9 SIGNS TO KNOW IF YOU’LL END UP POOR

Certainly, in this era there are a lot of articles, books, videos, games, shows and schemes of how to make money and become wealthy. Well, this article is not one of those lot. This piece shows you the opposite.
Many of us have this grandeur imagination of striking it rich like the lucky few who struck gold in the California Gold Rush of the early ‘90s but that is just about all they have; a grandeur imagination and no plan whatsoever to achieve this goal. If being wealthy is your aim it should be your priority not some wishful thinking, that way you have control over your circumstance and not handing over your financial health to the good will of others.
So if you want to know if you’ll end up in poverty read the list below and be the judge over your own destiny.
You’ll end up in poverty if:

1. You resent the rich. Have you ever heard anyone around you say horrible things about rich people? Things like “Rich people are so mean and wicked” or “Rich people are too stingy” or “All rich people are corrupt and earned their money illegally” Was it your mom or dad, your friends or maybe you have said things like that. Hey! I’m not trying to play the judge to say if your rich uncle is a douchebag and the most ungenerous creature alive, but if you find this attitude being transient in every of your thoughts about all rich people then the problem is unequivocally YOU.  As much as there are the unscrupulous few who made their wealth by dubious and sinister means, there are also honest millionaires and billionaires with integrity. The truth is you cannot become what you hate. 
2. You spend all your time around poverty. It is often said that you become the average of the five people you spend most of your time with. The truth is poverty is contagious. The good news is so is wealth. Spend all your time with five financially ill people and I can assure you that you’ll be the sixth. Most times our environment set us up for poverty, but have you ever noticed that the really successful ones who came from humble means had to leave their environment to one which encouraged growth and wealth? Leaving your environment doesn’t necessarily have to be where you stay per se, although this is almost always the case, it could be your group of friends, your family members, your job. The thing is, most often than not these people or things are toxic to your wealth creation because consciously or unconsciously they feed you with limiting beliefs and put down your dreams without realizing it. You do not have to cut them off from your life – that will be vile if they’ve not harmed you – you just have to spend lesser time with them or not at all and then increase your activities with the successful ones. Believe me they know where the money is.
3. You avoid taking risks. Well I believe risk is the only way to survive. Every great discovery, growth and technological advancement was a risk. It was a risk for the earliest men to discover and harness the power of fire and for man to land on the moon. It is a risk for you to leave your house to go to school, work, church, mosque, market, anywhere. I mean what if you are run over by a car or a truck. And then to stay back at home, what if your gas cylinder leaks and there is an explosion or worse yet the building collapses on you. How horrifying! If this is the case which obviously is, why don’t you want to quit that job and start up your own business like you have planned and envisioned for six years? Why don’t you want to go back school and get that degree? Why don’t you make that investment in that piece of real estate? Whatever the ‘risk’ is, believe me it is more risky doing nothing.
4. You save, save, save. We were all told that saving is the most important thing in building wealth. Well, it actually is one part of building wealth. The other part is investing. People most times get it wrong. Saving money is the dumbest way to go in your quest to be financially sound (except you have 175 more years to live). The idea is to save money and then use the saved money to make more money for you while you keep on saving more money to re-invest, and the cycle continues. Money was never made to be at a place doing nothing that’s why it is called CURRENCY (from the word current because it moves). Saving your money in the bank is a safe way to lose all your money to inflation. Let’s not even get started with their interest rate. Savings probably worked in the agrarian and industrial age but not today. Remember, the purpose of saving is to invest it in ventures that will produce more money.
5. You don’t save at all. Well, this is the most obvious way to remain poor. I mean, if you do not save, you’d always have to borrow thereby always being in debt and have nothing to call your own. I have heard many people complain about how they never get to save anything because what they earn is meagre and insignificant and as such their expenses leave them no room to save. The idea is to keep something aside consistently no matter how little it may be to be able to have a tangible amount for whatever sound investment opportunity comes your way (and believe me, they always come). Traditionally, the lyrics has always been to save 10% of your income but I put it to you, if you are not yet comfortable with saving 10% of your income start with 5%,  if not, try 3% and then level up when you are feeling confident but whatever you do always stash something away for the proverbial rainy day.
6. You think wealth is for a special few. It is easy to think that wealth is for a particular kind of people and that you cannot attain and replicate that height of success but nothing is more far from the truth. Wealthy people had to start from somewhere. They all faced challenges as they went on their journey and found a way to turn their obstacles into opportunities for building wealth. Like it is often said, the difference between the extraordinary and the ordinary individual is that little, seemingly insignificant extra. You will remain poor if you don’t believe you can actually be rich.
7. You don’t prioritize making money. So guys, you know how difficult it was getting the attention of your crush, you know, that Golden Girl that everyone else wanted to have? Money is pretty much the same. Money loves attention. The more attention you give it, the more of it you see. The reverse is also true; the less attention you give it, the less of it you see. So in order to make money and grow wealth, you must be a money charmer, a moneynizer (I just coined it). You’ve got to be able to attract it by paying serious attention to it, that is, where it is, where it is going, who’s with it, how to get it etcetera. 
8. You fantasize about winning the lottery. There is nothing wrong with being hopeful and wishing that one of your tickets pay off. But if being hopeful is all you do all day then poverty will embrace you wholeheartedly like a prodigal son returning home. There is always the factor of luck in every success story, but this is always after you have paid your dues (doing the work). If you think dreaming about how one of your rich uncles will suddenly bite the dust and leave you a fortune for an inheritance, it really might not just be or some mysterious individual out of the blues writes you a check of a 100 million is realistic then calculate with me – there are over 7 billion people on this planet, so even if it is possible you would have to eliminate over 6,999,999,999 people to be the chosen one. 
9. You believe you have to satisfy every other person before yourself. Contrary to popular belief, selfish is good. You cannot go around putting your future in danger because you’re trying to make someone else feel good. The truth I’ve come to understand is, if you are longer in the position to assist in that area where people need you, they turn to someone else who can fill that need. It’s unimaginable but it’s the truth. You have to take care of yourself first, educate yourself, and improve your standard of living before you do so for others. It is only one who is outside a pit that can pull someone else out of it. Stop trying to be a people pleaser. When you get an income pay yourself first. If not for anything for the mere fact that it was you who did the work. So remember, be selfish now so you can be selfless in the future