10 reasons you aren't rich

Everyone wants to be rich, but is everyone doing what they need to be doing to get there? What are the rich doing that you aren't? Well, here's a few reasons you aren't rich... if you start doing the opposite of these, then you'll start doing what the rich do, and you'll become one of them before you know it.

1. You care what your neighbours think. Keeping up with them wastes your money. Is it really that important to have better things than them? What could you save by putting it into the bank instead?

2. You aren't patient. Using credit cards to get today what you could save up for and get tomorrow costs you interest. This is money which you could have saved if you'd paid cash - or chose not to get it.

3. You have bad habits. Smoking, drinking, gambling... these cost money to maintain. Smoking increases your insurance rates, and causes other health risks which cost you money. Have a good hard look at what you're doing and see if you can work out how much money you'd save if you stopped doing it.

4. You have no goals. I once had someone say in a wealth building seminar, "If you fail to plan, then you're planning to fail." It's that simple folks. If you don't have anything to aim for, you're going to drift through life achieving nothing. You need goals to attain your wealth, with savings, investments, etc. And then you need to do what it takes to achieve those goals.

5. You haven't prepared. When you don't have any goals, you show that you're not thinking of your future. This is also reflected by not being prepared for bad things happening. If you don't have savings or an emergency fund in case of emergencies, what are you going to do when you actually have an emergency?

6. You try to make a quick buck. The desire to get rich quick will be the same as the desire you have to invest: if it doesn't give you instant rewards, you lose interest. Hello! This is the rest of your life we're talking about. If you don't think long term, you lose. Stop looking for quick bucks that don't work, and start looking for the slow millions that'll be there for you when you retire.

7. You rely on others to take care of your money. Because you have no money, you believe that those who do have money have more knowledge about it, so give it to them to invest for you. Unfortunately, the only reason they have money is because they take yours and use it for themselves. Listen to people's advice, by all means, but in the end you need to make your own decisions about your money and where it's going to be invested. It's your money - manage it wisely.

8. You invest in things you don't understand. You hear that Bob's made a lot of money from something, and you want to make some money too. If Bob can do it, so can you. Right? Wrong. Bob knew what he was doing, and researched it for months. He understood what he was getting into, and how to maximise his returns. You're not going to have a clue, and that's why you'll lose the money.

9. You're financially afraid. You're so afraid of losing your money that you avoid all possible scenarios where you might end up losing it. The result is that you don't lose what you have, but you don't make any more either. In order to make money, you have to risk losing it. Success comes from understanding what your risks are and minimising them so you benefit from the results.

10. You ignore your finances. You believe that if you make enough money, the finances will take care of themselves. If you currently have debt, you believe that making more than you spend will eventually resolve those debts in the future. By ignoring your finances, you have no control over them. How are you going to get anywhere? It takes planning to become wealthy, and when you plan, you need to be in control of all factors so that you can ensure your plan succeeds.

It's probably not just one of the above that's prevented you from becoming wealthy... it's more likely a combination of some of them. You need to take a long, hard look at the list and your own life, and see where you can improve what you're doing.

Being a millionaire requires you to start thinking like one now. How would a millionaire act? How would they manage their money? What would they be doing?

Start doing it.

Thanks to TheStreet.com.