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Key Insights from the Rich Habits Research Summary

August 13, 2025 by Tom Corley

Rich Habits

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TOM@RICHHABITS.NET

Financial Discipline and Habits:

  • Rich and Self-Made individuals exhibit strong financial discipline:
    • 94.4% of rich and 96% of self-made balance their checkbook monthly (vs. 32% of poor).
    • 100% of rich and self-made have a CPA, and 97.9% and 100% have a will, compared to 2.3% and 8.6% of poor, respectively.
    • 94.4% of rich and 49% of self-made save 20% or more of their net income (vs. 0% of poor).
  • Poor individuals are more likely to carry credit card balances (89.8% vs. 4.7% of rich) and owe over $5,000 on credit cards (87.5% vs. 4.7% of rich).

Goal Setting and Focus:

  • Rich and Self-Made are highly goal-oriented:
    • 79.8% of rich and 95% of self-made focus on achieving goals daily (vs. 11.7% of poor).
    • 66.5% of rich and 83% of self-made write down their goals (vs. 17.2% of poor).
    • 60.9% of rich and 82% of self-made pursued a dream (vs. 3.1% of poor).

Education and Self-Improvement:

  • Rich and Self-Made prioritize continuous learning:
    • 87.9% of rich and 96% of self-made read educational, career-related, or self-improvement material for 30 minutes daily (vs. 1.6% of poor).
    • 85.4% of rich and 77% of self-made read two or more such books monthly (vs. 14.8% of poor).
  • Poor individuals are more likely to read for entertainment (78.8% vs. 10.7% of rich).

Health and Lifestyle:

  • Rich and Self-Made maintain healthier habits:
    • 76.4% of rich and 95% of self-made exercise aerobically 30 minutes, 4 days a week (vs. 22.7% of poor).
    • 70.4% of rich and 78% of self-made eat less than 300 junk food calories daily (vs. 3.1% of poor).
    • Poor are more likely to be overweight by 30+ pounds (66.4% vs. 21.5% of rich).
  • Poor engage more in unhealthy behaviors like smoking (46.1% vs. 20.6% of rich) and excessive alcohol consumption (60.2% got drunk in the past month vs. 13.3% of rich).

Work and Career:

  • Rich and Self-Made show strong work ethic:
    • 86.3% of rich and 90% of self-made work 50+ hours per week (vs. 42.9% of poor).
    • 81.1% of rich and 94% of self-made do more than their job requires (vs. 17.2% of poor).
  • Self-made are more likely to be small business owners (61% vs. 50.6% of rich and 7.8% of poor).
  • Poor are more likely to feel underpaid (93.8% vs. 11.2% of rich).

Relationships and Networking:

  • Rich and Self-Made prioritize relationships:
    • 85.8% of rich and 93% of self-made associate with success-minded people (vs. 3.9% of poor).
    • 87.6% of rich and 95% of self-made believe relationships are critical to financial success (vs. 17.2% of poor).
    • Poor are more likely to gossip (78.9% vs. 6% of rich).

Mindset and Beliefs:

  • Rich and Self-Made have a proactive mindset:
    • 79.4% of rich and 100% of self-made believe they are the cause of their financial status (vs. 17.9% of poor).
    • Poor are more likely to believe wealth is due to random luck (78.9% vs. 8.2% of rich) or fate (89.8% vs. 10.3% of rich).
  • 94.8% of rich and 98% of self-made believe being liked is important to financial success (vs. 9.4% of poor).

Wealth Accumulation:

  • Rich have an average income of $344,000 and net worth of $4.3M; Self-Made have $423,100 income and $4.825M net worth, compared to $31,000 income and $0 net worth for poor.
  • Self-made are more likely to follow entrepreneurial paths (51% vs. 3% of rich) or be saver-investors (49% vs. 2% of rich).

Risk and Failure:

  • Rich and Self-Made embrace risk and failure:
    • 63.1% of rich and 81% of self-made took risks in search of wealth (vs. 6.3% of poor).
    • 27.5% of rich and 34% of self-made failed at least once in business (vs. 1.6% of poor).

Summary

The data highlights that rich and self-made individuals share habits like goal-setting, continuous learning, financial discipline, healthy lifestyles, strong work ethic, and relationship-building, which contribute to their financial success. In contrast, poor individuals often lack these habits, exhibit less discipline, and hold beliefs that wealth is due to luck or external factors. The self-made group often amplifies the positive habits of the rich, particularly in entrepreneurship and risk-taking.If you have specific questions about the data or need further analysis (e.g., comparing specific habits or generating visualizations), let me know!

Tom Corley Headshot
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.

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