# 21 Ways Rich People Think Differently **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905 "2012-09-06T20:25:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/21 "2012-09-07T02:34:17Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You can’t profit from poverty. Poor people don’t have any money to give you. You seriously don’t know about people who take advantage of poor people, knowing they don’t have the resources to do anything about it? Slumlords? Companies who pay children in third world nations pennies to work for them? > [@Yllaria](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > 1. Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich. > > What does this even mean? It’s not something our avvie brains are capable of understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/22 "2012-09-07T02:41:22Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > What does this even mean? “The rich are superior beings.” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/23 "2012-09-07T02:46:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 1. Average people live beyond their means. Rich people live below theirs. It is much easier to live below your means when you are rich. If I had spent my undergrad years living within my means, I would be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/24 "2012-09-07T02:46:36Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I think this one rings particularly true at least for a subset of rich people. I recall a successful entrepreneur giving a speech about entrepreneurship myths. One was that entrepreneurs love risk. Not true, entrepreneurs are loath to put their own money in, and spend considerable time getting angel investors and venture capitalists to fund their ideas. > > My own tech startup sadly didn’t make anywhere near the millions I envisioned but I also invested essentially $0 in it and got to live out my dream of running and owning a business for over 7 years. How does this work? Since you have to pay the invested money back, and since in the meanwhile you will have spent the invested money on your business, aren’t you, basically, putting you’re own money into your business even if it’s funded by investors? Only, even worse, since you can now go into the negative, while if you were using just your actual bank account that couldn’t happen. An honest question from an ignorant person. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/25 "2012-09-07T03:10:32Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You can’t profit from poverty. Poor people don’t have any money to give you. You don’t get rich by taking money from poor people. You get rich by taking money from people until they’re poor. Then you throw them away; they’re useless at that point. I know. That’s a glib one-sided simplification. But so is “Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/26 "2012-09-07T03:29:10Z")
Jesus H. Donkeyfucking Christ, you people have some sticks up your asses. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/27 "2012-09-07T03:39:12Z")
There does seem to be a common theme of rich people taking an active role in making life choices while average people tend to allow live to just happen to them. That tends to piss some people off because they often feel they have no choices. Of course, one way of thinking that the article doesn’t mention is: 22) I want to become a doctor, lawyer, or investment banker when I grow up. > [@Frylock](#): > > How does this work? Since you have to pay the invested money back, and since in the meanwhile you will have spent the invested money on your business, aren’t you, basically, putting you’re own money into your business even if it’s funded by investors? > > Only, even worse, since you can now go into the negative, while if you were using just your actual bank account that couldn’t happen. > > An honest question from an ignorant person. Most likely he isn’t borrowing on behalf of himself. He creates his business as a corporation and the corporation borrows from the investors. If he goes out of business, the corporation can declare bankrupcy, but his personal assets are safe. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/28 "2012-09-07T03:57:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > There does seem to be a common theme of rich people taking an active role in making life choices while average people tend to allow live to just happen to them. That tends to piss some people off because they often feel they have no choices. It’s called “not having power”. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/29 "2012-09-07T04:07:53Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > There does seem to be a common theme of rich people taking an active role in making life choices while average people tend to allow live to just happen to them. That tends to piss some people off because they often feel they have no choices. Well, except for that part where > [@](#): > > 1. Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich. Seriously, you can believe taking action and working hard are the path to lots of money, or you can believe that rich people just HAVE something that attracts money, but it’s kind of hard to justify believing both. And saying average people believe in sitting back and letting life just happen in addition to believing that hard work is the path to riches is also a contradiction. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/30 "2012-09-07T04:11:38Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > or you can believe that rich people just HAVE something that attracts money, Cash magnets. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/31 "2012-09-07T05:10:36Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > All in all, kind of a crappy list, filled with simplistic stereotypes that conflict with each other. Something tells me our author didn’t spend 30 years interviewing rich people. Something tells me he grabbed some self-help books and clipped from them. I’ve heard each of these over the years, and I haven’t interviewed any rich people. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/32 "2012-09-07T05:19:49Z")
Ooops, I forgot to mention that some of this just sounds made up, and didn’t come from the minds of rich people. “Average people never made the connection between money and health”??? I can’t even barf over that one, it is so patently ridiculous. My Judgement: Rich Dad/Poor Dad scam all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/33 "2012-09-07T05:27:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you happen to have the passion and talent to be a great doctor or great lawyer, you’ll make a lot of money following your passion. That will depend a lot on where and which kind do you practice. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/34 "2012-09-07T06:49:29Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks. Many rich people are just gamblers who got lucky. But like many gambers who got lucky they believe they have some magic power or system that caused their bets to pay off. They don’t stop and consider that if a heap of people gamble (on roulette or investments, whatever) it is inevitable that some will happen to win big, and you don’t have to assume there was skill involved for those who do. > [@friedo](#): > > You can’t profit from poverty. Poor people don’t have any money to give you. They have time, and they will sell it to you cheap and you can sell it at a profit. They also have a lot of money because there are a lot of them. If you can get a dollar off every member of the working poor, you will be a rich man. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/35 "2012-09-07T07:43:12Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > 1. Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks. > > Many rich people are just gamblers who got lucky. But like many gambers who got lucky they believe they have some magic power or system that caused their bets to pay off. They don’t stop and consider that if a heap of people gamble (on roulette or investments, whatever) it is inevitable that some will happen to win big, and you don’t have to assume there was skill involved for those who do. Also, if you are rich you can keep on taking risks until you _do_ get lucky; if you aren’t rich you will find it hard to try even once. New businesses and new products usually fail; a rich guy can keep trying again and again until he gets lucky and succeeds. Someone who isn’t rich can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/36 "2012-09-07T08:34:12Z")
TLDR version: this is **such** a pile of horseshit. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people think MONEY is the root of all evil. Rich people believe POVERTY is the root of all evil. Money has nothing do to with “evil”. Average people don’t think money is the root of all evil, they think that not having money leads a lot of bad shit they don’t want to have happen to them. Nobody wants to live in a dump, eat cheap food with no frills (and not that much of it), watch their children grow up in a crappy neighborhood with terrible schools and crime all around them. Unless they grew up poor — and “rags to riches” stories are quite literally one in a million — most rich people have never, ever had to deal with any of these things. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue. And this makes me feel so good about people with lots of money that I’d love to go make a selfish bastard friend. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality. I’m going to pretend this sentence actually means something. Rich people have an action mentality because they have resources they can use to take action. Poor people know that barring a windfall, they’re going to be working at a shitty grinding job that brings in just enough money to live, if they’re lucky, with no energy or resources for doing anything other than survive day to day. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge. That’s why all their kids attend useless universities like Harvard, Stanford, or Yale. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people long for the good old days. Rich people dream of the future. > > 2. Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically. Bullshit. All the scientists, inventors, SF readers, and dreamers of the future I’ve ever known are the product of the middle class. The handful of rich people who think about the future are people who weren’t born rich. If it’s at all true that the rich are less emotional about money, it’s because they have less emotion invested in what they do with it, because they _have lots of it_. I don’t care about blowing a few bucks on an app or a movie rental, but I’d sure as fuck care about losing half my savings to an investment. If you can afford to blow a couple of million on an investment that didn’t work out, I’d dare say that you’d be less emotional about investing. On the other hand, if you can judge from the big swinging dicks at the banks who pull in multi-million dollar salaries for playing monopoly with other people’s money, they’re completely emotional and ego-driven in making investments, completely disregarding any financial backing for their speculations. Also, they just [make shit up](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2166242/Barclays-20-banks-including-HSBC-facing-criminal-inquiry-rate-fix-scandal.html) to make their investments work out. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people earn money doing things they don’t love. Rich people follow their passion. That’s because they can afford to follow their passions. Having even a small amount of money to support you means you can make better choices about what to follow rather than having to take the best thing you can find right now. It can also let you work on something that doesn’t pay now in the expectation it might pay in the future. If you’re poor, you don’t have that luxury. And what you’re passionate about is probably vastly different, and carries a smaller chance of remuneration, than what a rich person might be passionate about. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people set low expectations so they’re never disappointed. Rich people are up for the challenge. It’s not a challenge when you’ve got a safety net. Being poor and taking a risk is like rock climbing without protection. One mistake and you hit the bottom of the cliff at terminal velocity. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich. Well, being rich helps you be rich. That’s true I guess. Everyone else has to do something to get money. You’ve basically got 3 ways to make money 1) Invest capital or loan it and collect interest, 2) Sell your time, 3) Sell your labor. Guess which two rich people don’t have to do? > [@](#): > > 1. Average people believe you need money to make money. Rich people use other people’s money. Nice job, if you can get it. Connections help here. Hmm, how would a rich person find connections that could loan money for or invest in a project…? > [@](#): > > 1. Average people believe the markets are driven by logic and strategy. Rich people know they’re driven by emotion and greed. Wait, what? I thought rich people were unemotional about money. I’z so confu-sèd. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people live beyond their means. Rich people live below theirs. Kinda easy to do when you’ve got lots of means. Rich people can easily spend less than people with less money. To rent a car for a couple of weeks costs close to $2,000. If I’d had the resources to buy a car outright and sell it back at the end of the trip, I could have saved probably half of that money, even if I were paying, say, $20 an hour for someone to do the paperwork for buying and selling the car for me. Own your own home outright, with no mortgage, and you can live on about 1/3 or less of what someone might need for rent or house payments. Buy goods in bulk, assuming you have space to store them, and you can save on consumables. Buy higher quality clothes and equipment and you can use them for longer, effectively amortizing the cost at the trade-off of a higher purchase price. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people teach their children how to survive. Rich people teach their kids to get rich. Because they can afford to. They have the luxury of time, starting resources, connections, and yes, an example of how to get rich effectively. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people let money stress them out. Rich people find peace of mind in wealth. I’d be peaceful as an undisturbed pool of water and have the inner peace of a buddhist monk if I were rich. I’m not, so the LACK OF money stresses me out. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people would rather be entertained than educated. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained. Fuck you. If I could quit my job and not condemn my family to starving on the street, the first thing I’d do is start learning tons of shit. I’ve wanted to go back to school for a decade. If I had the means, I would have probably pursued at least one PhD. More than half of the time I’m not working or doing things with my family is spent learning as much as I can about my interests. If I were rich, I would be self-educating like a motherfucker. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people think rich people are snobs. Rich people just want to surround themselves with like-minded people. Just reading between the lines a bit here: rich people are snobs who want to be surrounded by other snobs? Know what, I’d love to be able to surround myself with artists, inventors, wine experts, etc. But I’m too busy working for a fucking living. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people focus on saving. Rich people focus on earning. Rich people focus on earning because they already have money to use to earn more money. Try investing with no capital. Doesn’t work. Average people need to save in order to have a reasonable amount of money to use as principal in an investment. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks. Like I said before, because they can afford to take risks. If I take risks, I’m pissing away a decade of _living below my means_ in order to save enough money to _earn money_ in an investment. See how that works? If a rich person had to work 60 hours a week at a stressful job where they couldn’t _follow their passions_ in order to have enough money to even contemplate taking a risk, I think they just might be a bit risk-averse. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people love to be comfortable. Rich people find comfort in uncertainty. That’s why the rich drive old unreliable cars; live in substandard housing where you can’t depend on the plumbing, electricity, or even the integrity of the structure; and love living with the possibility of losing their income if their employer decides to “downsize”. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people never make the connection between money and health. Rich people know money can save your life. No, average people never think, “gee, if I only had money for a good nutritionist and personal trainer, I might be able to be in great shape,” or, “hmm, if my liver fails, I would love to be able to ‘find’ a donor and get emergency surgery from one of the best surgeons in the country”. No one at a soul-draining but well-paying job has ever thought that their work might be killing them. Nope. Never. > [@](#): > > 1. Average people believe they must choose between a great family and being rich. Rich people know you can have it all. Yeah, that’s why Steve Jobs [never regretted](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-jobs-final-wish-to-get-to-know-his-children-before-it-was-too-late-2367355.html) being a workaholic who was largely absent from his family. Oh, but if you’re actually rich, you don’t have to work, so yeah, you can spend all the time you want with your family. I’d love to spend a few hours every day with my son and wife. If I didn’t have to be at work 2/3 or more of my waking hours, I might be able to. Unfortunately for me, I’ve got to work for a living. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/37 "2012-09-07T09:45:27Z")
All the people I know who followed their passion are fairly poor (how many rich artists do you know?); the people I know who are pretty rich generally did it by finding a dull but reliable way of making money, or by inheritance. Most of the rest of this is either trite and obvious, or complete poo. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/38 "2012-09-07T10:18:34Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Most likely he isn’t borrowing on behalf of himself. He creates his business as a corporation and the corporation borrows from the investors. If he goes out of business, the corporation can declare bankrupcy, but his personal assets are safe. This is a nice trick! How do I do this!? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/39 "2012-09-07T10:30:07Z")
If you’re American, with the help of one of those firms that create Delaware corporations. In other countries, the exact formula will vary: a Spanish _Sociedad Anónima_ involves less personal responsibility than a _Sociedad Limitada_, but requires more capital to be set up. A \*Sociedad Limitada \*involves less responsibility than an _Autónomo_, yet both are popular with the self-employed crowd because _Autónomo_ accounting is simpler and there are many kinds of businesses where you’re unlikely to get hit with a big debt that doesn’t come directly from purchases (if your business is the kind where this can happen, such as construction work, then you go SL; if it’s not, such as my own IT Consulting, then _Autónomo_). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905/40 "2012-09-07T11:40:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Own your own home outright, with no mortgage, and you can live on about 1/3 or less of what someone might need for rent or house payments. Buy goods in bulk, assuming you have space to store them, and you can save on consumables. Buy higher quality clothes and equipment and you can use them for longer, effectively amortizing the cost at the trade-off of a higher purchase price. “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.” ― [Terry Pratchett](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654.Terry_Pratchett), \* [Terry Pratchett’s Men at Arms](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/9910828) \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-ways-rich-people-think-differently/633905.md?page=3)