A Get Rich Slow Lesson

Remember most of these people will not become your friends. And you may only pass them in the street, sit next to them at a restaurant or see them coming the opposite way while shopping. You will need to be extremely quick at deciding who is rich and successful in order to pick up on some of their tips.

They will display a bunch of icons which makes this job easier and today we will talk about these icons.

Imagine driving down a busy highway and stopping behind a late model BMW. Here is a clear icon to suggest the person driving it is R&S (rich and successful). As a new BMW costs on average around $30,000 more than the price of a new Holden Commodore, for example, you can be assured that the person owning it has substantial wealth.

Think of passing a woman in the supermarket. She is wearing Prada sunglasses, a Chanel handbag (around the $800 price tag) and a Dior dress. You notice her shopping trolley and it is full of high end, high priced food. These too are icons that she is R&S. Her wealth must be right up there in Australia's highest percentage.

If you go into someone's house who you believe might be R&S, get a peek into their kitchen cupboards if you can. You will probably find high end coffee like Aurora. Of course if you find International Roast (the cheapest brand on the market), this is a good indication they are not as successful as they might seem. Look for a self automated coffee machine. Check their alcohol collection. Look for high quality wines and expensive bottles of whiskey. And of course if you can, look for their car parked in the drive way. If it's a late model luxury car, the better the indication of wealth. Make sure you check out the postcode on a real estate website once you get home. You will probably find it is an exclusive neighbourhood. This too reconfirms your belief they are rich.

As you talk to people, have a quick look at their watch. Can you see if it's a Rolex worth above $1,000? If so, this is a definite icon which should assume they are R&S. And this is someone whose tastes you should try and follow.

Now armed with icon knowledge you will be able to go out into the world to look for and act like R&S types.

Hello class, my name is Professor Street Smart

Today we are planning to talk on the subject of how to spot rich and successful people.

As you go through life you may want to become a rich and successful person. Copying the habits of these people is extremely important as most people will not share their real wealth with you because they keep it a secret. This class should be seen as a guide to spotting these people quickly and easily.

Remember most of these people will not become your friends. And you may only pass them in the street, sit next to them at a restaurant or see them coming the opposite way while shopping. You will need to be extremely quick at deciding who is rich and successful in order to pick up on some of their tips.

They will display a bunch of icons which makes this job easier and today we will talk about these icons.

At a set of lights a ten year old used Commodore pulls up next to you. You notice on the side window a dealer sticker with such information as kilometres driven, age of the car and condition of the interior. From this you work out the car has just been purchased for a price of $8,000. While you cannot be assured of this person's wealth, you do know they have made a smart decision to increase their wealth. With cars almost guaranteed to drop in value they have already let someone else take the sharp drop. And just by not buying a top of the line car they have saved themselves quite a bit of money.

In a weekly trip to your local supermarket, you notice a woman walking by wearing what appear to be clothes from Big W. Her sunglasses have no brand symbols or names on them and her handbag looks like a $15 bag from your local chemist. You quickly glance into her trolley to notice a selection of generic brands and inexpensive food. You cannot be sure of this person's wealth, but you know they have saved themselves a lot of money on their clothes and shopping.

After visiting a new friend's house for coffee, you notice you have been served a generic brand of coffee. After taking a quick peek at their alcohol collection, you notice a bunch of inexpensive wines and a bottle of low cost vodka. The car parked up the driveway appears to be 10 years old or more. And after checking their postcode on a real estate website, you know their housing area is below average for your state. Your new friends are clearly savers and must have a big amount of wealth tucked away.

A big clue to people's wealth is what watch they are wearing. If it's under the $200 range, they must have saved the extra money from not purchasing a more expensive watch.

To become rich you must emulate the examples given above. Only by not acting like you already have money will you truly be able to save money away.

So here are two examples of a professor teaching fictitious classes. Which one do you believe to be more correct?

Most cultures encourage us to believe that the professor's conventional thinking is correct. We see the very rich sports stars on TV, the actress or TV personalities. They seem to live a life of luxury and wealth. So when we see strangers in the street living a similar life, we assume they must be rich and successful.

But what a person drives, buys, eats or drinks, or where they live has 100% no bearing on their actual real wealth. It seems that in under thirty seconds of seeing someone, we can decide if they are wealthy or not. However this is only a belief and not a reality. Unless we have access to their bank accounts, debt owing and assets, looks can be deceiving.

For you see the truth is, in 2011 anybody can look rich. The car can be on loan, the house in the exclusive suburb may only just be having its home loan paid for, it's not too expensive to stock your cupboards with high end food and your alcohol collection with pricy drinks. Plus with families' ability to get their hands on nearly unlimited credit cards, all might be paid for with other people's money.

But the danger comes in when we try to emulate the people we believe to be rich. We copycat all the brands they buy in hopes some of their wealth will rub off on us. We believe we can purchase our way to success. And each high status symbol item brings us one step closer to the riches we want.

The fact is the example in Professor Street Smart's address to his students will likely bring us riches far more quickly than Professor Conventional Thinking's will. If two people earn the same wage and one follows Street Smart's advice (saving money at the end of the month), he will do far better than with Conventional Thinking's advice.

Each dollar you dedicate to looking rich is one dollar you have not saved towards becoming rich. The sad fact is that most people would rather look rich, than deprive themselves of the good life right now to become rich later.

Don't be impressed by passing strangers and consider them rich, because you might be copying people who are only copying other people.