The number one strategy that takes people from average to rich is to model yourself on the self made rich. Let's have a look at what that really means.

Modeling Yourself on the Self Made Rich

The best way to succeed in anything is to model yourself on those who have already done it. What this entails is to find out what they do that is different to what the average person does. Let's start by looking at two things that Warren Buffett did as he was taking himself from average to one of the richest men in the world.

Do Whatever It Takes To Learn What You Need To Know

When Warren Buffett was a young man he set himself a goal of becoming a great stock market investor. He certainly achieved this goal because he has become the most successful stock market investor who ever lived. He took his personal savings of $9,800 and turned them into a net worth of over $50 billion dollars using his stock market investment strategies.

Buffett decided that Benjamin Graham was the greatest investor of the era and he wanted to learn what Graham knew. He enrolled at Columbia University because Graham taught there and when he graduated he decided he wanted to work for Graham and learn more from him. Graham wouldn't hire him though. Warren persisted, even offering to work for free. Eventually his persistence paid off and Graham hired him for $12,000 a year.

What did Warren do here that was different to the average person? Firstly he showed that he was willing to do whatever it takes to learn from those who have a proven track record. Secondly he believed that what he learned on the job was more important than what he earned on the job.

Live On a Budget and Invest the Rest

Another lesson we can learn by modeling Warren Buffett is to live on a budget that is less than what we earn and invest the rest. In the first six years after leaving university Warren was earning $12,000 dollars a year and had a wife and three children to support. Yet he still lived on a budget and allocated money to his savings and investing.

At the end of that six year period those savings and investments had gone from $9,800 to $140,000. By investing a percentage of what he earned he had increased his net worth by an amount that was more than double the total salary he had earned in the same period.

Warren did not abandon this budgeting approach when he became rich. In 1979 when he had a net work of $140 million he stated that he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 a year. If he hadn't kept up his habit of budgeting then he would never have built the incredible riches that he has today.

Warren has always understood that the money you have working for you can produce more than you can produce just by working for money. This is very different to the average person who not only spends all his salary but also runs up plenty of personal debt as well.

Conclusion

The examples above show how studying the habits of the self made rich can teach you how to make a difference in your own financial life. If you make a hobby of studying those who went from average to rich via investing or business then you will be able to identify many of the differences between them and the average person who stays average. This will give you the knowledge you need to make a positive difference in your own financial life.