Volume
1 Issue 2 - April 2001
Wealth
"Eighty percent of America's millionaires are first generation rich."
By Willie Huff
Financial wealth is owning a great quantity of valuable material possessions or resources such as land, buildings, natural resources (water, oil, gold, diamonds, copper, platinum, etc.), houses, automobiles, jewelry, clothing, stocks, bonds, and my personal favorite, CASH. However, many people who live in expensive homes and drive late model luxury automobiles do not actually have much wealth. Most people have the wrong definition of wealth. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make, earn, hustle, shakedown, or extort a good income each year and spend most of it, you will not become wealthy. What you are doing is living high, large, "phat" or whatever, but you are not becoming wealthy. Wealth is what you actually accumulate. So, how does one become wealthy? Wealth creation is the result of a lifestyle choice or work, perseverance, planning, denial and most importantly - discipline.
Who is wealthy and who becomes wealthy? Based on research conducted by Thomas Stanley, the wealthy individual is: a business owner, one who has lived in the same town for all of his/her adult life, and has married once and remains married. The average wealthy person lives next door to people with only a fraction of his/her wealth. He/she is a compulsive saver and investor and has made his/her money on their own. Eighty percent of America's millionaires are first generation rich. According to Mr. Stanley, "affluent people typically follow a lifestyle conducive to accumulating wealth".
Below are the seven common denominators among those who successfully build wealth, as listed by Mr. Stanley in his book "The Millionaire Next Door":
1. They live well below their means.
2. They allocate their time, energy and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3. They believe financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
7. They chose the right occupation.
In summary, serious wealth creation is a realistic goal for those who are willing to become self-employed, frugal, disciplined, bold, and can deny the desire to live in an overly expensive home and ride in a depreciating luxury vehicle. It is within your power to become wealthier.
(Willie Huff is Chairman of the Board of ABI Capital Management, LLC; a black-owned investment bank in Birmingham, Alabama.)
back to the top
VOTER NEWS NETWORK ORGANIZERS TO SPEND $1 MILLION FOR ALABAMA'S 2002 GENERAL ELECTION
EDITORIAL: REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM PARKER FIGHTS TO PROTECT PROPERTY OWNERS' RIGHTS
SHAIA NO LONGER CANDIDATE FOR UA TRUSTEE
WATKINS ADDRESSED ALABAMA HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS
ASHCROFT ADDS LAWYERS TO VOTING RIGHTS SECTION
SIEGELMAN'S SPECIAL SESSION OF LEGISLATURE COMES UP EMPTY
DOESN'T THE WINNER GET THE SPOILS?
By: Marty Connors & Richard Finley
THE ALABAMA LEGISLATURE PROMISES NEW FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH PERFORMANCE-BASED BUDGETING
By: John F. Knight, Jr.
WEALTH CREATION
By: Willie Huff
WHAT DO WE DO NEXT?
By: Richard Dickerson