At the very least this applies to you at some point or other during your wealth-building journey, but yeah, you simply can’t escape from some of the expenses forming part of the financial processes in your life. If you are already wealthy, chances are you and many others made a number of financial institutions even wealthier by simply having to make good on your financial expenses. It costs money just to open a bank account and it costs money to use the services extended to you by the bank, many of which aren’t explicitly presented to you as being compulsory, but are mandatory even though your only wish is to live a normal life.
Look, not everybody harbours ambitions of being wealthy (or at least not everybody would admit to wanting to be wealthy), but the truth is it’s much better to be a “Have” than a “Have Not.” Many aspects of your life just become easier if the size of your bank account is considerably healthier than the average one, not so that you can look down on others and only enjoy being wealthy by virtue of competing with others, but rather so that you can afford the luxury of choice and sometimes just so that you can afford otherwise expensive essentials such as good healthcare and the likes.
So the most striking difference between the Haves and the Have-Nots is that of their mindsets and the habits developed as a consequence. Granted, some people have a head-start in life and are afforded more opportunities to perhaps build up some wealth for themselves, but this takes nothing away from the fact that mentality and mindset are two qualities which differ amongst those who go on to become wealthy and those who remain in their current economic circumstances.
Why do you hear of stories of the likes of Bill Gates flying economy class when he was still a teen / young-adult building up his Microsoft company, yet today a bunch of people you’ve never heard of project a false image of living a “lavish” lifestyle over platforms such as social networking sites? It’s because of priorities. Today Bill Gates can fly anywhere he wants in the world in his own private jet because of the sacrifices he made while he was still trying to construct his wealth. The Have-Nots mentality is the complete opposite and in order for this to change we need to start looking at the basics of our financial affairs.
It goes beyond the Stanton Fisher Packaged Bank Accounts approach to dealing with your finances, but that’s a great start, in that it sets the process of closely scrutinising something as seemingly benign as your financial expenses in a bid to stem the flow of your wealth being eaten into before it even accumulates. You have to start with questioning the financial services you’re paying for — do you really need that “Platinum” account with a flashy card to match, just so that you can perpetuate the illusion of wealth, or would it not rather be better to go with a standard account with less fees and with a greater return on any money you save?