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I think a real life example of "luck" would be having your money well invested in the stock market in early 2009 as the market was coming out of its bottom and seeing your money return 170% or more in the 5 years since then.
Then I wasn't so lucky. Maybe I should go liberal and start bouncing off walls crying life isn't fair.
Those of us who have worked hard to build careers and businesses - worked 70 hour weeks, no sick days taken, risked our life savings to start businesses, etc are pretty offended when people tell us or imply that what we have now (after thirty years of labor and risk) is the result of luck more than anything else. Please.
Yep.... "you didn't build that" offended a lot of hard working, tax paying Americans. But hey it made the "I can't do that", gimme what you got but I don't want to do anything for it type people.
Like I said, I have a limited view of poverty based on my experiences. Within my own subset of poverty, I don't believe that I have a lot of misconceptions. Somewhere, someone, made a choice to be poor.
I don't think it's quite accurate that people make the choice to be poor...at least not in a conscious sort of way. I don't think a lot of people always choose to be rich consciously, either (although I think this is more common). Being poor or rich is more of a by-product of choices you make, the way you think about & approach life, etc. Unfortunately, many of these poor choices are unconscious, as people tend to copy the people around them (family, neighborhood, etc). They often don't know there are other options, or maybe they do, but those options are an abstraction because they've never seen it modeled in real life...i.e. single parenthood comes to mind. If you are born into such a family, you really don't have a practical template as to what a functioning, married 2 parent family looks like. Sure, you sort of know it's a good thing, but it seems like an abstract ideal, something too difficult to achieve, as opposed to a necessity or requirement.
I don't think it's quite accurate that people make the choice to be poor...at least not in a conscious sort of way. I don't think a lot of people always choose to be rich consciously, either (although I think this is more common). Being poor or rich is more of a by-product of choices you make, the way you think about & approach life, etc. Unfortunately, many of these poor choices are unconscious, as people tend to copy the people around them (family, neighborhood, etc). They often don't know there are other options, or maybe they do, but those options are an abstraction because they've never seen it modeled in real life...i.e. single parenthood comes to mind. If you are born into such a family, you really don't have a practical template as to what a functioning, married 2 parent family looks like. Sure, you sort of know it's a good thing, but it seems like an abstract ideal, something too difficult to achieve, as opposed to a necessity or requirement.
People should look around them. If the people they listen to for financial advise are poor, then if they listen they will follow the same steps. Also take attitude into consideration because it does matter.
People should look around them. If the people they listen to for financial advise are poor, then if they listen they will follow the same steps. Also take attitude into consideration because it does matter.
??? I'm poor and I advise people to live frugally, save as much as you can, and buy as little house as you can, but do not rent long-term if you can at all avoid it.. If people listened to me, wouldn't they all own homes and have money socked away? Is that a bad thing? Or does my attitude ruin it all?
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