This week, I’m talking about how to become a millionaire. The habits, behaviors, and attitudes of the most successful among us can teach us something about how to reach and maintain a financially secure retirement. 

Today I’m talking about making millionaire decisions about the big ticket items you buy. 

When you walk into a dealership to buy a car, the conversation about what car you can afford is always framed around how much payment you can afford. 

Many people who make poor decisions with their money, frame most of their big ticket purchase decisions this way, and the thought process goes something like this. 

This car or house costs this much. I think I can afford a monthly payment of $500 or whatever it is. 

But framing a big purchase decision around the monthly payment amount, is the absolute worst way to frame whether or not you should buy something. Lenders will always be willing to lend you the maximum amount, so what you can afford according to the lender is usually way more than what you can actually afford if you have other goals, like saving for retirement. 

When you buy cars and houses, and other big ticket items, successful people realize that deciding on how much to spend is not about monthly payment to the bank you can afford. It’s about what amount and what debt load makes the most sense given your financial goals and what’s most important to you. 

I have a lot of clients who drive cars like 10-year old Honda Accords, and have a paid off mortgage, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The bestselling book, The Millionaire Next Door talks about this concept at length. In fact, if you’re interested in diving deeper into the topic of millionaire habits, it's an inspiring read, and I highly recommend it. The book looks at 2 people with the same income levels but vastly different levels of wealth. One who made good decisions, and the other who let lifestyle creep prevent him from accumulating any meaningful wealth, other than just a bunch of stuff. 

That’s it for today, thanks for listening. Tomorrow, we’re going to recap the week and I’m gonna give you a little taste of next week’s theme.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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