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What are Common Traits of Wealthy People?

By Sheri Cyprus
Updated May 17, 2024
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The common traits of wealthy people include perseverance, creativity, curiosity, leadership, innovation, passion and a hardworking, entrepreneurial attitude. Once they have earned personal wealth, most financially well off people are quite frugal with their money. Statistics show that in general, wealthy people retire late or choose to keep working without retiring because they love what they do and want to continue to be productive.

Passion has been found to be key in working to achieve wealth. Many wealthy entrepreneurs became that way by turning a hobby or something they are passionate about into a business. Whether it's growing flowers, designing clothes or developing a new waste recycling method, wealthy people tend to be passionate about how they spend their time. They are also often extremely innovative and know how to solve problems by coming up with new solutions and good ideas. To get wealthy, these people go beyond dreaming about what they could do to make money; they set realistic goals and strategies, then work hard to achieve them.

Leadership is an important trait of wealthy people because many of them don't make their riches on their own. Wealthy people tend to know how to delegate rather than do everything by themselves. In this way, they can work smarter as well as harder in terms of how their time and money are spent. Wealthier people tend to not only be passionate about how they spend their time, but also more conscious of the fact that the hours in a day are worth money. If they can find reliable people to do tasks for less cost than they can do them, in terms of value for their own time, they tend to get the help of others.

Investment in the good ideas of others is something that many wealthy people have in common as well. They are able to notice and appreciate innovation in other people and invest in their businesses in order to grow their own wealth. Maybe because of their own usually excellent entrepreneurial ability, they are better able to recognize this skill in other people.

Curiosity and creativity are traits that are often cited in people who have earned great wealth as well. Successful entrepreneurs look for needs that aren't being met. They are curious about many things and often read a lot or gain knowledge in other ways. Creativity in terms of being original and groundbreaking has resulted in many people becoming wealthy from their ideas. Yet wealthy people also tend to not expect to make great fortunes overnight. They are typically patient and willing to persevere with strategic plans to obtain wealth.

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Discussion Comments

By Buster29 — On Oct 06, 2014

I've noticed that the richest people I know in this area don't buy a lot of flashy things. Everyone knows they're wealthy by the quality of the things they DO buy, but they don't generally buy gold-plated dog bowls or marble mailboxes. They will quietly get things done behind the scenes, like sending generous checks to political candidates or agreeing to pay a large repair bill for their church.

I have seen other people who get rich quick, however, and they will buy the craziest or most expensive things so everybody else will know they are wealthy people. The problem is that once they become rich, they suddenly get a lot of fake friends and greedy relatives who want them to give it away to them.

By Inaventu — On Oct 05, 2014

I know some very wealthy people who go to my church, and one thing I've noticed is that they rarely mention the price of something during conversations. They almost always mention the quality of the item or their plans for the future with it, but not how much it cost. It's like the price tag for most things is the least of their concerns.

If I had to buy a chainsaw to cut down some damaged trees, I'd probably say "I had to pay nearly $200 for a chainsaw, and I probably won't ever use it again after those trees are gone." A wealthy person would say "I bought a really good chainsaw to cut down some trees, and I'm thinking about giving it to my son so he can start a firewood service next winter".

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