Well, it can happen to all of us – lifestyle trends, as well as the hedonic treadmill snowball, trick us into believing that we are only happy with the most expensive clothing, the colorful cars, and other outward signifiers of success. It’s quite easy, in fact, to justify these flashy items when you work hard for your money and simply want to show off all that you’ve done so far.
However, living well within your means and opting for more practical items over flashy ones is one of the biggest keys to wealth. There’s a good reason why the most commonly driven car among super wealthy people is the humble Toyota and not a Porsche or Ferrari.
In fact, the truly wealthy don’t feel the need to flaunt their wealth outwardly. Instead, they put their dollars to work behind the scenes. It can be quite tempting to buy designer brands or even splurge on that dream luxury car. However, looking and living humbly is actually the secret to wealth. So here are ten main reasons as to why you should adopt a “poor” look over a luxurious one.
The overall budget will drastically decrease
A designer wardrobe, mid-tier car lease payment, and mortgage in a luxury neighborhood could easily eat into most of your budget. In fact, looking and living more humbly also means that your monthly budget is bound to be much lower, but all that money will go into better things, like investments and paying off consumer debt instead of flashy items. At the end of the day, come think about it; none of those things matter.
You avoid lifestyle creep
Lifestyle creep can really happen to the best of us. What happens is that you get a raise and all of a sudden, you spend more on all aspects of your life. Deciding to live more humble and “look poor” might, in fact, help prevent lifestyle inflation from fully creeping in. Instead, it makes it easier to save more money and work toward building wealth.
You don’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses and the Smiths
Deciding not to give in to all those flashy items will help you, in the long run, feel more at peace with what you have to offer as an individual rather than solely depending on designer goods to carry your worth. This type of mindset switch will also help you move away from needing to keep up with your fancy neighbors and will reshape how you see your own value (for the better).
You might have a better understanding of your personal preferences
Living more humbly doesn’t automatically mean that you will have to give up on everything you love to favor a strict and more austere lifestyle. However, committing to a more humble lifestyle also means you will have more room to truly reflect on why you were buying more than you actually needed.
Looking at what someone would call “poor” and living well within your means will ultimately help you understand what your personal preferences are, as well as the things you like because you like them, rather than the things you only think you like because that’s what’s expected of you.
Your priorities will change from spending to saving
As soon as you start living within your means and no longer feel the pressure to buy stuff just to fit in or show off, you might notice that your priorities too shift from spending to saving. The truly wealthy aren’t really spending their money on designer t-shirts. Instead, they are putting their dollars back into the market to work for them and make them even wealthier.
You won’t be chasing dopamine hits as often
If you always end up feeling guilty about how much you spend on flashy goods and instant desires rather than needs in the past, you shouldn’t beat yourself up too much. The hedonic treadmill you’re on can really happen to the best of us. However, putting an end to chasing these dopamine hits in the form of impulse buying will also let you break the cycle once and for all and focus instead on how to create long-term wealth.
You might end up working less
As soon as you’re no longer spending on things such as expensive car loans and designer clothing, you might actually realize you don’t have to work as hard or stress as much about coming up with the needed money to pay the bills. Needing less in general is also the easiest way to work towards financial freedom, and it can be the difference between retiring at 65 or even retiring in your fifties.
You will be more humble
Living as humbly as possible means you are not overinflating your own self-worth. In fact, not being overly proud of doing the hard work is a wonderful character trait to hold onto.
Staying as humble as possible can snowball into your financial life, too, from taking on a side hustle all the way to bumping up your investment accounts to selling your car in favor of taking the subway to the office. As soon as you decide to live humbly instead of only flashily, your mindset will more than likely shift to the point where you won’t be afraid of getting your hands a little dirty, which is great.
Your assets won’t be gone, they just won’t be on display
Subscribing to a flashy lifestyle can truly feel like the most obvious way to effectively collect assets. However, designer handbags and cars are not exactly the investments that the media portrays them to be.
You might still have them as soon as you commit to living a bit more humbly, but if you’re astute enough, they won’t be on display, ever. Instead of treating yourself to a fancy watch or the trendiest pair of shoes, you will probably want to put that money into your investment accounts.
When you no longer need external validation, watching your accounts increase will be a bigger dopamine hit than any designer accessory could have possibly offered you.
You foster more gratitude for what you have
Being happy with being a bit more humble means you won’t always search for the next best thing, and that’s just fine. Instead, you might start to notice that you feel more grateful for all the little things in life. It can be anything, really, from the cozy sweater you had since college, all the way to the boots that keep your feet warm in the cold and rain.
You will also be pleasantly surprised by how much gratitude you can have for the small things in life as soon as you stop chasing the latest trends, and focus instead on what you already have.
Takeaway
No one says that glimmer isn’t welcomed, or that you shouldn’t be proud of your purchases and achievements. But as a general rule, everything that shines and sparkles has an expiration date, and we can’t help but look for the next best thing, and the next best thing, and so on. The best way is to find a proper balance within ourselves and to remember that the best things in life can’t be bought.
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