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Yes, I agree - excellent post KathrynAragon! I am in much the same situation, though not as far along as you and petch. Lots of financial idiocy in our 20s and early 30s, enlightenment in the late thirties, now in my early 40s and well along the path the financial independence. We carry ZERO debt (besides the mortgage), and drive two recent model mid priced cars that we bought new and paid for - cash. We've built a decent emergency fund, are renovating and adding value to our home, paying the mortgage down early, and are building a long term dividend paying stock portfolio. We live modestly and well within our means, but we don't mind at all, and we sleep much better at night than we used to. It's a long road, but we're on the way to a very good place financially. Not that anyone cares, but if I could give one piece of advice to anyone it's to learn to live within your means, and the longer you live within your means, the greater those means become!
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Too bad people who are poor won't hear what we have to say and learn from our mistakes, they are too busy thinking they are right.
You're right on about that Petch, if I had a nickle for everyone who's ever laughed at my advice and called me a bootstrapper, I'd be able to pay off the mortage really early, lol!
Last edited by treasurekidd; 01-15-2014 at 11:58 AM..
Keep going Treasurekidd, the weight lifted, the peace of mind and heart, good sleep is worth it. No possession is worth giving that up for.
People are too worried about what they don't have instead of enjoying what they do have. Those same people will never be happy because there will be someone who has more than them and they will again be unhappy because then they will want that too. What a vicious miserable circle to waste a life on.
Keep going Treasurekidd, the weight lifted, the peace of mind and heart, good sleep is worth it. No possession is worth giving that up for.
People are too worried about what they don't have instead of enjoying what they do have. Those same people will never be happy because there will be someone who has more than them and they will again be unhappy because then they will want that too. What a vicious miserable circle to waste a life on.
??? I have a 10 x 12 room. No stocks, bonds, car, no TV, no retirement fund, no bling. What exactly should I enjoy?
??? I have a 10 x 12 room. No stocks, bonds, car, no TV, no retirement fund, no bling. What exactly should I enjoy?
Don't forget you have 12,412 posts at the moment. One only can guess at what the aggregate time/effort may have yielded to someone who bemoans having little.
I think the biggest misconception the poor have on the rich is that the rich are 'lucky' or that they inherited their wealth. While this happens, it's not nearly as common as we'd be led to believe by those promoting that fallacy.
They also misinterpret the definition of 'hard work'. To a poor person, 'hard work' is a manual, dirt-under the nails, back-breaking, 9-5, clock punching job. To the poor, sitting at a computer, managing spreadsheets, making budgetary/financial decisions, etc isn't hard work because you didn't literally get your hands dirty. Therefore, how hard can it be.
While I respect blue collar jobs, the stress involved with a white collar job is just as hard.
I think the biggest misconception the poor have on the rich is that the rich are 'lucky' or that they inherited their wealth. While this happens, it's not nearly as common as we'd be led to believe by those promoting that fallacy.
They also misinterpret the definition of 'hard work'. To a poor person, 'hard work' is a manual, dirt-under the nails, back-breaking, 9-5, clock punching job. To the poor, sitting at a computer, managing spreadsheets, making budgetary/financial decisions, etc isn't hard work because you didn't literally get your hands dirty. Therefore, how hard can it be.
While I respect blue collar jobs, the stress involved with a white collar job is just as hard.
LOL many "blue collar" jobs pay great salaries. My husband wears flame retardant clothes, steel toed boots and a hard hat every day at work and makes as much as some doctors. I am not disagreeing with you, just fleshing out the picture for you.
We need to refocus a lot of our up and coming workers on the trades but that's a whole other subject.
In fact, I agree with a lot of your post above. My experience is that many people who are persistently poor talk a lot about "hard work" and companies being "built on the backs of workers," but they themselves do not have a good work or attendance record. Many people spend their "careers" (and I use that term loosely) trying to "get one over on da man" - and I'm including white collar AND blue collar people in this category.
I'm sure there are some misconceptions about the poor from the rich. Our nations's poor have so many different levels of poor that wouldn't be considered poor in third world countries. The majority of our nation's poor have access to food, clothing, shelter, and education.
My personal level of familiarity with the 'poor' is what is considered poor in the rural south. Honestly, these poor have access to food and shelter provided by the government and some access to clothing either through donations or some other source. At the time I was in college, there were grants to cover education costs for those students who couldn't afford it. Until recently, there were pretty much jobs available to anyone willing to work. It might not be the job you wanted, but it was a job. If you showed some initiative you could work your way up into a better job. My family worked it's way up from poverty. As far as I can tell those same options were available to others. My dad's family was very poor. My grandparents had only 4th and 8th grade educations. They hunted, fished or grew a majority of their food. Clothes were bought at the Salvation Army. My dad didn't know what he wanted to do when he graduated from high school so he went into the military and received hands on training in electrical work. He didn't go to college, but because of his training and natural abilities, he was able to have a good career. He set a foundation for us kids. I compare myself to people I graduated with from high school. Some of them had parents that went to college. Some didn't. All of our successes or failures were guided by choices we made. I worked in a grocery store between semesters when I went to college. I was there were working when my high school classmates were going through the line with their babies, their WIC and their food stamps. I made the choice to work and try to better myself. I made the choice not to make babies until I was in a situation where I could stably provide for them. I know some of my classmates have struggled financially and presumably their children will struggle also. Somewhere, someone made that choice to be poor because they didn't take the opportunities available to them.
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 think the biggest misconception the poor have on the rich is that the rich are 'lucky' or that they inherited their wealth. While this happens, it's not nearly as common as we'd be led to believe by those promoting that fallacy.
They also misinterpret the definition of 'hard work'. To a poor person, 'hard work' is a manual, dirt-under the nails, back-breaking, 9-5, clock punching job. To the poor, sitting at a computer, managing spreadsheets, making budgetary/financial decisions, etc isn't hard work because you didn't literally get your hands dirty. Therefore, how hard can it be.
While I respect blue collar jobs, the stress involved with a white collar job is just as hard.
In some cases they are lucky, in some cases they worked harder than everyone else. I know someone who grew up UMC, got an elite education with an MBA, got a corporate niche job, was able to recareer in her thirties, and is now comfortably in the top 1 percent. I regarded her as above average but not a superstar. She made her career but started out with a huge advantage with her family's wealth and the elite education it afforded her. Those people generally do not come from lower middle class families. These people don't need supereffort to succeed, only average effort.
In some cases they are lucky, in some cases they worked harder than everyone else. I know someone who grew up UMC, got an elite education with an MBA, got a corporate niche job, was able to recareer in her thirties, and is now comfortably in the top 1 percent. I regarded her as above average but not a superstar. She made her career but started out with a huge advantage with her family's wealth and the elite education it afforded her. Those people generally do not come from lower middle class families. These people don't need supereffort to succeed, only average effort.
And if you were in their shoes, wouldn't you take advantage of your advantages?
The key to success is RECOGNIZING luck, and being prepared to take advantage of lucky breaks, opportunities, etc - in addition to making good choices consistently. Opportunities come into every life - people who are successful are often better at recognizing these opportunities.
And if you were in their shoes, wouldn't you take advantage of your advantages?
The key to success is RECOGNIZING luck, and being prepared to take advantage of lucky breaks, opportunities, etc - in addition to making good choices consistently. Opportunities come into every life - people who are successful are often better at recognizing these opportunities.
That is actually a very interesting question; my answer is that I really don't know whether I would take advantage of luck, because I have a ton of psychological baggage from being raised and neglected by druggies and alcoholics. Certainly I have had advantages I did not take advantage of, because I considered myself unworthy. My high school GF is from a top 1 percent family, she inherited $1 million on her 18th birthday and immediately bought a house three blocks from the ocean, and socked away the rest. Last I looked, Zillow says her house is worth $1.5 million. That is luck, of which I did not take advantage. (You could argue that I was psychologically unprepared.) My father tried to compensate by offering me money of which I did not take advantage. I was angry and feeling sorry for myself and wanted to walk away fron that environment.
Environment is important, I don't see crack babies growing up to win Nobel Prizes.
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