How do I behave like rich people? I have been an average guy all my life, with no knowledge of expen

I have been an average guy all my life, with no knowledge of expensive brands, cars, money management, etc. How do I fit in with rich people that talk a lot about such things?

Don’t be that guy. Ask yourself. “why you have chosen (settled) to be average?”

It would be easier to increase your financial IQ and earn wealth than to try to fake it around people who can see your phoniness. Anyone asking you a question about your travels or hobbies can see through you in less than a minute. It is my experience that what comes out of people’s mouth tells a lot about who they are. I avoid people that exaggerate their success. Everything they say will have a big question mark behind it. Is it true? Is it exaggerated? Don’t be that guy!

Building wealth isn’t really all that hard if you have some time & discipline, so you won’t have to fake it. My opinion is that it really comes down to how you spend your free time. If you waste all your free time goofing off, playing video games and letting time pass, well, welcome to the lower class, you spend enormous time each year on things that don’t matter, year after year. Before you know it, you will have spent a lifetime and earned the equivalent of 5 masters degrees in goofing off from all the time (and missed opportunities). If you’ve been this way your whole life, changing now will be tough, it can be done, it will be a difficult, it will take a certain shift in your mindset, but it’s very doable, regardless of how much debt you have: student loans, car loans, credit cards, etc.

I’m not saying you don’t deserve to unwind and watch a good movie from time to time, I enjoy that as well. I’m referring to your default action when you have free time: waste it or spend it wisely?

Quick test: how many video games do you have on your cell phone, versus kindle books or audio books? Go ahead and check! (Post your answer in the comments below). Does that tell you something about how you spend your free time?

However, if you spend your free time learning new skills (that can help you in the future) and you have some ambition, well, you can go places my friend. Don’t decide to be successful when you are 50+ years old, you have a very short runway before EOL (end of life), so start now!

I have always viewed investing as both time and money. If I buy rental houses and I am the manager, I just committed a chunk of money and time (dealing with tenants, leaking faucets, etc). I’m investing both time and money in this scenario. If I buy stocks and sit on them for a few months, I’m really only spending money, not time. See what I mean?

You are already investing time, the key is to flip your current time investments into skills that can build wealth in the future. Then, you will eventually spend your wealth to free up your time!

Also, I wrote extensively about this in another post about how you spend your free time and shape how successful you are. Matt DeLong's answer to How do successful people spend their free time?