If you are looking to find more tools for your children to ensure they are more prepared financially and socially in life than you were, then this book is for you. In the book “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to be Happy and Successful in Life”, Tom Corley (author) is taking a road trip with his son and goes into vivid detail about what he learned from his grandfather (a very successful author and financial coach) when he spent an entire summer with him.
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His grandfather promised he would teach him what he learned after studying the common themes of wealthy/successful people. So over the course of his summer break, Tom’s grandfather taught him “rich habits” one week and would splurge and have fun with him the other week—alternating work weeks (learning rich habits) and fun weeks (work hard, play hard).
During the “work” weeks, Tom Corley’s grandfather taught him the difference between the habits of successful persons (rich) vs unsuccessful persons (poor). The chart details some of the habits of each taken from the book.
|
ACTIVITY |
RICH HABIT | POVERTY HABIT |
| Communication | I am very careful what I say and how I say it. | I pride myself in saying what’s on my mind. |
| Daily Goals | I maintain a daily “To-Do” list. | I do not maintain a daily “To-Do” list. |
| Delayed Gratification | I believe in planning for tomorrow (even if it means making major sacrifices today). | I believe in living for today. |
| Exercise | I exercise aerobically 30 minutes or more, four days a week. | I do not exercise aerobically on a regular basis. |
| Goals | All of my goals are in writing and I constantly review them. | I do not have any goals. |
| Morning Routine | I wake up 3 hours prior to arriving to work. I spend my time reading, exercising or doing other things to further my knowledge or career. | I wake up, shower, and commute to work. |
| Reading | I read 30 minutes or more each day of educational, self-improvement or career-related material. | If I read, I read books on fiction or for entertainment. |
| TV | I watch less than 1 hour of T.V. each day. | I watch multiple hours of TV each day. |
| Volunteer | I volunteer 5 hours or more each month. | I do not volunteer on a regular basis. |
| Parenting | I make my children volunteer 10 hours or more each month. | I do not make my children volunteer at all. |
| Parenting | I teach my children good daily success habits. | I never learned good daily success habits from my parents. I’m not sure what success habits I should be teaching my children. |
Excerpts from Rich Kids by Tom Corley
The above chart lists a few of the “rich” vs “poverty” habits. Of course this is not saying that ALL wealthy people have these habits or ALL poor people have the poverty habits. This is just a list of the common themes that he observed the “average” wealthy person holds. This is also not to say that every habit of a wealthy or successful person is something that we all should strive for. I may not agree with some of their habits. But it does say that there are some behaviors certain people have that result in very distinguishable outcomes. If I want to lose weight, I need to examine the habits of those who have already lost weight and what they do to keep the weight off. If I want to run a marathon, I need to observe the training of those who run marathons. My husband and I want to eliminate all debt and leave something other than bills to our children, so we are examining the habits of those who are successful financially.
Which habits did you have in the chart listed? “Rich Habits” or “Poverty Habits”? Although our family is still on its journey, it is good to know that we are not only changing how we view money, but we are changing our behavior towards money (habits). I want to have more “Rich habits” than “Poverty Habits” and want to begin instilling those same habits into my children. How about you? Share and leave a comment.
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