4 Money Habits to Steal from the Very Wealthy

Just as diets aren't helpful only for people who need to lose weight, budgets aren't important just for those who need to save money. Allocating your funds into different categories can be useful, no matter your income. Sullivan writes about the University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler, who was surprised to find in his research that the "money in jars" approach (i.e., put your income into fictitious buckets designated for particular expenses—rent, food, savings, travel—instead of thinking about it as one lump sum to be spent) is also comforting to a person "with a hundred million dollars." He defines wealthy as "having enough money that you don't have to worry about money," so bucketing, because it helps assuage those worries, can be a psychological tool to achieve that state.