18 Habits That Separate the Rich and the Poor

In my five-year study of the daily habits of the wealthy and the poor I tracked over 300 activities that separate the rich and the poor. Here is a sampling of some of the differences in their daily habits:

1. If you’re poor you probably lease a car. 45% of the poor leased a car vs. 6% for the rich.
2. 13% of the rich drive a luxury car vs. 9% of the poor. The big difference here is that the rich own their luxury cars while the poor lease their luxury cars.
3. The rich carefully monitor their credit. They know if they have good credit and they know what their credit score is. 72% of the wealthy knew their credit score vs. 5% of the poor.
4. Poor people like to play the lottery. 77% of the poor admitted to playing the lottery regularly vs. 6% of the rich. But it’s not just the lottery they gamble their money on…..
5. 52% of the poor admitted that they gamble on sports at least once a week vs. 16% of the wealthy.
6. The poor do not control their emotions. 43% of the poor admitted to losing their temper at least once in the past month vs. 19% of the wealthy.
7. Parents who are success mentors, raise wealthy kids. 75% of the rich learned good daily success habits from their parents. 94% of the poor admitted that they learned bad habits from their parents.
8. The rich do a better job keeping the pounds off. 21% of the wealthy admitted to being overweight by 30 pounds or more. vs.66% of the poor. But there’s more to this story…
9. 69% of the poor visit fast food restaurants 3 times or more each week. 75% of the wealthy stay away from fast food restaurants. Still more….
10. 57% of the rich counted calories every day vs. 5% of the poor. Wait, not done yet…
11. 69% of the poor eat candy more than once a week vs. 28% of the rich. It gets worse….
12. 70% of the rich ate less than 300 junk food calories each day. 97% of the poor ate more than 300 junk food calories.  Got one more on health…
13. 76% of the rich exercise aerobically every day vs. 23% for the poor.
14. How do the rich and the poor think when it comes to wealth and poverty? 79% of the poor believe wealth is the result of random good luck. 92% of the rich believe you create your own luck.
15. 90% of the poor believe in fate vs. 10% for the wealthy.
16. 79% of the rich believe they are the cause of their financial condition. 82% of the poor believe they are not responsible for their poverty. It’s someone else’s fault.
17. The poor love T.V and reality shows. 77% of the poor admitted to watching more than one hour of T.V. each day  and their preference? Reality T.V. wins hands down. 78% of the poor watch reality T.V. shows. The rich, on the other hand, are not big on T.V. 67% watch less than an hour each day and it’s not reality T.V. that they tune in to. Only 6% watch reality T.V.
18. Last but not least…. 62% of the rich floss regularly vs. 16% for the poor.

There you have it. It’s not pretty. We only scratched the surface. The rich are rich because they have more Rich Habits than Poor Habits and the poor are poor because they have more Poor Habits than they have Rich Habits.

If you want to change your financial circumstances, you must change. You must grow into the person you need to be in order for financial success to visit you. That growth begins by changing your daily habits.

Tom Corley

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner, public speaker, and author of the books “Effort-Less Wealth: Smart Money Habits At Every Stage of Your Life” and “RichKids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life“.  Corley’s work has appeared on CNN, USA Today, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, and many other media outlets and podcasts in the U.S. and 27 other countries. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider and CNBC.