The Wealthy Follow Suze Orman’s Golden Rule For Getting Rich — She Says There’s 1 Question Everyone Should Be Asking

When it comes to money, it’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you keep. The less you spend on things you want, the more you have for things you need. And if you save enough, you can accelerate the wealth-building process by putting your savings to work for you.

What To Know: Financial advisor and personal finance author Suze Orman says there is one key question that everyone should ask themselves. 

“When do you buy what you can afford versus what you need when what you need is less than what you can afford?”

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Just because you can afford something, doesn’t mean you should buy it. In fact, in most cases, that’s not a good way to decide what to buy.

According to a CNBC report citing Orman, the reason the rich keep getting richer is because they know that living within their means is the way to put themselves on a path to sustained wealth.

Spending money on the things you need and putting the rest to work for you is the way to keep your riches growing. 

For example, when Orman learned she would be spending a large portion of her time in New York in the late ’90s, she decided she was going to buy a home nearby. Although she could afford a penthouse that cost upwards of $1 million, she bought an apartment for a quarter of the price because it was all she needed. 

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No matter how wealthy you are, you should still only buy what you need, Orman said. If you always buy whatever you can afford, you set yourself up to run out of money when the unexpected happens. 

It can be difficult to resist spending on things you can afford, but once you make spending need-based and start recognizing the savings, it becomes a habit and you no longer want to spend on anything other than what you need, Orman said. 

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is a prime example. He’s currently listed as the sixth-richest person in the world with a net worth of more than $143 billion, per Forbes, and he still lives in a house that was built in the 1920s. He purchased the home for $31,500 in 1958.

Buffett also drives a vehicle that’s over 10 years old, and he’s never owned a new car. Instead, he looks for used cars with heavy discounts due to cosmetic issues like hail damage. He’s also known for clipping coupons and being frugal when it comes to spending on food.

“I found everything I like to eat by the time I was 6. Why should I fool around with all of these other foods,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview last year.

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This story is part of a new series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire. Some elements of this story were previously reported by Benzinga and it has been updated.