8/8/2019 Frugality a Lesson From the Opulent

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Frugality has a bad reputation, yet it is at the core of most millionaire success, according to the book the Millionaire Mind, we have been misled believing that people with real millionaire net worth drive around luxery cars, buy extravagent houses, yachts, private jets, etc. A study of millionaires across the globe has proven this to be largely false.

Frugality is in actuality avoiding waste, or by definition "the practice of acqu

iring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using alreadyowned economic goods and services to achieve a long term goal". Ultimately, frugal means to be discerning in one's purchases, to not waste things, and to makesmart decisions with the money you have already made.

A lot of people who are income affluent, or have high incomes, are actually notfrugal, they are rather tawdry. They believe the mark of riches is to show thatthey have riches by buying items they don't need, constituting waste. They buy cars they cannot afford, houses they cannot afford, they live a lifestyle that atits bases is mostly unecessary- other then to please the people around them, making it seem like they are rich. When it comes down to it, about 1/3 of Americans are actually have a negative net worth. This doesn't mean they are broke incom

e wise, it means they are living way beyond their means.

The study of millionaires in the United States showed contrary to the cinematicpotrayal of wealthy people, they do not waste their money on tawdry items. Thesemillionaires were shown to wear "regular" clothes, drive quality efficient cars(like Volvos, Jeeps, etc) and live in houses that are paid off. Most of them even are married (95%) and the woman in the house is usually a stay at home mother, and knows how to budget money very efficiently. Its not that these people wereshown to be cheap, they just decided to spend money on things that would make them more money. They would rather use there money to hire a quality accountant then to buy a foreign vehicle.

It almost seems as if they have nothing to prove to the rest of society. They ar

e comfortable within themselves, they have no need to show off, because they feel succesful and secure as who they are. They do not need to wear a million dollar suit, because they feel that there mind and there work is enough to prove to themselves that they have made it and in actuality is worth a million dollars.

The mental attitude of tawdryness is one of inner lack, meaning you lack internal balance, so you must wear something expensive to raise your value as a person. 

Its not really the problem of wearing expensive things, but rather doing this when you cannot afford it. Many people would be much more wealthy if they didn't buy things that are wasteful and depreciate with value. (Now if you are a billion

aire, then buying certain things will not be above your means, that is a whole different story).

Some may wonder where the whole concept of upper middle class people acting thisway even came from. This paradigm was actually created by psychologists and sociolgists in the early states of America, the same time the "American dream" wasconcocted. You have to understand that in places like Britain, there was no middle class, only serfs and aristocrats. When the middle class was created as a buffer, these organizations decided the direction for the middle class. A big house, fancy car, and a white picket fence was literally advertised on the televisionand in print media as what rich people actually do. This led people who didn'thave quite the affluency to believe they were wealthy by simply buying things they couldn't afford. Remember, around this same time credit became rampant again.

Credit means you can buy things that you don't have money for, and become deeply endebted to lendors. Sadly, this has been the story for many middle class people, and in 2010 they are starting to feel the effects (house foreclosures, etc).

8/8/2019 Frugality a Lesson From the Opulent

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The middle class would benefit most from frugality, and would help them to moveinto a higher class.

It is evident from the study of various millionaires that the high life is in actuality a literal creation of different media groups, especially for middle andupper middle class citizens. The lesson from the opulent is to be frugal. Buy things that will either make you more money, or something that won't be wasted and

is seriously necessary, or a luxery that actually helps in some way shape or form. The lessons from the opulent teach to live at your means, especially if youdon't have the money to buy expensive cars, clothes, etc! It will not help and in the end, the people you are trying to intrigue won't care!