Comments on: Why Being Frugal Can Only Take You So Far On Your Path To Wealth

By: Jen @ SheBloggs

Jen @ SheBloggs — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:18:47 +0000

Hi Steve,

This was a fantastic piece and for the most part, I agree. Being more productive and finding ways to make more money is the way to go. However, we’ve all heard stories of people who increase their income and increase their spending at the same time, which is pointless.

This was my story. The more money I made, the more I was spending and ultimately ended up spending more than I was making. I am by no means frugal, but I’ve put myself on a very tight budget. Having started a business, this was the only way I could get my spending in check.

I think it’s a combination of starting out being as frugal as possible and making more money. The fact that you’ve increased your income by 41% AND cut your spending by 4% is testament to that.

Thanks again for the piece!

By: John

John — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:06:32 +0000

…Last but not least, it’s also about setting your foresights far by looking into the bigger picture! Try to save only when it is necessary

Muren @
Feng Shui Singapore

By: John

John — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:56:36 +0000

You’ll have to be wise in what you’re doing. Sometimes spending some money in outsourcing can bring about great savings of time and effort. In turn you can take this time to do greater stuffs in your business.

Well being frugal at times might not be the best option after all

Muren @
Feng ShuiSingapore

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Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:31:45 +0000

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By: Sandra

Sandra — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:04:22 +0000

Wow! Sounds like many people are sick of hearing about frugality. Personally, I think there should be a BALANCE. Of course one should concentrate on increasing income but at the same time, one needs to be frugal to increase their net worth. Frugality isn’t the same as being cheap. In my household, we clip coupons and buy what’s on sale; we live below our means. We also have a healthy income that enable us to have what we need and want.

“Standard of living” is relative. While some of our friends think living in a $1m+ house is having a good standard of living, we think a $400k house is nice and cozy and more to our liking. Sure we can buy a $1m house but why would we want to do that? We can use the difference to invest for our future (not to mention our kids’ future).

By: Yst

Yst — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:36:24 +0000

Steve,
Excellent. Too many people (and books to entrepreneurs) promote that you should cut, cut and then cut some more. A lot of the time though, you ending so spending so much time that you end up with less money. I know people that spend hours trying to save 5 dollars. Really, what’s the point?

By: Xurxo Vidal

Xurxo Vidal — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:19:07 +0000

Steve,

I absolutely agree with you. Frugality can only get you so far when it comes to building wealth, especially if the money you save is not put to work in aggressively building passive income for you such as by investing it in dividend paying stocks or automating some of your business processes to make things more efficient with less time and effort.

I’ve come to the same conclusion that you need to make more money to build wealth rather than rely on saving exclusively, more so if you are not already making considerably more than you need to maintain your lifestyle.

It’s definitely a mindset shift where you look for expansion (increasing revenue profitably) rather than working with a limited set of resources (saving from existing revenue) to increase wealth.

Once again some thought provoking material – nice work!

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:00:40 +0000

I look at it like trying to stay in shape. The best combination is a one-two punch of being frugal with your calories and getting out and exercising. Male models with 8-pack abs don’t get ripped by eating only rice cakes, they eat well AND hit the gym hard.

Same with finances, it’s smart to be frugal with your money but simply scrimping and saving won’t make you rich (at least not over the next 10 years). If you really want to build your financial physique you should be money smart AND tap into your unique skills to start ramping up the income you earn.

Or you could come out with a “2 Minute Abs” DVD and get rich overnight