The Mind of a Natural Wealth Builder

Patrick recently worked with a friend of ours who wanted some financial advice.  They are around 30 years-old and accidentally accumulated around $1 million simply by securing increasingly higher-paying positions without increasing their everyday spending.  Continuing their current lifestyle, they could retire soon, and they did not even seek an early retirement path.

Our friend is a natural wealth builder.  More of them exist than you think.

I did not calculate my individual net worth until age 27, and I happily discovered it was just above $175,000.  I accumulated wealth without trying just by prioritizing funding a Roth IRA each year, saving more money for graduate school than I would eventually need and investing it instead, and not spending all my money.  Paychecks were not something I thought to spend in full, even when they were relatively small.

There are different degrees of the phenomenon, and our friend is an outlier for accumulating $1 million by age 30.  However, understanding how natural wealth accumulators see money and the world can help you if you are struggling on your wealth building journey.  There are tons of tips out there designed to promote wealth-building habits.  If those have not worked for you, consider whether you can shift your money perspective to align more closely to how a natural wealth builder perceives money.

They are Naturally Content

Watching the sunrise or sunset costs nothing.  Natural wealth accumulators tend to enjoy activities that require little or no money.  If you do not need money to find joy, you do not worry about money as much.

Some of this natural contentment is luck because what we naturally enjoy costs different amounts of money.  If your favorite weekend hobby is going on one-day hikes close to home, you will save a lot of money compared to the person who prefers skydiving.

We also luck into certain habits early in our lives that shape whether we need more money for our baseline contentment.  At 23 years old, I entered my first summer after teaching full-time and earning a real salary for a year.  I decided to train for a Ragnar so I could “learn how to run” because it was ridiculous that I had just played 80 minutes on back-to-back days in the USA Rugby National D2 Quarterfinals and Semifinals but could not run more than a mile without wanting to collapse.  Training for a Ragnar in Las Vegas in the summer meant running after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m. to avoid 100-degree weather.  It also meant not participating in the activities 23-year-olds might participate in between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the summer while receiving a salary but not teaching.  I saved a lot of money by going on runs instead of heading to the bar with friends.

I am not unique in having schedule rigidity and goal-setting minimize my spending.  Many college athletes spend less money because the workout schedules that keep them grounded long after college supersede activities that would strain their wallets.  But the bookworms who would rather spend Saturday with a slow morning walk followed by devouring the latest novel, experimenting with a new recipe at home, and finishing the day with some true crime on Netflix also have the natural habits to limit spending.  

Those without this low baseline for contentment may take the boat out on the lake for the weekend with a bunch of friends, but they spend the day discussing the nicer boat upgrade they are considering rather than enjoying the good fortune of spending a beautiful day with loved ones.  The couple that always wants the bigger truck, newer kitchen appliance, in-season fashion, fancier hotel, meal at the most expensive restaurant, or new addition on their home struggle to find natural contentment.  The person that simply does not think to upgrade most pieces of their life has a much easier time finding happiness without money.

The specific habits and personality traits of the naturally content vary, but most are skilled at appreciating the joy of the moment they are experiencing.  Even when moments are not joyful, they appreciate the cumulative benefits of their lived experiences because this helps them find joy when it returns.  The perspective of the content can guide most of us to a less expensive and more fulfilling existence.

Money is a Tool

We also lose a content perspective when we chase money for the sake of chasing money.  Natural wealth builders realize money is a means to an end rather than the prize itself.  They understand they need money to have a home, food, health insurance, and other basics.  But they do not see the point in chasing high earnings just to fund a more expensive lifestyle.

Money is a tool for natural wealth builders.  By not glamorizing money, natural wealth builders avoid risky financial behaviors that can set back personal investment journeys.  That natural risk avoidance tends to mean these individuals invest in slow but consistently appreciating assets, like total stock market index funds or target date funds, that prepare them for the future without risking financial decline.

The most conscientious natural wealth builders will eventually use their accumulated wealth to buy themselves additional freedom.  Since they are already not in the habit of spending in excess, the most appealing use of money is creating more time of their own to enjoy the life they have built.  Since that life costs a reasonable amount, buying freedom is inexpensive relative to their overall wealth.

They Don’t Think About Money

The natural wealth accumulator Patrick recently worked with had no idea they had accumulated $1 million.  Saving and investing had become a habit, they did not look at long-term investments, and they did not need to know how much wealth they accumulated on any given day.

This is because they do not think about money.  That sounds like a luxury of the rich to those worried about every dollar, but we know of individuals making more than the median income who stress about money and live paycheck-to-paycheck.  There are reasons some people have to think about money—an unusually expensive health condition or recovering from a natural disaster that hit their home—but many are struggling with day-to-day expenses despite making a relatively average amount of money or more.  Those not dealing with some kind of crisis, ongoing health issue, or difficult situation would not have to worry about money if they opted for a less expensive lifestyle.

That sounds harsh, but there are two ways to not think about money:

1. Make your life cost less.

2. Build more wealth.

Natural wealth builders have inexpensive lives that allow them to build wealth naturally.  Since they are using both levers in the equation, they never have to think about money.

Not thinking about money feels amazing.  I have not worried about having enough money to exist since leaving college, but hitting the point where I knew I had enough money to not worry about my spending was a whole new level of financial freedom that I found while enjoying a month in Sicily this summer.  Knowing that the wealth I have built can fund the most glamorous version of the life I want is an empowering financial freedom.

Natural wealth builders never worry about the day-to-day spending they need to survive.  Over time, they accumulate enough wealth that they do not have to worry about what they consider larger spending negatively impacting their net worth.  Adopting the natural contentment of a natural wealth builder and seeing money only as a tool to maintain your lifestyle can move you closer to not thinking about money.  You will build wealth more quickly than you imagined and gain the best wealth of all:  the freedom not to worry about having enough.