Over 90% of the population are are trapped in the rat race. One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggle in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not at school. In my last post I talked about following the herd and the dangers related. The primary reason people seek job security is because that is what they are taught to seek at home, and at schoolâ€¦then, with accumulated debt loads, they clinched tighter to their job or professional security just to pay the bills. The rich donâ€™t work for money. The poor and middle class work for money. One of the most popular topics in our 2 Day Real Estate Investorâ€™s Boot Camp is how the rich have money work for them! As Robert Kiyosaki explains â€¦ the rich buys assets. The poor have expenses. The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets! â€œâ€¦A job is really a short-term solution to a long-term problemâ€¦â€

A couple books come to mind, "The RIchest Man in Babylon." I read it in Combinded Insurance sales school. Im pretty sure the guy took 30% of every pay check and payed himself and a charity first. The second book is "The Millionaire next Door." Profiles a lot of millionaires and a common thread amongst them, despite popular perception, was Frugality, like single ply toilet paper, etc.

i agree that not everyone can be rich. my point is that nobody has to suffer. suffering is what happens when you don't make the effort. you can have a little money, a lot of pride and be very happy if you have your priorities in order. i do agree that you are more likely to find one suffering as a result of their laziness in the inner city where you can see so many successful people at arms length, and because of their being lazy they don't have the courage and drive to make a better life for themselves, but rather make excuses why they cant do it.

Jeff, I appreciate your comments. I can pretty much say that when I was growing up and to this day, that I and my friends did more physical labor by 8:00 am then most people on this board and most likely you too, ever do all day long and we were poor. I have relatives who live in the Appalachians and the surrounding area that work all day long trying to hustle a dollar by selling stuff they make or find along side the road and fix. They have nothing, but pride. You or I probably couldn't last a day living in their world. I got out of that world by pure luck in many cases. I met someone who gave me an opportunity. Many people do not, so they are stuck in the situation they have known all their lives. Sure people can say, well if there isn't work in the area relocate. Relocating takes funds to live on until you can find work. It also takes other resources that many of these people do not have. Maybe you can say that inner city people who are poor are just plain lazy, I seen enough of it, but you certainly cannot say that the poor folks are lazy physically or emotionally where I come from.

What makes present times so exciting for everyone is the OPPORTUNITY to learn just about anything you want -- FOR FREE! It's called the PUBLIC LIBRARY. Of course, if you have access to the Internet, you can get an education from MIT -- FOR FREE! >>MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.<< http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm As my old high school coach always said right before a big game: "The biscuits are on the table, boys."

tom, i have to tell you that i agree with mike in more ways than you. i know that there are people out there suffering but that's usually because they are lazy and willing to suffer. the only question is whats making them lazy.... it can be a busted up ego over losses or getting fired but if you let that get you down, then your lazy. the goal in life is to do your best under all circumstances. people are happy when they see the proverbial "better tomorrow". and if your doing your best, then you know it will be a better tomorrow. Antonyms for "SUFFER" disallow, fight, refuse, reject Suffer is a verb, its an action that you do. you can choose any of the antonyms above,do any of those actions instead and you wont suffer anymore. jeff

Mike, I agree with most of your comments above except for the fact that the poor are lazy. I grew up poor, my friends were poor and I see poor people every day. There really are several different kinds of poor people. Where I come from, people are poor because they simply have dead end factory jobs that pay $25 to $30K a year or now not even that job. My dad worked hard every day as a Tool and Die guy and then came home every night and continued to work around the farm. He made $28K a year and then made additional income from the farm and we were poor. I know many poor people who work every day collecting scrap metal, working odd jobs and hustling to survive. They work just as hard as you and I, but are stuck in that existence and do not know how to get out. You have to have the opportunity to sometimes change this pattern and the opportunity just is not there. As I said before, in my part of Ohio, we have been in a depression since the late 80's when the steel mills closed down. Now with the rest of the world crashing, what low paying factory jobs that did exist are now gone too. I am watching my neighbors and friends go from living on a $100K a year auto plant job to go living off unemployment and there is nothing for them to turn to. These folks don't know how to survive on nothing like the poor people that I grew up with. It's a scary time in my community. Then as you said, I also see the poor people who sit on their front porch all day drinking beer, living on Section 8 and Welfare with multiple kids and have no desire to even attempt to get a job or make their own money. Those people are the roaches of our society.

I went back and re-read the OP's note. While I don't like the subtle pitch for a two day boot camp in there, I do agree with the notion that our educational system doesn't teach people about managing money. Many people, I think, no data to support that assertion, don't really understand the cost of using credit cards nor the benefit of saving even small amounts. We have banks and stores telling them "take out easy credit" and "you deserve it". They think about saving $100 a month and getting a tiny amount of interest on it and decide, I'd rather have some new clothes. Its a tough problem to show someone the difference between saving $100 right now and borrowing $100 you can pay back at $2 a month for the rest of their life when the borrowing gets them something they want RIGHT NOW and the saving appears to have no tangible benefit. Fix that problem and reduce the ability of banks, stores, auto companies, etc., to "prey" on people by selling them things they can't afford and we might have a start at an overall improvement. I'm not optimistic. OTOH, if even a few people's view's of the world could be adjusted, then at least those folks could pull them selves up to a better situation.

I have a little different perspective on this issue. Needless to say, I deal with the "poor" everyday in my low income rentals. One thing I can tell you for an absolute fact is that the poor in this country are poor because they are LAZY and consistently make poor decisions. A huge percentage of the poor are simply too lazy to work. There are no excuses. They are not victims. They're simply lazy. In addition, the poor in this country consistently make poor decisions. Having several out-of-wedlock children by several different men comes to mind and is a very common theme among the poor. I'd go so far as to say that having all these illegitimate children are a huge part of the problem and very illustrative of the reason that the poor are poor. The bottom line is that poverty is largely a character issue (or more accurately a lack of character). Mike

Why The Rich Get Richer - They Buy Low-Sell High!

Adria H

Real Estate Attorney · Member since 2009 · 11 posts · 0 votes

17y

How true! It's unfortunate that most of us are tied to our social/earnings strata as a result of upbringing, and it's a vicious cycle from which most cannot break out.

Why The Rich Get Richer - They Buy Low-Sell High!

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