Did you know, if you put $5 into a savings account every single morning when you woke up for the next ten years, you would have a savings account at the end totalling $18,250? When it comes to being rich, we all love the idea of having millions in the bank, but what most people don’t realise is that it’s not earning a ton of money that makes people rich, it’s the mindset and habits that go with their lifestyle.

This is why when most average Joe’s win millions in the lottery, many end up back where they started within several years. It’s all about your spending habits that make you get rich and stay rich. 

Below we’re going to explore the common habits you’re going to want to think about:

1. Failing to Stick to a Budget

Everybody who has money has a budget. You’ve probably sat down yourself at some point in your life and thought to yourself, ‘okay, I need a budget, and I’m going to stick with it.’ You look over your accounts, work out how much you’re spending on bills, like food and rent, and then you figure out how much you can save and how much you can spend to stay comfortable and secure.

Being able to stick to a budget and then keeping it like that is a great way to create wealth. Even if your income goes up or you’ve managed to save a few thousand dollars in a savings account, being able to stay within your budget means you won’t end up losing it all.

“The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge.” – Dave Ramsey

2. Only Having a Single Income Stream

You’ve probably heard this point over and over again, and I’ll talk about it a little bit more below, but if you’re only earning income from one place, you’re never going to get rich or wealthy. It’s as simple as that. Let’s say you own an eCommerce store and that’s how you make your money.

Having a second source of income is a way to negate these issues so you can still earn money, even if one stream is subject to issues. One study found that most millionaires have around two or three main sources of income, plus investments on the side, meaning they can make money, and stay secure in the future.

3. Not Investing Enough

If you want to make money and become wealthy, you need to invest. I’m not saying you need to gamble thousands of dollars away on the stock market and potentially not get anything back. That’s a high-risk investment, but if you do want to go that route, then you’re more than welcome to try it.

However, there are much safer investment options, such as bank and government-funded schemes, ISAs, bonds, and investment projects. Investing in these means you’re not only keeping the money safe for a few years so you can’t spend it, but you’re also making a percentage of the money back.

Now, some investment options will allow you to invest as little as $1, but a good habit is to invest a lot in this way. By investing a lot of money, you’re saving more money, which means you’re not spending it on little things, nor tempted to break your budget, but you’re also making more money because you’re investing more.

4. Settling in Your Professional Life

When was the last time you thought about your professional career and where it was heading? As we get older and go up the career ladder, at some point, we end up settling for where we are, and we grow complacent. We don’t seek to get better, get a promotion, or climb higher. We just get comfortable where we are, and this is a bad thing to do.

Naturally, humans seek comfort zones because it means there’s less to worry about, but if you want to become financially secure and grow wealth, you need to keep climbing higher and higher; about as far as you can go. Fortunately, you live in the modern world, so there are plenty of ways to do this.

5. Not Reading for Growth, or Reading at All

If you want to grow as an individual, whether that’s being able to manage your money better or practically improving or educating yourself in any area of life, you need to make sure you’re reading. As of a Corley study, around 92% of people who had ‘minimal assets’ did not read to grow.

On the other hand, pretty much every single millionaire in the world has the habit of reading with the intention to learn and grow. Coincidence? I think not. Of course, reading is fun for entertainment purposes, but you need to diversify your reading choices and get some books on subjects you want to know about, whether that’s investing, starting your own business, or learning a new skill.

”It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.” – Robert Kiyosaki

6. Procrastinating Your Life Away

A bad habit that needs no introducing. All the points above rely on this one solid foundation that if you procrastinate your life away, nothing is going to happen. Before I go any further, it’s really important for me to say that this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have any downtime whatsoever.

You cannot work 24/7 all the time and expect yourself not to burn out. However, if you have things to make your list and you end just playing games or shopping or watching TV or movies, this is procrastinating. These activities do not grow you or have a final outcome apart from that time you’ve just spent doing those things is now gone forever.

This is time you could have spent reading, exercising, educating yourself, investing, creating your budget, working on your business, or any of the amazing other things that can help you create the life you want to live. Be bold and brave. It takes courage to live the life you want to live, but anyone can do it if they just put the effort in.

What piece of money advice from the article resonated with you the most? Share your thoughts below!