Reply to If you grew up poor, what are some financial things you wished you had learned earlier?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you grew up poor, what are some financial things you wished you had learned earlier? Any bit of knowledge or financial wisdom that became clear to you as you climbed the ladder that you wished you had known? Beliefs that were wrong and you realized them only later?[/quote]

When you grow up without a lot of money, you don't understand that it takes money to make money. You have to delay gratification to make your life stable in the long term. That might mean investing in a college education through loans rather than working. Or if you have a sudden windfall of $500, you save it for an emergency, put it in a 401(k), or create a college savings account rather than thinking you have $500 to spend on something fun. Poor people think that rich people have a high salary. Most "rich" people have investment income in addition to a salary.  [/quote]

The flip side of this is that delayed gratification is harder when you're poor.  You get a little money in emergency savings, and your cheap-ass car breaks down or your cheap phone breaks and it's your only way to access the internet (which you need for lots of reasons), or someone gets sick or a family member has an emergency, and there goes your savings.  And it's hard not to have any "fun."  We expect a level of self-denial from poor people that we don't expect of other people.

And "it takes money to make money" is why it's hard to get out of poverty.  You have to deprive yourself of something (which means things like food or heat) to build up any kind of savings or cushion.  [/quote]

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