In honor of missing out on Millionaire Day over the weekend (BLASPHEMY!!), I thought we’d go over some of the frugal habits of the wealthy today and see how we compare :)
I saw FreeMoneyFinance do this over on his own blog the other day, so if you’re wondering – yes, I’m going to totally copy him. Although in all fairness, he did nab the list from my good friend Tom Corley over at RichHabits.net and we were friends first, so….. Nanny nanny boo boo!
Tom spent 5 years tracking the habits of the wealthy, as well as the poor, and then came out with a ton of stats he later turned into books. With his most celebrated one being Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals. (You might recall him from our Rich Habits Series over on Rockstar Finance too – I’m obsessed with his stuff!)
Anyways, every day he shares nuggets from his research over on his blog, and recently put out the frugal spending habits of millionaires. Posted below, along with whether my own habits match.
Check them out and see how many you can cross off the list!
(On second glance I realize that most of these pertain to a *minority* of millionaires vs *majority*, haha, but I guess the point is that a ton of millionaires are still fairly thrifty? Even though they’re wealthy?)
8% shopped at Goodwill stores
Same here! You know what they say – once you go used, you can never go new! ;)
20% used coupons
Do online coupons count? I haven’t rocked a physical one in yearrrsssss, but I love my Honey extension – saves me dollars almost every time I click! (Though sadly I’ve run out of all the coupons for domain names… probably a sign to STOP FREAKIN’ BUYING SO MANY!!)
64% said they lived in a modest, middle-class home
Yep! 1,100 square feet, 3 bed 1 bath here…
28% mowed their own lawns to save money
Just did that this weekend! My wife asked if I could teach her how to do it so she “doesn’t have to pester me all the time,” and after I taught her (she enjoyed it!), I made sure to mow the rest of it… I can take a hint ;)
44% only purchased used cars
While I do go back and forth between nicer cars and hoopties, I’ve actually never purchased a brand new car in my life. I enjoy riding in others’ newer cars, but just can’t stomach the drop in depreciation the moment they’re driven off the lot.
19% managed their investments themselves – they do not use financial advisors in order to save money
Yup, same here. I’m not opposed to using advisors (and for some people I’d recommend it!), but now that I literally only invest into one main fund, there isn’t much to manage :) I reckon as our finances get more complicated down the road we’ll be knocking on the door of some planners. If not, at least estate planners (that area is all kinds of confusing).
60% said they were frugal with their money
I’d say I’m about 75/25 on this one. I definitely don’t spend away aimlessly and pick up junk, but I also don’t watch all my pennies or keep convenience at bay. I like collecting my coins and currency, and I like my coffee shops even more!
(This randomly reminds me of my post last year on The 7 Most Mind-Blowing Ways to Save Money E-V-E-R, haha… I think it’s one of my finest :))
81% used credit cards that offered reward dollars — this way they could get something for free
I do rock my USAA Cash Rewards card, however it’s certainly not the best out there, nor do I hack around scoring free points and cash everywhere… I give mad respect to those who can optimize them, but for me it’s one main card and keeping everything as minimal as possible. I can barely keep track of my own two kids, no less dozens of cards!
And lastly, 41% spent less than $3,000 on their annual vacation
I think the last time (only time?) we spent $3,000 on a vacation was on our honeymoon almost a decade ago… It always astonishes me how much people spend for trips, but then again I rarely take one anymore since becoming self-employed so I kinda admire it :) The most we spend these days are a few hundred for a weekend away at a bed and breakfast or so… Still too scared to go away more than a few days with our wee ones – how do parents do it?
But yeah – looks like a ton of millionaires still subscribe to frugality after reaching their financial pinnacles! I guess it helped get them to where they are, so makes sense right? Just like my parents having a hard time retiring because it meant *spending money* for the first time in their lives vs saving it?
See how many you can cross off the list, and then let us know below! Maybe we’ll throw a party for all those who score 100% :) Much more fun than a blog post on Millionaire Day, right??
(May 20th, 2018 – mark it on your calendar!)
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I’m surprised that more people don’t do their investing themselves. It is very easy to do, requiring as little as one fund, like your portfolio.
I feel like it’s easy to do, but *only* once you’ve figured it out, if that makes sense? Like, it took me 35 years to finally get it and after trying all kinds of different strategies/mentalities. Then as soon as the indexing route clicked for me it was all easy from there.
So I agree it’s easy, but not until the epiphany comes :) Much like other stuff w/ our money, eh?
Excellent point that I haven’t heard before. I fall into that category too. Takes sometimes forever for someone of my intellect :) to figure out the right way.
I am hitting them all, except the credit card one. Like you, I have one card, someday I think I would like to get into the travel hacking, but no time for now.
I also have only one credit card. I don’t have any of those travel credit cards since it feels like a trap to me. @_@
You are missing out. I was able to travel on pennies getting those credit card miles. I’ve flown to Asia on business class (twice!) and Hawaii using miles. It’s not that complicated once you get a hang of it. I still maintain my frugal side regarding spending, I don’t just buy anything just to get the miles. I am using my credit cards with travel rewards for everyday spending: insurance, cell phone, internet, groceries. These are the things I have to spend anyway, so might as well EARN something.
I have all of these checked off except for mowing the grass. The HOA takes care of that for us since the postage stamp that we live on takes one mow in either direction to be done. Otherwise I’d take care of that myself :)
Oooh beautiful! I miss that from apartment living.
I have all of these except goodwill. If I had more time I would shop goodwill but for now I do online shopping.
Interestingly enough, I ordered my first pair of shoes AND boxers AND undershirts AND socks last night online! I’ve shopped in stores my whole life for clothes stuff, but realized that I rarely go to stores anymore and all my clothes are literally falling apart :( Then I thought to myself – ‘if i can find the perfect items online, i can keep re-ordering them over time and not have to worry about shopping in person anymore! genius!” haha…
I’m pretty slow to the game :)
Feel pretty good that I can tick the box on just about all of these. Only one that doesn’t fit is the mow my own lawn, but that’s just because I don’t have a lawn.
We have spent over 3k a few times on vacation (1 being our honeymoon) but those days might be over with the little one.
We mow our own lawn, but I did have to switch the mower to the highest setting last night to get through it – the neighbor was probably close to doing it for me.
What do you think of Nutmeg? (The managed investment site.) I use it because I want to invest but don’t feel confident or knowledgeable enough to do it myself.
I also can’t believe how people spend so much on holidays. I recently spent nearly 3 weeks in Paris and the total cost, including accommodation, flights, food etc was under 400 euros.
How did you manage that? Where did you stay? What did you eat? Where did you fly from?
We came from the states and got an amazing deal to Paris, but the flights alone were $417 apiece, so that was nearly $1,700 right off the bat.
Best,
-PoF
Not super familiar with Nutmeg (It’s a UK service, yeah?) but my friend Maria from The Money Principle talks about it sometimes and I think likes them – maybe check out her blog?
http://www.themoneyprinciple.co.uk/
(But really, as long as you’re investing *somewhere* it’s better than nothing right off the bat, so if you like them and they’re helping you, I say you’re on the right track :))
I think it’s crazy that 81% of them use credit cards with reward points! I guess I would have thought they didn’t care much about free rewards!
But I do like to get me some reward points. I am no credit card point hacker but I love my amazon reward point CC. Because we put all our monthly bills and stuff on it. We generally use Amazon for most of our shopping and gifts for others since the points can add up quickly!
Awesome post-I check all of these except the used cars. Both my cats were bought new, but I drive them into the ground. One of my “new” cars just hit the 100k mile mark! And technically my husband mows the lawn, but I think that still counts. :)
I just got a KILLER fishing shirt at Goodwill for $10 ($70 new, and it looks like it’s never been worn!). I also mow my own grass (and my neighbor’s, for free!), and do most of the things on your list. And, oh yeah, I’m also a Millionaire!
Haha yeah you are :) A 401k Millionaire too – a rare breed!
Hey J. Money, great list!
I was surprised that we actually do a lot of these things in our family, not all though.
I had to stop myself from laughing out loud on the bus when I read about the lawn mowing. We do mow our lawn (every now and then to our neighbors delight), and the thing that got me smiling was that just the other week my wife asked me to show her how to do it too. She enjoyed it too and think of it as work-out. I don’t know about you J. Money, but don’t you find it weird that someone enjoy mowing the lawn? ;)
My wife did complained about our piece of crap lawn mower though, which is bought second hand, of course.
Have a great day!
Hah – nice! I think they like it cuz it’s novel and the weather was super nice to be outside in, at least over here… I’m going to watch what happens when it’s 90 degrees out and humid as hell and see if the tune changes :)
Haha, yes, this could turn into an interesting social experiment. :P
Almost all of them. The only thing that we splurge on are vacations.
It’s nice to know we are heading down the right path for financial freedom.
WTH….28% mowed their own lawns to save money. You mean to tell me 72% pay someone to mow their lawns………I really hope that’s not true. That’s worse than having someone paint your house for you…
Also, your comment “I’ve actually never purchased a brand new car in my life”, I have once, its horrible, the anxiety you feel trying to keep it in mint condition until you inevitably get that first door ding is horrible, a used car with a few scuffs is perfect, you wont be always parking in the back or avoiding certain spots. Never again
There’s a decent percentage living in apartments, condos, and townhomes with no lawn. You can’t say Yes to that question if you don’t have a lawn to mow. FWIW, I mow my own lawn with an electric mower (Ryobi 40V). Love that thing.
Seems like a poorly designed question then.
I just got the Ego power pro, which runs on a 56V! I can mow and weed whip all in one charge (about one and twenty minutes.) I love the mower – I highly recommend it.
I bet!! I remember being that way with my Toyota Highlander that was only a few years old and it was horrible… I’m better about it now w/ my Lexus even though it’s a nicer car, but I think I’ve mellowed out in my older age with kids and expect it to get all jacked up :) There’s probably enough crumbs in the back seat to have a four course meal!
When we got our odyssey it was a breath of fresh air. I could park anywhere I wanted without care of being door jacked. I mean I still don’t want that to happen but if it did I wouldn’t spend days stewing about it. My goal for that car is for it to be worth $0.00 when we are finished with it. I once found a chicken nugget that was probably many months old, still it was in perfect condition…. makes me feel like a horrible parent the handful of times we go to McDonalds each year.
We do all of them. Though, I am not necessarily opposed to buying a new car over a used one, and I know one day we will take a $3,000 (or more) vacation-but it won’t be a yearly occurrence.
Well hey! It looks like I do all of these habits. :) Mind you, the vacation one is because we’re paying off debt and a couple grand on a vacation would be silly right now. In the future I do think we’ll go on more frequent vacations. I do think travel is worth the extra cost, as long as you try to save money where you can.
Looks like I’m running with the “Cool Kids.”
I do all, with the exception of managing my own portfolios. I’m very pleased with the payoff, for the performance it’s getting.
Mow my own lawn, shred my own acreage, do my own plowing.
I also do as much auto maintenance as I can.
Oh, I’m back to cutting my own hair again. Hello, clippers!
I think I can check most of the boxes but managing my own investments & shopping at Goodwill Stores. I cannot say that I have never shopped at Goodwill Stores but I have donated more than ever purchased. I handle some of my investments but most I do not. I love using credit cards for everything I purchase and it puts about +/-$500 in my pocket every year! Vacations have always been in budget until last year when we traveled Ireland for 2 weeks and grand total of $8K. It was worth every penny…..
Sounds like a fun trip! :)
Great post! I do most of the above except shopping at Goodwill and using coupons. There’s so Goodwill near where we live. We generally just get furniture from the curbside or other people. I find coupons to be too time-consuming. -_-
8% shopped at Goodwill stores
I do sometimes. As a guy I can’t very often find anything I would want to wear. I do buy retail ocassionally on clearance. In general, I just don’t buy very many clothes anymore. I have settled into a work routine where most of my clothes are exactly the ones I need.
20% used coupons
I don’t use a lot of physical coupons. We mostly shop at Aldi which is already affordable. I do like to find deals online though.
64% said they lived in a modest, middle-class home
We are renting a very modest apartment. Most Americans think I am crazy for living in a roughly 500 sq ft studio with a wife and infant. I have lived abroad where space was a greater premium. There are advantages to small spaces. You don’t tend to accumulate too much stuff and cleaning takes no time.
Our place is $1000 a month which is pretty affordable for our neighborhood in Chicago. Space may be a drawback but we are steps away from a large park, our Church, 5 public transit options, a bike share station, and a ton of restaurants.
28% mowed their own lawns to save money
Renting allows me to avoid the lawn all together!
44% only purchased used cars
Our location allows us to not need to own a car. We have a train line next to us and many bus lines. Uber and Lyft can pick us up in 2 minutes and is very affordable in our city. There are car share lots scattered throughout the neighborhood. Once or twice a year we do spend a bit renting cars but it beats car ownership which is a financial black hole.
19% managed their investments themselves – they do not use financial advisors in order to save money
Vanguard all the way! I do also use Personal Capital but do not use an advisor. I just like the aggregation tools.
60% said they were frugal with their money
I would say for the most part we are a frugal family. We probably eat out more than some frugal people but we also don’t own a home (and we invest the difference) and we don’t own a car. These two big wins help to keep our costs really low.
I have experimented with “buy it for life” products (Orion Belts, Beckett Simonon Shoes, Darn Tough Socks, Bluff Works Travel Pants) which have had a high upfront cost. I am trying to find ways to throw out less stuff. The experiments will take years to find out to see if they are worth it
81% used credit cards that offered reward dollars — this way they could get something for free
We have about 20 credit cards currently in total. We open a new one when we know a large purchase is coming up or when we can find a way to manufacture purchases (I like to look for deals on electronics for friends and family).
We have been able to use points to go to many places. It cost us about $150 RT for two of us to go to Jamaica. We also currently have enough points for two round trips to Europe.
20!! WOW!!
You going for this guy’s record? :)
https://budgetsaresexy.com/credit-card-world-record-holder/
Nothing like a great cup of coffee from an awesome coffee shop!
Using the honey extension really helps save time finding coupons when shopping online.
Thanks for sharing these!
Millionaire here — 8 out of 9 are true for me. I was checking all the boxes until the last one.
What’s an annual vacation? We like to take several of those per year. Our spring break trip this year cost $4,300. But that was a family of four spending 9 days in Paris and Reykjavik. Not a cheap vacation, but we could have spent double or triple quite easily if we hadn’t made relatively frugal choices.
Cheers!
-PoF
I was thinking the same thing. It planned properly, a little reward, travel hacking thrown in I’m sure millionaires could figure out a way to get a few more vacations in per year. :) We try and plan 2-3 low cost getaways each year when I’m not mowing the lawn.
NICE!!!! When you going to take me along?? :)
Anytime, J$. We’ll talk business and write it off as a business expense. Ever been to New Zealand?
Nope, still need to cross that one off my list :)
:-) Yay, I hit all of these. I probably have more land than the typical modest middle class house as we are in the country, but a good bit of it is hay fields we rent out, woods we can cut wood from/ hunt in, and an investment in a sand deposit for the future :-) We do everything else on this list though.
Ooooh sounds heavenly!
Wow got all but the used car. My car we bought used but my wife’s Camry was purchased new back when we didn’t know any better. At least we have every intention of driving it into the ground.
As far as vacations…whats that? Since my son was born we have stayed at 1 b&b and had a small weekend trip to Duluth, MN. With baby 2 being born next month vacations are far far away thing.
I’m with you, haha….
Hope you guys have a smooth and healthy delivery/baby!
8% shopped at Goodwill stores – Yep
20% used coupons – I’m not a coupon queen or anything, but I use the ones that make sense and the ones that Kroger sends us when we’re buying something anyway.
64% said they lived in a modest, middle-class home – Nope…our modest 1750 sq. ft. 3 bed/2.5 bath home is our rental property and we live in a 3750 sq. ft. 5 bed/4 bath McMansion and love it…I’m addicted to my media room
28% mowed their own lawns to save money – Nope, we pay $35 every 2 weeks April-October
44% only purchased used cars – Nope. We have bought 2 new cars (2005 Chevy Aveo and 2013 Honda Fit) and one used one (2007 Toyota Prius in 2008) so far. I only buy used if the savings is big enough to make up for the mileage. We drive our cars until a main component needs to be replaced…like the engine…
19% managed their investments themselves – Yep
60% said they were frugal with their money – Not on everything. But we’re conscious spenders.
81% used credit cards that offered reward dollars — Yep
41% spent less than $3,000 on their annual vacation – We usually take 2-3 and spend about $3000-$4000 total. I am a huge fan of vacations…specifically cruises…
You know yourself well :)
My Goodwill shopping is mostly to find things to flip. Other than that I just wear the same things until they get too many holes and my wife throws them out.
We purchased my wife one brand new car. That way she could have one brand new car in her life. She has told me she never need another brand new car ever again, but it was fun to have one.
It would be cool to experience it once I suppose… I’ll never say never, especially if I become a multi-millionaire one day :)
I hate Goodwill. I never find anything there. I prefer Criagslist.
Don’t have to mow because we don’t have a lawn.
New car is okay in my book because we drive it into the ground. And we don’t buy expensive cars.
Vacation spending. We’ve spent more then $3k on a vacation. Probably $5k a year when we were making more money. Now, up and down.
If you want to be healthy, do what healthy people do. If you want to have good relationship, ask people who’ve been living healthy and good relationship with their spouse for a long time.
If you want to become wealthy, do what wealthy people do and avoid broke people advices.
Thanks a ton for this ;)
FR
I can’t believe that 41% spent less than $3k on their annual holiday, unless my conversion to £ is wrong. My partner and I probably spend around that on our main holiday every year. Flights, accomodation, adventures, food, souvenirs… unless its under $3k per person?
Up until this point I didn’t think we were extravagant with travel at all, certainly we spend less than peers without children. (Although I think this year will be less because we’re travelling to a cheap country and our mini-holiday is more expensive than usual)
I mowed the lawn once last year to help out my wife who has mowed it for 39 years. She asked “What, are you trying to take my job away?.” I can take a hint, haven’t cut it since. One little known key to wealth that I can testify to is Marry a Farm Girl! They are frugal, fit, will cut the grass, fix the car, build you a shed, they can cook, they love to fish and hike and do all things outdoors. Certainly if I could point to the one thing that resulted in FIRE for us, it is her. She is awesome and I know I’m married for life because she can outshoot me and outrun me.
Sounds like you have a great wife but I bet she thinks she won the lottery too. A man who appreciates his wife is one sexy man…
Oooooh nice work!!
Do all these things now, been known to buy a sexy new vehicle in the past. :) Need to get better at the travel hacking though.
I love this! If only more people realized the millionaires tend to have many frugal habits. Most people just assume that it’s the opposite.
I pretty much do all of those except I do have a financial planner -she seems to be making me $ every month-my stocks r going up. I laughed about the credit card thing though. I just got an offer on the mail-open a new bank account with us, we’ll give you $225. Ok! Fine print, I just have to make one transaction every month. So now, I’m ordering new checks, $12 ,and I have to do direct deposit…gonna complicate things. But heck. I’ll do anything for a few hundred!
Yes to all except the cars. We’ve purchased cars new in the past. I can’t see it happening ever again, because, well, we’ve gotten smarter!?
I mow our 1 acre lawn every week – but we have a riding lawnmower, so it’s totally lazy. I just drive around the lawn, listening to podcasts for an hour. It’s great me time.
that actually does sound like a good time! some QUALITY time to yourself :)
Well I guess my husband and I can check off most of these as well. We do use Vanguard for our investments (all index funds of course) and we are currently using their Personal Advisor Service as we are newly retired at ages 59 & 61!!!! We did purchase a new Honda CRV in 2010 and plan on driving it until it is worth zero. At the time of this purchase, we did plan on picking up a used one, but it turned out it was actually cheaper to purchase it new. Go figure. Great car for its reputation for lasing many, many miles. I love to shop at Goodwill and on our last visit there, my husband picked out more clothes than I did! Never thought that would happen.
looks like you’re training him well ;)
The hardest one on the list for my wife and I are the new cars. We’re only 32 but have had 6 new cars between the two of us. Luckily we’ve never had negative equity during a trade in. I know its not the smartest move but still can’t seem to break the trend.
keep reading finance blogs :)
Seems like a lot of us that’s just off by one on the list as I was scrolling through the comments. I got all but one too. My hubby and I live in a larger 3 story home. But then again we do AirBnB half of it out so that it covers the mortgage so.
I can’t believe only 8% report shopping at Goodwill. The $3000 vacation budget sounds low! You can barely fly out the country for $1000 per person these days.
J –
Nice share. The following:
-Coupons
-Buying Used car
-Frugal with money (try to make the most of experiences, however, not “things”!); but I love coffee/coffee shops as well
-All trips have been < $3K and have a road trip coming with the lady – Charlotte, Charleston, Hilton Head, Savannah – trying to do this well under $750 in total; thankful for hilton points
-Reward card paid in full = yep
-Mow my own lawn
-House is 1.400 square feet, not sure where that puts me
-Manage my own money
Only thing is Goodwill… haven't been there in 10+ years actually, dangit, almost 100%
-Lanny
Do it this weekend and I’ll give you extra credit to make up for it :)
I do(or have done) every one of these! And I’m FI at 50. House is 1400 sf, mow own lawn, frugal, use some coupons, always use awards credit cards. We only buy used cars now and we manage our own investments now. If I would have learned to do both of those sooner – I could have retired a few years ago!
I’ll never buy a new car! Pre-owned and used cars all the way. As for the vacations, ever since traveling Southeast Asia, I’ve seen how travel costs can be cut down (anywhere!) so spending $3,000 annually on a vacation would just feel weird.
I missed two: Lawn Care and Vacations. Last year I outsourced landscaping during the grass growing season and it’s the best $25.00 I spend each week. Outsouring this part allowed me time to focus on planting and maintaining a bigger garden for vegetables. I also spend more time in the yard doing things that I like. Planting from seeds takes a little longer, but it saves some money and allows me to prep the soil. Neighbors stopping and admiring the yard/garden means my Curb appleal is on target.
The other missed by a mile is Vacations. We’ve made it a priority to hit things on our bucket list for the experiences. We’re learning how to save some money while on vacation, like food and alcohol.
Tracking expenses really did help priortize the things I enjoyed and elimanted the noise that added no value. We’ve been saving and investing and recently began giving ourselves persmission to spend on our own priorities. Like your parents, this was a difficult undertaking.
I think it’s great you’re learning to reward yourselves :)
Like you, I couldn’t give up coffee shops. However, I have such a tiny living space, that is also dirt cheap, so it easily averages out. :)
Modest, middle-class home, check.
Only used cars, check.
Manage investments, check.
Frugal, check.
CC churning / cash back, check.
Annual vacation – uuuuhhhh. Well, we have multiple trips a year but I guess SDCC is the only trip that we take that resembles an annual vacation. We spend less than $1000 for that.
Even $3,000 on a vacation blows my mind at this stage of my life. I fully expect to spend more than that on long, drawn-out expeditions someday, but the most expensive vacation I’ve taken so far was a spring break cruise that ran about $1,500 for two – ticket, drinks and travel to the port considered. And that was a ridiculously lavish week or so. What do people get when they spend more??
I guess I’m spending more on “vacations” now that my girlfriend lives over one thousand miles away. Airfare has been under $1000 total for both trips, but cabs from airport and food maybe trip me closer to $1300.
Now give me my millions! ;)
That $3,000 for vacations, is that per person?
A family vacation for $3,000 would be a steal but I guess it also depends on what is classified as a vacation. We go camping a few times a year and each time it probably costs $300-500 total. If we take a vacation that requires a plane then we’re easily over $3,000.
I got 4/8 on crossing dots with this list.
I find it interesting that a large portion of these millionaires uses credit cards, but I guess it depends on many different factors. It must be nice spending $3,000 on a vacation :)
I wish I could do it without feeling guilty :)
The 3K for vacations number threw me off. Maybe that is because it is something that I choose to prioritize over other things in life but it is easy to spend that much traveling! I wonder if that is just hotel and flight?
I go to Goodwill stores from time to time, use coupons and credit cards to earn rewards. I know I need to start investing soon!