11) I’m young
12) I didn’t come out of the right womb

side note: I do consider myself rich compared to 80% of the world. And in terms of Salary I’m in the top 99% of the world. So, I’m not too concerned.

Nice article, excellent points. It is ironic commentary by the street.com that they have your informative article posted on the same day as a garbage article called the 25% Cash Machine. Your article needs to be read, the 25% Cash Machine belongs on a late-night TV infomercial.

Isn’t there one you left out?

How about the real number 1: “You weren’t born into money.”

Excellent list. Typically, articles like this over-symplify or generalize our situations. But I think you’ve tapped into the majority of people with this.

I agree with the last post. It would be nice if all of us were born into some type of financial well-being. For some it’s being born into money, for others it’s just being born into a family that knows how to handle money properly.

People don’t get rich by arbitrarily wasting their money. They spend it wisely! Like spending on things that can bring back more money!

Why I am a millionaire:

1. I drive old cars. My family’s three cars have a combined worth of
approximately 15k. I drive most of my cars for 8 – 10 years, or approx 150k miles.

2. I remained fully invested through 9/11 and the preceeding tech stock
bust.

3. Don’t smoke, drink excessively, and gamble by buying a couple scratch
off tickets a month

4. My goal is to retire before age 60 with a nest egg (excluding my home) of $4.0 – $5.0 mio and my home fully paid.

5. I’ve been saving since I had my first job at age 16.

6. Gave my brother 25k to buy stock for the internet startup he worked for in 1999, lost it all, and would never do so again.

7. Haven’t had a stock broker since I was 21.

8. No-load mutual funds, 75 p.c. stock, 25 p.c. bonds, spread out among 10 or so funds. Domestic and International

9. (see no. 8 )

10. Current position: Net worth $2.35 mio. Home equity: $700k
Remaining mortgage: $150k Age: 53

This was a very good piece. I might add that not understanding the time value of money is one of the reasons. But your list certainly hit home for a lot of what I see is preventing people from accumulating wealth.

You need to state a few more reasons because 1-10 don’t apply to me or it could be you’re missing a few more vital keypoints to why some individuals have a harder time to climb out of the cycle of the lower or middle class.

Modestly sized, to-the-point, and I suspect totally on the money (so to speak. Suze Orman makes her living with the points you made so simply.

loved this post.

The 67th Festival of Frugality right here!…

Welcome to the 67th Festival of Frugality!Save some cash, save the earth, save your health!There are a lot of good tips for saving in this week’s festival (and some thought provoking posts as well).Here are the best, arranged in categories…

Hi, Just read your article and I give it an A+ in rhetoric and a C- in substance.

So, if I have one or more of your bad
traits…the hard part is not recognising them – but fixing them. HOW???

Good article. I enjoyed it. I would submit one more for your list…

11. You keep it all to yourself. A funny thing happens when you start giving money away before you become wealthy. Money loses its grip on you. You become more relaxed and less afraid about losing it…which makes you smarter about how you use it and allows you to make more of it. In fact, giving is one area where God actually tells people to test him.

Thank you for a great article. It woke me up.

Respectfully, you are way off base for telling the millions upon millions of the working poor that their problem of not being rich isn’t that they “don’t make enough money.” Victim blaming is the great American pastime and poverty is the greatest crime in America.

When you make minimum wage or only slightly more than minimum wage and have to choose between food and paying for transportation to get to work, or between paying the rent and getting medical care, you aren’t worried about competing materialistically with neighbors and you aren’t making stupid choices with what little money you do have.

If your aspirations are to be an accurate, in-depth journalist, please research your topic a little better.

You’ve just insulted the majority of the American people!

Let’s see… 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10. Yep. It’s no mystery to me why I’m not a millionaire! Though honestly it’s not something I aspire to. I’m happy having enough to live comfortably. If I gave up my hobbies and stopped spending time with my family and friends so I could devote hours to managing my finances I’d be miserable.