Why Looking Poor Is Important

When I was freshly minted out of college, I felt like I had to create a certain appearance to keep up with my peers. I wanted to look like the successful adult—the young professional in Atlanta. But this created a big problem, and one month I could not pay off my credit card balance. I still remember calling my father and the shame I felt having to ask him, of all people, for money. Let’s face it, he didn’t have it himself—all because I was trying to look rich. After I hung up, I swore to myself that I would never, ever feel that way again.

Unfortunately, I still see many folks fall prey to this same trap. Social media is packed with people showing off luxury cars, designer clothes, and lavish lifestyles. And sometimes, in order to feel successful, we think we have to live that way—live up to the hype of the highlight reel. But here’s the truth: the wealthiest people don’t feel the need to look rich. Have you noticed that many billionaires—the wealthier they get, the poorer they seem to look? Wealthy people focus on exactly that—being wealthy in terms of financial security, freedom, peace of mind, and how they use their time.

Today I’m going to break down three powerful reasons why looking poor can be a financial superpower.

The first reason is simple math. Consumerism traps you. We always say around here that money is a tool, and we’re trying to build financial independence. And it’s a tool that can provide you with a few things, but we’re going to focus on one in particular: money provides flexibility. And that you can choose what you do with those extra dollars.

Here’s the thing though—it only provides that flexibility when you’re living on less than you make. That difference between your income and your expenses is what we call margin. It’s really leaning into that first ingredient of wealth, which is discipline. The good news is, the greater the margin between your income and your expenses, the greater your flexibility and ownership of your time. But the more money you spend trying to look rich, well, the less flexible you’ll be. If you eat up all your flexibility in monthly payments, you’re putting yourself in survival mode and likely making desperate decisions.

Think about it this way: say you buy a BMW—the car of your dreams—that costs you $1,000 a month. Now, let’s say instead you chose a much more modest Toyota Corolla that only costs you $500 a month. Both cars fill the same need in your life—getting you from point A to point B. But the BMW has twice the effect on your flexibility. You probably know someone with designer clothes, a luxury car—but if you went and looked at their bank account, what do you think you’d find? In a lot of cases, nothing.

By not buying the status symbol—by choosing to be okay with looking broke—you’re actually creating breathing room in your budget that will allow you to put those dollars toward building real wealth.

Feeding that consumerism and keeping up with the Joneses doesn’t just affect your money. Trying to look rich will make you miserable, and this is well documented. Psychologists have found that once our essential needs are met—like housing, food, health care—there is what’s called diminishing return between what we purchase and the happiness that it gives us. In other words, buying twice as much stuff does not make us twice as happy. We’ve all heard the horror stories of the lottery winners.

When we buy something new or increase our lifestyle, we adapt to it quicker and quicker, and that shiny new feeling wears off faster and faster. In fact, over time, we tend to revert to a baseline level of happiness regardless of the stuff we own. This is what’s known as the hedonic treadmill. So by chasing the dopamine high of buying the newest iPhone—yeah, you’ll get a brief boost of happiness—but you’re going to come down to earth soon after. And once you get on that treadmill, it is harder and harder to get off.

Instead, let’s break the cycle. Realize it’s okay to look poor—to embrace your wage—because when you do, you’re saying: I’m not falling for these traps. I don’t need material possessions to feel happy. And material possessions are not a substitute for real wealth, flexibility, and owning your time.

Which brings me to the last reason: real wealth is invisible. Let me ask you this: would you rather have a $50,000 car and zero in the bank, or a $15,000 car and $335,000 of investments in your army of dollars? Here’s the reality—true wealth isn’t something you can see. It’s not something you drive. It’s not something you wear. It’s not something you show off at all.

You know what true wealth is? True wealth is the freedom to focus on what truly matters to you. It’s having an emergency fund that covers you when things go wrong. It’s knowing you can walk away from a dead-end job to live your dream. It’s sleeping peacefully at night knowing your money is working harder than you can—with your back, your brain, your hands. It really is all about owning your time.

But most people would rather look rich than be rich. They’ll get up to their eyeballs in unnecessary monthly payments and debt just to feel like they’ve made it—instead of focusing on what creates real wealth. But we at The Money Guy know that there is a better way to do money, and we want to take that journey with you. So subscribe if you haven’t, check out our other content, and own your financial life—or it will own you. We want you to have the freedom to do what you want, when you want, and how you want. That’s the wealth of owning your time.