Develop the Habits to Create
Opportunity Luck, Achieve Consistent Success, and Build Wealth
Will Your Child be Rich or Poor? 15 Poverty Habits
Parents Teach Their Children
September 24, 2013 by Thomas C. Corley
When I travel the
country speaking to high school and college students about exactly what they
need to do to become financially successful in life I always begin my
presentation by asking three questions:
“How many want to be
financially successful in life?”
“How many think they
will be financially successful in life?”
Almost every time I ask
the first two questions every hand rises in the air. Then I ask the magic third
question:
“How many have taken a
course in school on how to be financially successful in life?”
Not one hand rises in the air, ever. Clearly
every student wants to be successful and thinks they will be successful but
none have been taught by their parents or their school system how to be
financially successful in life. Not only are there no courses on basic
financial success principles but there are no structured courses teaching basic
financial literacy. We are raising our children to be financially illiterate
and to fail in life. Is it any wonder that most Americans live paycheck to
paycheck? That most Americans accumulate more debt than assets? That many
Americans lose their homes when they lose their job? Is it any wonder that most
Americans cannot afford college for their children and that student loan debt
is now the largest type of consumer debt?
What’s worse is what our children are
being taught by their parents, the school system, politicians and the media.
They are teaching our children that the wealthy are corrupt, greedy, have too
much wealth and that this wealth needs to be redistributed. What kind of a
message do you think that sends to America’s future generation? It is teaching
them that seeking financial success by pursuing the American Dreams is a bad
thing. The Occupy Wall Street movement was a manifestation of this “wealth is
bad and needs to be redistributed “mindset. .
Here are some statistics from my five-year study on the
daily habits that separate the wealthy from the poor?
1.
72% of the wealthy know their credit
score vs. 5% of the poor
2.
6% of the wealthy play the lottery
vs. 77% of the poor
3.
80% of the wealthy are focused on at
least one goal vs. 12% of the poor
4.
62% of the wealthy floss their teeth
every day vs. 16% of the poor
5.
21% of the wealthy are overweight by
30 pounds or more vs. 66% of the poor
6.
63% of the wealthy spend less than 1
hour per day on recreational Internet use vs. 26% of the poor
7.
83% of the wealthy attend/attended
back to school night for their kids vs. 13% of the poor
8.
29% of the wealthy had one or more
children who made the honor roll vs. 4% of the poor
9.
63% of wealthy listen to audio books
during their commute vs. 5% of the poor
10.
67% of the wealthy watch 1 hour or
less of T.V. per day vs 23% of the poor
11.
9% of the wealthy watch reality T.V.
shows vs. 78% of the poor
12.
73% of the wealthy were taught the
80/20 rule vs. 5% of the poor (live off 80% save 20%)
13.
79% of the wealthy network 5 hours
or more per month vs. 16% of the poor
14.
8% of the wealthy believe wealth
comes from random good luck vs. 79% of the poor
15.
79% of the wealthy believe they are
responsible for their financial condition vs. 18% of the poor
The fact is the poor are poor because they have
too many Poverty Habits and too few Rich Habits. Poor parents teach their
children the Poverty Habits and wealthy parents teach their children the Rich
Habits. We don’t have a wealth gap in this country we have a parent gap. We
don’t have income inequality, we have parent inequality.
Parents and our schools need to work together to
instill good daily success habits as follows:
- Limit T.V., social media and cell phone use to no more than one hour a day.
- Require that children to read one to two educational books a month.
- Require children to aerobically exercise 20 – 30 minutes a day.
- Limit junk food to no more than 300 calories a day.
- Require that children set monthly, annual and 5-year goals.
- Require working age children to work or volunteer at least ten hours a week.
- Require that children save at least 25% of their earnings or gifts they receive.
- Teach children the importance of relationship building by requiring them to call friends, family, teachers, coaches etc. on their birthdays and to send thank you cards for gifts or help they received from anyone.
- Reassure children that mistakes are good not bad. Children need to understand that the very foundation of success in life is built on learning from our mistakes.
- Punish children when they lose their tempers so they understand the importance of controlling this very costly emotion.
- Teach children that seeking financial success in life is good and is a worthwhile goal. Children need to learn what the American Dream is and that it is something to be pursued in life.
- Children need to learn how to manage money. Open up a checking account or savings account for children and force them to use their savings to buy the things they want. They need to learn that they are not entitled to things like cell phones, computers, fashionable clothes, flat screen T.V.s etc.
- Require children to participate in at least two non-sports-related extracurricular activities at school or outside of school.
- Parents and children need to set aside at least an hour a day to talk to one another. Not on Facebook, or on the cell phone, but face to face. The only quality time is quantity time
- Teach children how to manage their time. They should be required to create daily “to do” lists and these lists need to be monitored by parents. The goal should be to accomplish at least 70% of their tasks on their daily “to do” list.
Wealthy people do certain things every single
day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good
daily success habits that they learned from their parents. These daily habits
are the real reason for the wealth gap in our country and the real reason why
the rich get richer. Unless we teach our children good daily success habits,
and level the playing field, the rich will continue to get richer and the poor
will continue to get poorer.
Filed Under: Featured Articles, Focus & Motivation, Goal
Setting, Parenting For Success, Professional Development, Relationship Building, Wealth
Creation
About Thomas C. Corley
Tom Corley understands the
difference between being rich and poor: at age nine, his family went from being
multi-millionaires to broke in just one night.
For five years, Tom observed and documented the daily activities of 233 wealthy people and 128 people living in poverty. He discovered there is an immense difference between the habits of the wealthy and the poor. During his research he identified over 200 daily activities that separated the “haves” from the “have nots.” The culmination of his research can be found in his #1 bestselling book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.
For five years, Tom observed and documented the daily activities of 233 wealthy people and 128 people living in poverty. He discovered there is an immense difference between the habits of the wealthy and the poor. During his research he identified over 200 daily activities that separated the “haves” from the “have nots.” The culmination of his research can be found in his #1 bestselling book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.
A dynamic and empowering speaker,
Tom motivates audiences at industry conferences, corporate events,
universities, multi-level marketing groups and global sales organizations.
Participants leave fortified and ready to excel both personally and
professionally.
Tom has shared his insights on
various national and international network and cable television programs such
as CBS Nightly News, Yahoo Financially Fit T.V., India T.V., News.com Australia
and a host of others. He has wowed listeners on many prestigious nationally
syndicated radio shows including the Dave Ramsey Show, Marketplace Money and
WABC.
Featured in numerous print
magazines, such as Money, Entrepreneur, More and Kiplinger's, and various
online publications including USA Today, CNN, MSN Money, and the Huffington
Post. Tom is also a frequent contributor to Business Insider and Credit.com and
has been profiled in SUCCESS Magazine.
National publicity has garnered
international media attention for Tom and Rich Habits. Broadcast media, online
publications, and television throughout Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, the
United Kingdom, and Central and South America have supported Tom’s powerful
message.
In an effort to help adults instill
good habits in the younger generation, Tom has recently released his second
book, Rich Kids – How to Raise Our Children to be Happy and Successful in Life.
The consummate professional, Tom is a CPA, CFP and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. As President of Cerefice and Company, CPAs, Tom heads one of the top financial firms in New Jersey.
The consummate professional, Tom is a CPA, CFP and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. As President of Cerefice and Company, CPAs, Tom heads one of the top financial firms in New Jersey.
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