! Loving yourself means putting yourself and your life at the highest priority. Life is not a video game where you have ten lives. When you die, it's over, and you don't get a second chance. There are no cheat codes to reverse that. I don't care what you do or how much money you make, once your 20s are over, you will never have them again. Once time has passed, it's over, and you will never get that time back. Even if you have all the wealth in the world,  even if you end up owning the entire universe,  I promise you, you will die,  and no one can save you. When you truly love yourself, you understand this, and you don't waste hours and hours watching worthless Netflix shows that do nothing but ruin your brain or scroll endless TikTok. Imagine if you knew that by the end of the day, someone would put a bullet in your mind. If you really knew this was your last day, you would not waste it. You would avoid people who waste your time, and you would avoid countless TikTok videos that just consume your time. So if you can’t have your time back,  why are you wasting so much time, why are you acting as if there are thousands of years ahead of you? Imagine how your life would look like if you haven’t wasted any time in the last 5 years. Well, that's how your life would look like in 5 years,  if you learned how to stop wasting your time.

 

3. Daydreaming

Marcus Aurelius has a beautiful quote: "You could be good today. But instead, you choose tomorrow.”You know those moments when you start learning a new skill or working on a new project,  and you begin to imagine how you will build a  multimillion or even billion-dollar business,  achieve great success, and accomplish your goals.  But then, as time passes, you realize that things aren't progressing as smoothly as you had imagined, and you give up. This happens all too often. Many people today have repetitive office jobs or work in jobs like making coffee or in a  warehouse, where they perform tasks on autopilot,  which allows their minds to drift into daydreaming about a different more glamorous life. It's okay to dream about your goals and aspirations, but you have to realize that just dreaming won't make them real. The only way to turn dreams into reality is by taking action today, not postponing it for tomorrow. Especially in today's world with so  much entertainment surrounding us, it's easy to get distracted by movies,  Netflix shows, YouTube, and social media. These distractions can lure us away from taking action and living up to our full potential. These endless entertainments just keep pushing us to live in our imaginations. Come back to reality before you run out of time.  You have the option to act today, to take action and work towards your dreams, instead of waiting for a tomorrow that may never come.

4. letting materialistic things take over

Living a luxurious life is great, driving a Ferrari,  living in a mansion, flying private. But whether you are in a Ferrari or a Toyota, you can't drive faster than 85 miles per hour because you will get fined; both cars do the same function, which is getting you from A to B. When you attach your emotional and mental well-being to any of these materialistic things, you become dependent on them,  although they serve the same purpose. How much would you crave to have the things you already have if you lost them tomorrow? There are, of course, necessities, but you will be perfectly fine to live without them. I am not saying you should become a monk and give up everything you have, but rather detach yourself emotionally and mentally. When you do that, you stop running behind day-to-day pleasures and start thinking about what truly motivates, and what drives you. That's when the beast within you unleashes, and you become hyperproductive. Besides, you will stop wasting money on so many things you don't need at all.

 

5. Sacrificing the future for the sake of today

If someone from a hundred years ago were resurrected and took a look at how we live today, their mind would be blown away. I don't just mean by how far technology has become but by how impatient we've become, ready to throw away our future for a slightly more comfortable life. It still blows my mind how young people take a loan to buy a 50K dollar BMW. A car is the most useless thing you will ever buy. Even if you buy the latest iPhone,  I don't blame you because you use it all the time. You call people, check your social media, maybe watch this video now, you might even work through your phone. But you use your car to drive to work then drive back home and maybe a couple of times during the weekend. It's literally parked 95% of the time. So you are choosing to spend an X number of weeks working at a job you hate to afford this BMW that you don't need, and then you complain that you are broke. If you don't realize the problem,  I can't help you. You are literally on your way to get trapped in a  debt trap and stay poor forever. Live in the present, and take full advantage out of it, but don't you ever take a loan to have a more comfortable life today in exchange for sacrificing your future? If you have realized, not all of these habits are directly money-related habits. But these habits directly or indirectly drag you down and push you to make bad financial decisions. If you get rid of them or replace them with good positive habits, which are easier and better,  you will certainly start moving towards becoming financially independent. That's it for today, thanks for reading this article. I wish you success in journey to success