There are key differences between the rich mindset vs poor mindset. The biggest difference is how each mindset approaches the concept of money. The rich mindset respects money while the poor mindset doesn’t think much of it. That is the difference.
There are many people who say, “well, it’s just money”. No. It’s not just money. Money is something that is precious and impactful to our lives. I don’t disrespect money because it’s what puts food on the table and gives me shelter. When I lose money, that gives me an immense amount of pain.
In my younger days, I had the poor mindset. I even went into college majoring in a Liberal Arts degree. While there’s nothing wrong with a Liberal Arts degree, it’s not the best major at acquiring a high paying job.
The sole reason why I majored in Liberal Arts instead of business was because I was led to believe “money is evil”.
That’s disrespecting money. Money is not evil. Money is a tool to do some amazing things in your life and for the world. Whether we like it or not, if you don’t have money, you are mostly irrelevant to society. When you walk into a shop without money, they don’t give you a second glance.
There are important distinctions between the rich mindset vs poor mindset. When you get out of the poor mindset is when the world opens up. It doesn’t feel good to not have money. I’ve been there before and it feels freeing not to be in that position again.
Rich Mindset vs Poor Mindset: The Differences
So then let’s delve even deeper into the differences rich mindset vs poor mindset. There are 9!
1) The Rich Mindset Respects Money
The rich mindset doesn’t take money lightly. When they lose money, they don’t do anything to make themselves feel better at the expense of money. They know that they messed up and actively search for ways to correct their mistake.
The rich understand just how much they have to toil every day to put food on the table. They don’t give away money like it’s candy. They actively look for ways to pay less than they absolutely have to pay. It’s not about being cheap but it’s about being frugal.
The rich mindset vs poor mindset matters when it comes to approaching money. There are many poor people I saw through my jobs. One time, this guy ordered $85 worth of oysters during dinner. JUST for himself. Including dinner and appetizers, that was easily $150+.
That is a poor mindset that doesn’t mind disrespecting money. That’s not the right way to go.
2) The Rich Mindset Doesn’t Compare to Others
They don’t care if others are doing better than them. They have no need to “one up” others with fancier clothes, cars, and house. All they care about is themselves and whether they are bettering themselves or not. I had a huge problem with this in 2022. Not anymore.
I had a dying need to be the best out of all my friends so I would constantly compare myself to them when it comes to finances. Then, when I lost $100k+ during the great bear market of 2022, it made me depressed. It was something that I never felt ever before in my life.
Now, I am completely healed from that and I never compare myself to others anymore. The rich mindset vs poor mindset has to do with comparisons on the quality of life. There’s no need to try to “one up” others by showing off what they have.
The cold hard truth is, if someone needs to show off how good they have it, their life isn’t all that good. People already can tell whether someone’s life is great or not.
3) The Rich Mindset Puts in the Work
The rich think hard work is necessary to be successful. The poor think family connections and privilege is what it takes to be successful. There’s a reason why 88% of millionaires are reportedly self made. Except for the very few who inherited their wealth, the rich mindset requires hard work.
No one ever got wealthy otherwise, except for inheritances. When I first started my career, I put in long nights for little pay. It was an investment into the future. What I don’t like is that we have to put in long nights for low pay in the beginning.
Even long nights for high pay gets old after a while. However, after you invest that time into yourself, it pays dividends in the end. I am so glad my younger self put me in the position to be happy and with less struggles than if I hadn’t put in hard work in the beginning.
The rich mindset vs poor mindset is different when it comes to knowing how to achieve success in life.
4) The Rich Mindset Puts Money to Work
Saving does not equate to building wealth. Investments built many people wealthy but savings did not make anyone wealthy. It allowed them to protect their wealth. But not investing money cost them dearly, even if it was more risky to invest than to save.
The rich mindset vs poor mindset is different when it comes to investing their money. Some just downright refuse to invest their money because they believe the stock market or real estate is a scam. Many people can lose a lot of money in them, but they are definitely not a scam.
When I first started out, I invested as much money as I could in the S&P 500. Although I took some risk off the table in the latter half of 2022, I still believe that investing is the way to wealth, not saving. I will get back to investing a majority of my money soon but I’ve been stockpiling cash in the meantime.
If you don’t make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. There’s truth to that saying.
5) The Rich Mindset Doesn’t Blame Anybody Else
The rich mindset vs poor mindset is different when it comes to responsibility. The poor mindset believes the government owes them something. They think the taxes they pay to the government should come with some sort of a return. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The government doesn’t owe you anything, even if you pay taxes to them. In exchange, you get highways, libraries, and infrastructure to go about your day to day life. After that, they don’t guarantee wealth to anybody or anyone nor should they.
There are plenty of people who got dealt a bad hand and still came out ahead anyway. That’s what the rich mindset believes. They are the only ones who are 100% responsible for their life. They take action and make choices today to achieve upward mobility and move themselves up.
Although the birth lottery plays into effect, there’s plenty of people who was born with less but came out ahead anyway.
6) The Rich Mindset Never Gives Up
The road to wealth is unbelievably hard. It takes decades and decades of hard work to get wealthy. Some put in the hard work and still don’t even get there. However, that’s not a valid reason to ever give up. All we can do is continue to show up every day.
Showing up is half the battle. I’ve never seen a rich person get there because they gave up. There were many days when all I wanted to do was spend thousands of dollars on a new laptop. However, I didn’t, because I knew that money was earmarked for my future.
The rich mindset vs poor mindset is different when it comes to giving up. The most successful person on YouTube of all time is MrBeast. It took him four and a half years of full time work before he STARTED to become successful. Not even become successful.
1 year of effort is not really enough to achieve success. You have to go through the grind of learning.
7) The Rich Mindset Uses Credit Cards Well
The rich understand just how important having a good credit score is. Having good credit allows the lender to lend you more money. As you acquire more money, you can invest in more income and appreciating assets. As you acquire more assets, you become wealthier.
And so on and so on. The rich mindset vs poor mindset approaches credit differently. One maxes out the credit card and pay the minimum balance and the other spends on only what they can afford and pays off the entire balance thereafter.
I had a credit score of 800 in 2021. That differentiates me against other borrowers in case I need more credit to fund any businesses or asset classes that I want. It really makes a huge difference. The credit card points I earn throughout the process doesn’t hurt, either.
Credit cards separate the financially responsible from the irresponsible.
8) The Rich Mindset Doesn’t Spend Unnecessarily
As much as I believe higher income is the way to wealth, I can’t deny just how much spending plays into the journey. The United States has an abysmally low savings rate of 3.5% as of August 2022. There is no way all of the 96.5% of the income that we spend is necessary spending.
There’s just no way. We collectively have room in the budget to cut down even more than we already are. There’s no need to get a second car when the one we have works just fine. The rich mindset vs poor mindset approaches spending quite differently.
The rich spend all their money on investments while the poor spend all their money on things. Our current situation where the consumer depends on credit cards to fund their life is not a financially sound situation. There’s no need to spend $15 on a novelty if you’re not even going to use it after a day.
I get it, spending gives us a sense of power. However, not having money will weaken that power even more. Spending should be disciplined.
9) The Rich Mindset Prioritizes Health
The rich understand that without health, they are nothing. Health is wealth. I have horrible digestion and neck problems. If I”m going through this problem now, I can only imagine just how much worse the problem gets, decades down the road.
Therefore, I’m actively taking steps to correct this and remedy the situation. I swapped out my pillows, mattress, and regularly stretch out my neck. I watch what I eat very carefully because my stomach dictates my life. Although I don’t like doing it, I do it anyway.
The rich mindset vs poor mindset is different when it comes to health. There’s no point in getting fast food to save $5 today when it will cost $100,000 tomorrow in hospital bills. It’s just not worth it. I personally get fast food frequently because it is delicious.
However, I at least work out 5x a week to compensate for that. Health is the most expensive price you can pay. It’s best practice to protect it as much as possible.
Rich Mindset vs Poor Mindset is Real
The reason why the wealth inequality gets worse and worse is because only a few number of people understand the rich mindset vs poor mindset. An even fewer number of people actually implement these steps. It was the wildest thing I’ve ever experienced and seen.
You actually teach people how to get rich, and the majority just brushes it off like nothing. Only the top 1% actually listen to this advice and implement it. I am so appalled that this behavior exists. I was willing to sacrifice anything and everything to become rich and wealthy.
And here I am, at the top 3% of my age group. The rich mindset vs poor mindset exists in real life and is the cause of the financial inequalities you see today. It can only grow worse because, for whatever reason, people like spending as much money as they possibly can.
That’s just not the right way to build wealth. The rich are some of the most frugal people you’ll ever meet for a reason. Frugality is one of the characteristics that will make you wealthy. I am living proof because I practice it every single day.
It may take me decades before I enjoy the fruits of my labor, but I am OK with that. I would rather be wealthy in 40 years than never be wealthy at all. It’s not easy to build wealth and earn a lot of money. However, once you get there, it will have been all worth it.
You have the sole power to get there. It’s up to you.
Rich Mindset vs Poor Mindset Shortlist:
- The rich mindset respects money
- The rich mindset doesn’t compare to others
- The rich mindset puts in the work
- The rich mindset doesn’t blame anybody else
- The rich mindset never gives up
- The rich mindset uses credit cards well
- The rich mindset doesn’t spend unnecessarily
- The rich mindset prioritizes health
Great list! My favorites are #3 and #4, but the whole list is full of wisdom 🙂