Michelle Obama's autobiography, Becoming, may provide some hope and inspiration. Her family saved with great discipline and made wise choices so that they would be able to invest in their kids' futures. Fantastic book. |
I think to say something is luck is dismissive. I'm not an immigrant and was born in the projects. I've seen my siblings and my friends fail because they chose not to work hard. Luck has nothing to do with my success. If anything most people argue I'm a very unlucky person. I'm just positive and believe in working hard and moving forward. I'm guessing your statement about luck comes because you are privileged and haven't experienced poverty, tragedy and triumph through your own efforts. |
I just resent my stupid parents and in-laws. |
What about all the people who work hard and still fail because of reasons beyond their control? Are they just more unlucky than you? |
What time frame are we talking about? 5-10 years, 20-30 years of bad luck streak? persistent and grittiness is what separate the wheat from the chaffs |
Yep, it took me about 40 years from wearing donated used underwear to writing a check for the whole amount for a tesla. |
STFU? Wow. Nice way to talk. I think the BIG loser here is you. Resentful of what other people are because you are a lazy American. |
Jealous of all the rich people who are not in America.
Top 10 Richest Countries in the World Qatar: $138.9K. Macao: $113.4K. Luxembourg: $112K. Singapore: $105.7K. Ireland: $87K. Brunei Darussalam: $85K. Norway: $79.6K. UAE: $70.4K. |
+The wealthy avoid gloating to peasants. |
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Well in America, one illness or accident can destroy both your life and your financial life. Even a sick child can shatter everything a middle class person has worked for. My own child racked up $300k in medical bills thanks to a rare disease. Imagine if my insurance covered just 50% and my spouse left me during that time. That’s not a completely absurd set of circumstances- it happens all the time. Boom- all my work towards an upper middle class life- gone. The difference between a functional middle class person and someone completely struggling is just one catastrophe. |
I've experienced the catastrophe of a sick child and high expenses. In the end I rose from the projects because I worked hard, made good choices and keep moving forward despite setbacks. I mentioned thatIve been unlucky, even my siblings who arent as well off as I am acknowledge my lack of luck. My siblings would argue that they work hard and don't get ahead. Examining it they work hard now but also made a lot of poor choices early on that take them double and triple the time to correct. I don't think the op should begrudge anyone their success whether it's earned or not. It annoys me when people say billionaires shouldn't exist. People like Oprah who grew up poor and abused in Mississippi don't deserve what they have? Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are un-deserving? |
I grew up with some wealth, have inherited a bunch more, and are going to hand a lot to my kids and eventual grandkids. We try not to be flashy and I don't advertise that my family paid for my private school, Ivy League education, first home, and kids' private school, but I'm sure it's obvious given my occupation in the non-profit world. I'm sure we're all resentful of the people above us, which isn't very useful. I don't have any great story about how hard I or my ancestors have worked, some of us are just very lucky. |
Why is this necessary to point out? The Ivy League is a sports league of private colleges that don't cost any more than scores of other private colleges. |
I came from nothing, parents didn't finish high school, went to college on loans and financial aid, was on food stamps in grad school, had no help with down payments, etc. I became a lawyer and made real money, while hating every minute of the job. I quit in my early fifties and haven't worked since.
We had our kids young. We raised them in a top public school district and paid their way to good colleges. We also threw them very nice weddings, treated them to first-class vacations, and when the time came assisted them greatly with home purchases. But we're not "rich" by any real definition. We have a net worth in the neighborhood of $7.5 million, and what I've found is that when you have that kind of money there's so much flexibility involved that people with less just don't have access to. Here's the latest example. Our youngest has been looking to rent a house in a close in suburb of DC where the spouse just got a new job. We wanted them to have a nice place, but hated the idea of them throwing thousands of dollars in rent to somebody else. So we went out and bought the perfect place for them ourselves, making an all cash offer, and financed the purchase through a line of credit tied to the value of our brokerage account. It's a win-win situation: they get the perfect house, we finance it without having to sell any of our holdings, and they pay rent to us instead of a stranger. All the money stays within the family. Our kids recognize that they are fortunate. I'd ask the OP this: what else are we supposed to do with our money, and why on earth should our kids turn down the help when help like this from us is easy? |