Many of us probably don't put too much mental daylight in between millionaires and their even richer brethren, the billionaires, author Rafael Badziag says that the main difference between them has to do with more than just the amount of 0's in their bank accounts. Instead, he says, billionaires and millionaires tend to differ in the way they think about money itself.
Badziag is the author of the recent book The Billion Dollar Secret: 20 Principles of Billionaire Wealth and Success. Part of his process for writing the book was to interview 21 billionaires and in so doing he hit upon a big factor differentiating them from millionaires:
"The difference between financially successful people (millionaires) and financially super successful people (billionaires) boils down to the fact that the latter get pleasure making money, but don't enjoy spending it."
This trait tends to make itself known in the famously frugal spending habits of super-rich individuals like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, the former who still lives in the same modest house he purchased in Omaha way back in 1958 for about $276,700 in today's dollars, per a Business Insider estimate. And Frank Hasenfratz, one of Badziag's billionaire interview subjects also credits his immense wealth to a basic principle of frugality: Spending less than what you're taking in. He wasn't alone in that assessment, either, as fellow billionaires Michal Solowow and Lirio Parisotto (the richest person in Poland and the richest in South America, respectively) also say that their frugality helped lead them to their success.
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Of course, most people would probably be more than content with a million dollars or more to their name. But just in case you want to make that next leap to the Billionaire's Club, don't give up those cheap McDonald's breakfasts just yet – they may help you bridge the gap so you can be interviewed in a book like Badziag's.
