The middle class incomes are often stagnant, barely enough to keep them in the middle-class status. American households that are middle class have experienced very little income growth.
Why do some middle class individuals continue to maintain that middle class status but do not get any further financially?
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The average person has grown up in a family where he has never met or known anyone who was wealthy. He goes to school and socializes with people who are not wealthy. He works with people who are not wealthy. He has a social circle outside of work who are not wealthy. He has no role models who are wealthy. If this has happened to you throughout your formative years, up to the age of twenty, you can grow up and become a fully mature adult in your society, and it may never occur to you that it’s just as possible for you to become wealthy as for anyone else. So, the first reason why people don’t become wealthy is because it never occurs to them that it is possible for them. And of course, if it never occurs to them, then they never take any of the steps necessary to make it a reality. The second reason that people don’t become wealthy is that they never decide to.
Even if a person reads a book, attends a lecture, or associates with people who are financially successful, nothing changes until he makes a decision to do something different. Even if it occurs to a person that he could become wealthy if he just did certain things in a specific way, if he doesn’t decide to take the first step, he ends up staying as he is. If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got. The primary reason for underachievement and failure is that the great majority of people don’t decide to be successful. They never make a firm, unequivocal commitment or definite decision that they are going to become wealthy. They mean to, and they intend to, and they hope to and they’re going to, someday. They wish and hope and pray that they will make a lot of money, but they never decide.
It’s not that the middle-class don’t aspire or dream of getting wealthy. But just dreams or wishes are not enough. It takes certain habits, traits, and daily activities to get wealthy…and most importantly, it takes a lot of time.
Our generation of middle-class people is good at earning money and they are even better at spending money. But most of them have no clue how to save, invest, and compound money.
It’s more important for them to buy the latest smartphone, smartwatch, TV, smart speaker, and car on credit. Heck, most of the things they buy are depreciating assets. Slowly they find themselves falling into the debt trap and end up living paycheck to paycheck.
Then there is a demon called the Lifestyle Creep that eats away all the incremental income. As your income grows, so do your expenses.
Middle-class people have this habit of raising their living standards at the same pace or faster than their income growth. The increased expenses leave them little money at the end of the month to save and invest for the long-term.
The Saver-Investors are prudent with their money. They don’t fall victim to the shady tricks of salespeople in the insurance, banking, and financial services sectors. They read research, and talk to experts to be able to make the right decisions.
There you have it — the reason why most of us never rise above the middle-class.
But it’s never too late to start saving your way to wealth. Start by getting rid of debt, diversifying your sources of income, and investing diligently month-after-month for at least a decade.