20 Reasons You're Not Rich

Here's a list of 20 reasons you're not rich from Yahoo:

1. You care what your neighbors think.
2. You are not patient.
3. You have bad habits.
4. You don't have goals.
5. You aren't prepared.
6. You're trying to make a quick buck.
7. You rely on others to handle your money.
8. You invest in things you don't understand.
9. You are financially afraid.
10. You ignore your finances.
11. You care what your car looks like.
12. You feel entitlement.
13. You lack diversification.
14. You started too late.
15. You don't do what you enjoy.
16. You don't like to learn.
17. You buy things you don't use.
18. You don't understand value.
19. Your house is too big.
20. You fail to take advantage of opportunities.

Wow, too much to comment on here. But I'll pull out a few of these and add my own two cents:

1. If you want to be rich, you just need to take three simple steps.

2. As my neighbors can attest, I don't care what they think (though I do try and control what I wear out to get the mail.) ;-)

3. Ouch on #7, huh? Looks like Yahoo isn't pro-financial planner.

4. I used to invest in things I didn't really understand. Let's just say I didn't do well with that strategy. Since then, I've moved on to index funds -- something almost anyone can understand.

5. Unfortunately, I think the mass amount of people ignore their finances. They don't have a budget, they spend what they like, and really don't pay attention until they get into trouble. In addition, most don't have goals, so they end up not saving enough for college, retirement, etc.

6. Don't care what my car looks like. How can I -- I have kids? The outside is fine, but I'm still finding crackers from 1999 in my back seat cushions every once in awhile.

7. Entitlement? All of American feels entitled to an ever-growing laundry list of products and services. A few off the top of my head: cable TV, cell phones, computers. And it's spreading big-time into government. I think the year we shifted to an entitlement society was the same year we abandoned personal responsibility. Yikes! Let me move on to the next issue before I get myself in trouble.

8. Starting early (having enough time) is one of the keys to becoming rich. Wait too long before you save/invest and you are certainly doomed.

9. Guilty.

That's about all I can comment on at this point. Do you have any additional thoughts that stand out to you?

Comments

[Noah]

It's a good list although you could do a lot of damage by misapplying the points. For example someone deciding to MLM based on #20.

[Curt]

That is a pretty good list. I would add 'you lack financial education'

[Aya @ Thrive]

Strongly agree with your #5 - people ignore or their in denial about their finances and that's probably the biggest road block in a lot of people's ways to becoming "rich." I also think it just might be as simple as people don't know what they're supposed to be doing. People know they should invest, budget, stay out of debt, have goals, prepare for retirement - but the "how" is what's inhibiting them from doing the right things. It's also hard to get help when you aren't even sure yourself what exactly you need help for.

[lincmercguy]

Here's a couple more:

#. You pay others to do what you could easily do yourself

This refers to all of the handyman fixes, laundry, car maintenance, and things like that. We've become a society that can't do anything for themselves. I think this is directly links to the migration to the cities.

#. You do not plan for emergencies

The financial implications are obvious. However, there are other things as well, that can cost you big time if you don't plan ahead.

Of course, I'm guilty of some of the original list:

1. Not really, but I'm nice to them
2. Very guilty of this one
3. To a point, but nothing major
4. I've met a lot of them (degree, house, good job), I don't set hard financial goals like I should though.
5. I am overly prepared
6. I'm always trying to make a quick buck, but not putting any money towards it.
7. Nope
8. Yes, but not with very much money
9. I would say I'm financially paranoid, not always a bad thing.
10. I probably obsess to much over them.
11. Somewhat, but I don't buy high end cars, I buy good deals. I take care of my cars so they stay looking good. Car wax is cheap.
12. Not really
13. I'm probably invested too conservatively for my age.
14. Nope
15. I enjoy what I do, am good at it, and make good money doing it.
16. I don't like to go to classes, I do like to figure things out.
17. Everyone does sooner or later. I've gotten better about it by procrastenating about it.
18. Maybe
19. A little bit, but we're going to have kids in a year or two.
20. Probably true, because I'm financially paranoid and pessimistic.

[Carrie]

#15. Disagree. Enjoying what you do and making lots of money are not necssarily linked. I enjoy music, but I certainly wouldn't be rich as a musician. On the other hand, I currently have a job I don't like, but I make 6 figures and have been for over 10 years. My investments show the results of trading enjoyment for money. It's not ideal, but then everything in life involves trade-offs.