Your spending will determine how fast you pay off debt and build wealth. Your priority should be to spend on your family’s living costs. What you need should not be confused with what you want. Your family needs less to live well than you actually think you need.

The biggest difference between wealthy and poor individuals is that the rich spend money only on assets that produce income and preserve their time and capital.

Spending on wants like cars, electronics is what makes people poor. These assets decay in value and produce no capital or income residual.

Your first step should be to budget the amount your family needs for 1. Food, 2. Home, 3. Clothing and 4. Transportation. This is your first level to achieve financial stability. Once you set this, you should minimize what you want in terms of luxury spending until your savings and assets produce enough income to purchase your wants.

10 ways to control spending habits

1. Based on your monthly budget, set the maximum amount you can spend on a specific item
2. Only use cash or a debit card for purchasing
3. Compare prices online or in other shops before purchasing
4. Check the product or service, go home and rethink whether it’s worth spending
5. Think of the opportunity cost: before spending it, ask what else can I do with that money?
6. Pay cash to negotiate
7. Be patient
8. Be willing to walk away
9. Negotiate everything to get the best price
10. During negotiation don’t talk too much, just listen

While spending think like an investor

Think of every item you want to purchase as a liability and apply the investing mentality for each purchase.  Think according to the following steps:

1. Before buying ask first Do I need this? Can I live without it?
2. Can I buy it secondhand, and avoid the depreciation?

The biggest difference between wealthy and poor individuals is that the rich spend money only on assets that produce income and preserve their time and capital.

Spending on wants like cars, electronics is what makes people poor. These assets decay in value and produce no capital or income residual.

Your first step should be to budget the amount your family needs for 1. Food, 2. Home, 3. Clothing and 4. Transportation. This is your first level to achieve financial stability. Once you set this, you should minimize what you want in terms of luxury spending until your savings and assets produce enough income to purchase your wants.

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