If you live frugally, you can live like you're rich. Doing the first is inextricably linked to being able to do the second in the future. Below are just a few of the ways that frugal living can help you to live richly in the future.
Understand Wealth
One of the points of being frugal is understanding how wealth works. Wealth isn't about spending. Wealth is about saving. When you live frugally, what you're really doing is putting money away. You aren't denying yourself, but rather giving yourself the gift of a heftier bank account. A huge portion of becoming wealthy is simply knowing when not to spend money.
Delayed Gratification
Another benefit of frugal living is learning how to delay gratification. You don't spend your money on little things that make you temporarily happy - you wait until you can get precisely what you want or need. If you're always spending on little things, you'll never manage to get what you really want. When you wait, you reward yourself.
Save to Spend
It's amazing how much you can save just by not buying coffee every morning - now you can take that cruise you always wanted to take.
You'll also start to learn how great it is to save money so you can spend it later. Sure, you might not get an expensive coffee every morning, but you'll eventually have enough money to take the cruise you've always wanted to take. You'll learn that by being frugal, you'll be able to spend money in ways that others can't even imagine.
It Reinforces Habits
Frugality also helps you to reinforce the habits you need to maintain wealth. You will learn how to shop for a deal, how to deny yourself when necessary, and how to maintain savings when it's tough. These are all things that the very rich do, though it's not often advertised.
Providing Opportunities
Finally, frugality provides opportunities. If in a financial bind, for example, you'll have the money to talk to a bankruptcy attorney because you have money on hand. If your car breaks down, you've been frugal so you can get it fixed. You have the opportunity to do important things because you've managed to save when it wasn't always easy.
Frugal living is simply practice for being rich. The more you are able to live frugally, the more prepared you'll be for when you put that money to use. If you can accept that being frugal now will help you later, you'll start to see frugality as your ticket to a better life.