Having Fancy Stuff Makes Us Wealthy!
Welcome to the second of my mini video blog series on Myths about Money.
Myth number two is simply “Having fancy stuff makes us wealthy.”
Not able to watch the video today? Read the Transcripton below:
Even saying it sounds ridiculous!
Nevertheless, many of us (and I am included in this) believe that the more impressive stuff we have, the wealthier we are.
If we stop to think about it, I think we know this is not true.
My Mum had a wonderful saying, she used to say “Oh yes, we know about them – it’s all kippers and curtains”. What she was saying was look at those people, they live in a big house, it’s all beautifully impressive. On the outside they’ve got fabulous curtains, but in fact they’re having to live on kippers because they haven’t got any money. Their net worth, their wealth, is extremely low.
The question is, once we get into this mindset, what do we do about it?
My thought is that we look at the examples that are open to us: Warren Buffet is worth something in the region of $80 billion, but do you know what salary he takes? Only $100,000 a year. In fact, he lives in an ordinary suburban house, he drives a five year old Ford, he’s just an ordinary guy, but his net worth is huge – and that’s the secret!
So how do we emulate that? How do we realise that it’s our net worth that really counts for something rather than all the impressive things we have a tendency to surround ourselves with?
Here’s a thought. What would happen if we actually had to write our net worth on our foreheads? It’s about being a bit more public about the decisions that we make around spending money.
How can we actually create a situation where we are making buying decisions that will help us rather than hurt us? I think to some extent one of the things that could be helpful here is talking to a financial life planner. Somebody who can actually say “Let’s look at your situation, let’s find out exactly where you are and let’s help you to make better buying decisions – less stuff and more substance.”
I hope that’s been helpful to you, it would be great to hear from you. Let me know what you think and if you have an opportunity, do take a look at the references below.
Regards,
Nicholas.
REFERENCES:
http://www.zenhabits.net
http://www.theminimalists.com/
Myth number two is simply “Having fancy stuff makes us wealthy.”
Not able to watch the video today? Read the Transcripton below:
Even saying it sounds ridiculous!
Nevertheless, many of us (and I am included in this) believe that the more impressive stuff we have, the wealthier we are.
If we stop to think about it, I think we know this is not true.
My Mum had a wonderful saying, she used to say “Oh yes, we know about them – it’s all kippers and curtains”. What she was saying was look at those people, they live in a big house, it’s all beautifully impressive. On the outside they’ve got fabulous curtains, but in fact they’re having to live on kippers because they haven’t got any money. Their net worth, their wealth, is extremely low.
The question is, once we get into this mindset, what do we do about it?
My thought is that we look at the examples that are open to us: Warren Buffet is worth something in the region of $80 billion, but do you know what salary he takes? Only $100,000 a year. In fact, he lives in an ordinary suburban house, he drives a five year old Ford, he’s just an ordinary guy, but his net worth is huge – and that’s the secret!
So how do we emulate that? How do we realise that it’s our net worth that really counts for something rather than all the impressive things we have a tendency to surround ourselves with?
Here’s a thought. What would happen if we actually had to write our net worth on our foreheads? It’s about being a bit more public about the decisions that we make around spending money.
How can we actually create a situation where we are making buying decisions that will help us rather than hurt us? I think to some extent one of the things that could be helpful here is talking to a financial life planner. Somebody who can actually say “Let’s look at your situation, let’s find out exactly where you are and let’s help you to make better buying decisions – less stuff and more substance.”
I hope that’s been helpful to you, it would be great to hear from you. Let me know what you think and if you have an opportunity, do take a look at the references below.
Regards,
Nicholas.
REFERENCES:
http://www.zenhabits.net
http://www.theminimalists.com/