Being wealthy is not by accident. “Controlling what you spend is part of wealth preservation,” says Susan Bradley, founder of the Sudden Money Institute in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “You can’t control interest rates and the stock market, but you can control a lot of the discretionary part of your lifestyle.”

Studies found that the very wealthy have more money because they realize its value, explaining in part why they are frugal. If you want to tear a page out of the wealthy class’s playbook, follow these 11 precepts.

1. Don’t concern yourself with peer approval

Resist the urge to always have the latest and greatest. In his book, The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas J. Stanley concluded that people who look rich often are not, and vice versa. “Glitzy displays of wealth and a penchant for prestige brands,” he says, is mostly the domain of middle-class wannabes. While they are trying to emulate the wealthy, as portrayed by a