A high savings rate
Bank a large share of income by spending well below what the income allows
Keeping expenses far under what you could afford and banking the difference. The arithmetic is what makes it work. Wealth is the leftovers, so the gap you create matters more than the return you earn on it or the salary you started from, and spending less also shrinks the pile you need. Writers on the subject tend to describe the obstacle as social, because spending past basic comfort tracks status more than need. A raise changes nothing if the spending rises with it. What it buys is room to maneuver: cash on hand lets you wait out a bad market, turn down work, or take a lower-paying job that suits you better.
Who backs it
Sorted by strength of stance
- Morgan HouselRecommends
Writer · The Psychology of Money
Wealth is whatever is left after you spend, on his framing, so the savings rate does more work than income or returns do. Saving, as he describes it, raises your humility rather than your salary. The return he cares about is flexibility. Time to think, and the option to wait rather than take whatever comes at you.
Source: Collaborative Fund: Let Me Convince You To Save Money
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Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.