Robert G Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income is a how-to guide for setting up sources of income in addition to a traditional full-time job.  In his intro, he discusses some of the habits of the wealthy.  One of the habits he lists, which I had never heard of before, he calls the millionaire minute:

Prosperous people have a unique attitude toward each money event [aka purchase]. During a typical transaction, they complete a few extra key activities…I believe that it is these few extra key minutes that make all the difference.  That’s why I call this the millionaire minute.

What exactly are the few extra key things that millionaires do when making a purchase?

1.  They plan the purchase.  As with airline tickets, the longer the planning horizon, the cheaper the purchase.

2.  They expect, ask for, and often get a discount.

3.  They expect, ask for, and always get a receipt.

4.  They always examine the receipt for errors.

I was ashamed to recognize that I am only doing one of these consistently (step 1) and another occasionally (step 2).  I love researching my purchases, especially large ones.  But I have a good friend who obsesses over purchases.  He spent weeks researching baby cribs while him and his wife were expecting their first child.  His obsession payed off—they found an Italian-crafted, hardwood crib from a company going out of business, at a steal of a deal.

After seeing how good he is at researching purchases, I have delegated some of my research to him.  It is a good thing to have a friend do all the work for you.  Delegating this research forms a hybrid with the post I wrote earlier about having others sift through information for you.

Most Americans are afraid to ask for discounts.  For some reason, our culture isn’t really into bartering, not as much as I’ve seen in France, Belgium or Mexico.  But really, it isn’t that hard to ask for a discount.  I’ll even give you a script to follow the next time you make a purchase:

You: Excuse me, how much is this widget?

Store employee: It’s $14.95.

You: Thank you, what discounts are you offering right now?

At this point, the employee will either give you a discount, or (s)he will tell you there aren’t any at that time.  And all you had to do was ask!  No messy confrontation, just a friendly question.

Do you ever check your receipts?  It’s a habit I want to pick up, not because I have an innate mistrust of cashiers, but because mistakes happen, even (especially) when computers are involved.  Since checking out nowadays is such an automated process, we devote less of our minds to it, thus opening the process up to more error.  It only takes a second to check your receipt.  If there is an error, just be polite when pointing it out (like when you asked for the discount) and if the cashier is a decent human being, your problem will be solved quickly.

Oh, and if there is a mistake in your favor, be a decent human being yourself and pay what you owe.

Tags: millionaire money habits, Multiple Streams of Income, Robert G Allen

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