10 Reasons You Aren't Rich

[Herman Munster]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/070322/10345796.html?.v=1&.pf=personal-finance

1. You Care What Your Neighbors Think: If you're competing against them and their material possessions, you're wasting your hard-earned money on toys to impress them instead of building your wealth.

2. You Aren't Patient: Until the era of credit cards, it was difficult to spend more than you had. That is not the case today. If you have credit card debt because you couldn't wait until you had enough money to purchase something in cash, you are making others wealthy while keeping yourself in debt.

3. You Have Bad Habits: Whether it's smoking, drinking, gambling or some other bad habit, the habit is using up a lot of money that could go toward building wealth. Most people don't realize that the cost of their bad habits extends far beyond the immediate cost. Take smoking, for example: It costs a lot more than the pack of cigarettes purchased. It also negatively affects your wealth in the form of higher insurance rates and decreased value of your home.

4. You Have No Goals: It's difficult to build wealth if you haven't taken the time to know what you want. If you haven't set wealth goals, you aren't likely to attain them. You need to do more than state, "I want to be a millionaire." You need to take the time to set saving and investing goals on a yearly basis and come up with a plan for how to achieve those goals.

[wake.up.america]

1. I AM rich. My kids and wife tell me everyday that it is not all about money.

[geiger]

35. Rich!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. You think this applies to everybody?

First you have to get a job. And don't tell me to go back to school. I have three degrees including a doctorate and 12 years of college. It's age discrimination, they've destroyed the middle class and refuse to admit it, or state WHY it happened -- repuke GREED.

I don't smoke or drink. I very seldom eat out. I rarely buy clothes or shoes, except to replace underwear or socks. I drive a 12 year old car that is paid for. I don't worry about what the neighbors think. I don't go to the mall for entertainment by shopping for stuff I don't need.

I fell out of the middle class in the 90s. GREED by employers. Fear of and jealousy of educated, capable employees that might cost money if they expect raises and promotions.

[1932]

11. This article explains why people who make money aren't accumulating wealth.

It's only part of the story. But it's an important story nonetheless.

There's another story about people who aren't making enough (or any) money.

[JDPriestly]

20. You are so right.

I understand how you feel.

[Ladyhawk]

47. It doesn't apply to those of us on disability, either.

You try saving money on SSI disability. Unless you have outside help of some kind, it ain't gonna happen.

[Skink]

3. Living expenses now comprise three or 4 times what they did 30 years ago.

By that I mean rent, utilities, gas and even food. And of course there is the growing wage gap leaving more and more behind.

[ToeBot]

4. Let me sum up this article in one line....

If you're not rich it's all YOUR fault. Seems like I heard a similar quote attributed to Bush by one of his professors.

[1932]

12. I disagree. This article makes some important points.

The first one is actually very interesting. Manufacturing desire does happen. It's both a product and cause of income inequality.

There's a great book about this issue called The Health of Nations.

[grasswire]

18. there's another book called "Land of Desire" ...

...I read it about ten years ago. It's a big fat book about the deliberate creation of consumers by retailers. I think I need to read it again. I recommend it.

[Craftergrl]

21. Yup

3. You Have Bad Habits: Whether it's smoking, drinking, gambling or some other bad habit, the habit is using up a lot of money that could go toward building wealth. Most people don't realize that the cost of their bad habits extends far beyond the immediate cost. Take smoking, for example: It costs a lot more than the pack of cigarettes purchased. It also negatively affects your wealth in the form of higher insurance rates and decreased value of your home.

And you can add to this one; You eat at fast food resturants more than once a month or buy from vending machines on a regular basis.

If people took the money they spend on these things and banked it, they'd make great financial head way.

The advice I give people is to take a note book with you every where you go for one week. Write down every time you buy and how much it costs, no matter how small. Then look at your list a the end of the week. For some people it's a serious reality check.

[Jack Sprat]

5. Becoming rich is not on my list of needs.

Security, yes. Becoming wealthy, hell no. I don't want to become a slum-lord and buy your set of books/cassettes/discs.

[1932]

34. Not being the bitch of someone richer or rich corps, however, should be on

everyone's list.

[bainz]

6. LOL

1. What my neighbors think? 'nuff said.

2. Credit card debt? Learned that lesson in the 90's while in college. Paid off.

3. Bad Habits. OK, got me. I drink and smoke. And it DOES cost a lot.

4. Goals? Wealth Goals? Have you even seen #3 above? J/K...or am I?

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10. Who "needs to be a millionaire?" I'd rather make $10 decisions that "millionaires" can't.

[The Straight Story]

7. I ain't rich because I spend more on beer than the lottery, what was I thinking? (nt)

[kineneb]

8. 5. you developed a serious chronic illness

lost your job, and used up all of your resources. You should have been born in a country that has universal healthcare. You lose. Try again in your next life.

[uppityperson]

9. thank you. nt

[Jonathan50]

14. It doesn't even have to be a chronic illness...

A single bout with cancer or a host of other illnesses can put you in debt for the rest of your life.

My wife had an ectopic pregnancy that nearly killed her and then gallstones which also nearly killed her. Neither emergency was covered by insurance.

Now we are tens of thousands of dollars in debt and likely will never get out.

[kineneb]

19. my reason sums up our experience

Or, I should say, Hubby's experience: Diabetes > Getting laid off from WorldCom > developing End Stage Renal Disease > going on dialysis.

If you get sick in the US, expect to become poor.

[HughBeaumont]

25. This Tom Tomorrow sums up the U.S. unhelpful health care system in a cartoon . . .

. . .far better than any pundit will try to spin it!

[Ladyhawk]

48. Yeah, what you said.

Sigh.

This morning I woke up hurting all over. I should have known I shouldn't spend so much time playing the piano / playing on the computer yesterday...ouch.

[juno jones]

10. 11.

Beacause you really don't enjoy fucking other people over for a few bucks...

[bainz]

13. Hmmmm, perhaps

thats why people like us will finish last.

but if there is enough of us, then.....

[BayCityProgressive]

16. 10 reasons I don't want to be rich

1.) 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day.
2.) 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day
3.) In 2004 12.7 percent of Americans lived in what the government calls poverty
4.) 12 million US children live in families below the US poverty level
5.) US has 50 million without healthcare.
6.) The top 1% in US earn more than bottom 40%
7.) According to Forbes 2006 was the biggest year for profits for the rich in history.
8.) Everyday, almost 16,000 children in the world die of hunger.
9.) Oil companies make record profits while world environment spirals out of control.
10.) I am proud to be working class and share solidarity with 95% of Americans.

[1932]

36. A lot of the things on your list is the consequence of income inequality

and not so much a reason why you wouldn't want to have economic power.

Being working class in America should not mean that have so little economic power as the working class has today.

[treestar]

43. 12. Because you pay your debts on time, rather than wait

until your butt has been called into court, where you start to argue specious reasons why you don't owe said debt. Even if you pay it eventually, by that time, the time value of money guarantees you are the one who made out like a bandit. You don't have to be an insurance company, but it helps. But you can still do it as a corporation or even as a sole proprietor.

[Bonobo]

15. How about you are spiritually advanced enough to know that it ain't about that?

[gravity]

17. This is really just about generating wealth

It can be applied to most people and make them wealthier, but it's not going to make you rich unless you have a good paying job or wealth to begin.

[Leopolds Ghost]

22. 6. You were arrested for simple posession or underage drinking, and your parents are poor/not white

Go to Jail. Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. I don't have a job and I don't have any of those problems.

[melody]

24. good overall suggestions, I'd only add

"If you would learn to flatter the king," said a friend of Diogenes, "you would not have to eat lentils." And Diogenes replied, "If you would learn to eat lentils you would not have to flatter the king."

"Wealth" is a relative thing.

[HughBeaumont]

26. SIIIIIIGH . . . more "blame the victim" ba-ba-ba- BULLSHIT.

You probably assume it's because you aren't earning enough money, but the truth is that for most people, whether or not you become a millionaire has very little to do with the amount of money you make. See, this is something victim-blaming FPs like this one love to say to give you that Horatio Alger glimmer of hope; to dangle that proverbial carrot. For many, MANY people, what they get to keep has EVERYthing to do with their financial situation. Someone earning $30,000 a year in an area where at least $60,000 a year is required for a basic living (that is, no frills) likely is going to have to work harder to become a millionaire than someone who got all the breaks in life (i.e. knew all the right people, got the right college degrees, didn't work for a mis-managed fire-a-thon company, didn't have bosses that sucked and held them back in life, ran a business that DIDN'T fail . . . 'nother words, had no major landmine roadblocks like 94% of the population does) and earns $160,000 in that same area. They're going to struggle harder to buy basic needs and God Forbid actually have anything left over to SAVE for themselves once the month is left after the money moreso than said lucky rich guy above.

Now lets look at some items from his little laundry list:

1. You Care What Your Neighbors Think: My neighbor is unemployed. So was my other neighbor. 2 houses down from me, the couple filed for bankruptcy. I was unemployed for five months in 2001 and I'm lucky to be working now. Sorry to say, but when you're all in the same boat on a raging sea, you're hoping you'll stay alive. This is SUCH a dumb assumption that broadbrushes the middle class as some superficial consumerist monster when in reality many of us have to give up whatever luxury we had from time to time.

4. You Have No Goals: I had goals a long time ago. That was an idealistic time long ago, before Dumberica elected a president that enacted policies to help the not-in-need-of-help rich and rape the dwindling middle class. That was before I got fired three times. That was before the stock market tanked and really never recovered it's volatility. That was before I spent 12 hours a day commuting to and from and working at my current job. Oh, and then there's coming home, preparing dinner, making sure my Aspbergers-having kid gets his homework done, clean somewhat, take the dogs out, come on this site . . . after all this, I have to get up and do it all over again. I don't have time for goddamned GOALS. I'm just trying to make it through the day without going on a shooting rampage. Goals can't predict the future or the landmines the middle class always seem to have to navigate through.

5. You Haven't Prepared: REPUKE TALKING POINT! REPUKE TALKING POINT! GOD I hate this. Bad things DO happen to people from time to time, but guess what, FP: those bad things aren't just a hop, skip and a ju-ump for the majority of people. Major illnesses to any family member, layoffs, uninsured relatives, stock market dives, rising living costs, etc. can financially cripple a person for a long . . . LONG time. Climbing their way out of it kind of hampers that millionaire dream JUST a little. This has nothing to do with preparation and everything to do with just plain bad luck that will cost the poor family exponentially more than it will cost the rich one.

6. You Try to Make a Quick Buck: Make a quick buck, make a slow buck, it's all the same to me. Ain't making shit either way. That's a cop-out. What, people can't hope? It's probably more hope than this shitty service-happy, low-on-liveable-wage-jobs economy is giving them and it's probably just as accessible a dream as trying to become a millionaire in tomorrow's dollars and retire before you're 75. I think it's more "Let's reassess corporate America and find out why it's not working for the Average Joe".

8. You Invest in Things You Don't Understand: Your hear that Bob has made a lot of money doing it, and you want to get in on the gravy train. If Bob really did make money, he did so because he understood how the investment worked. Well, that and Bob was lucky the stock market didn't dive while he was in it.

9. You're Financially Afraid: Well, let's see. I was in a supposedly safe mutual fund in 1999. Mutual fund, not individual stocks, mind you. OOPS! The stock market tanked and I lost half of my wedding money. Should have been able to predict the future! Then, on the recommendation of practically EVERY financial analyst, I bought Pfizer stock in 2004. OOPS! The company is managed by a boob and I ended up losing 500 bucks. Guess I shoulda prepared ahead of time! And I had it a LOT better than most people out there that did what they were told to do and got it up the ass anyway. Now WHY, pray tell, would we be financially afraid? I mean, the guy makes it sound like nothing bad ever happens with higher-risk investments and that the stock market isn't just a legalized casino where the house always wins.

Is anyone but me sick of reading articles like this and articles that tell us "the secret to wealth is to work infinitely harder than you already ARE! Get a second JOB, you lazy bum!"? How about practical advice for those of us who are already working 50 hours a week and simply don't have TIME to follow their pie-in-the-sky schemes?

[Random_Australian]

28. ...

:applause::applause:

[Hubert Flottz]

27. The GOP has stunted every American's growth since it started...

Except for the super wealthy "Ruling Class." Recession and depression is the name of their game.


1. William Howard Taft
2. Warren Gamaliel Harding
3. Calvin Coolidge
4. Herbert Clark Hoover
5. Dwight David Eisenhower
6. Richard Milhous Nixon
7. Gerald Rudolph Ford
8. Ronald Wilson Reagan
9. George Herbert Walker Bush
10 George Walker Bush

[Random_Australian]

29. Wrong. #1 I don't want to be rich. And there you have it. I live in a country with a reasonable

middle class, and don't want it to become like America with the massive, MASSIVE gap between the poor and the middle, and the larger one between the middle and the rich.

I just want to live. I don't want to be rich.

Sure, I'll earn a lot of money on the course I'm on, but I'm going to give it away when I don't need it.

[CarbonDate]

30. Only reason that matters:

My father wasn't rich.

Point, set, match. End of discussion.

[HughBeaumont]

39. And that's, sadly, what NO one thinks about.

I've seen it in real life AND on TV - if your family is rich, unless you screw stuff up in a MAJOR way (like commit murder or something), it's more than likely you'll be rich as well. Why? Good and safe schools, good breeding, good connections and start up capital, if needs be, are all THERE for you.

Poor and middle class people have no such gifts and tools to pass down but sometimes brains and all the time hope. Those two things, sad as it is to say, are only going to get you so far in reality. Oh, there may be your occasional self-made whatever-aire, but it doesn't happen quite as often as Neil Cavuto and his ilk lead you to believe.

[B Calm]

31. 5. Employers are paying 1987 wages

[live love laugh]

32. Bingo. $50k today = $25k in 1987. People still think $50k is a good salary. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

41. I thought it was 1973 wages.

In the book Perfectly Legal, there's a survey done by two French economists that illustrate the average income, factoring inflation, has only risen $5,000 TOTAL since 1970. And we now work longer hours on average than our 1970s counterparts. Meanwhile, the upper 95 percentile has seen their incomes grow anywhere from 23% to 514% as the chart goes up.

Either way, wages are definitely NOT keeping up with the ever-rising cost of living. Back in 1971, the average home price was twice that of a family income. Today, it's around 3-6 times as much and climbing.

[SoCalDem]

33. One reason we are not "rich"

Our first child came with a serious birth defect and all during our "building years" we were busy paying doctors and making 5-6 trips a year to mayo Clinic.. we did this for NINE years , straight.

We watched as our friends bought houses, drove new cars, took vacations etc

Life dealt us a hand we would have preferred to not play, but we always paid the doctors, paid our rent, drove older used cars, and managed to stay married 37 years.... raised that kid up to be a great human being (he's married, successful, and doing fine), and his two brothers..

We never got 'rich'..but there ARE more things in life than MONEY!

our "upwardly mobile" friends from back then ALL ended up divorced.. We were the ONLY couple of the seven or so couples who hung out together...who managed that feat:)

[ikojo]

37. The primary reason most Americans are not

rich is because we were not born into the upper 1%. For the most part the class one was born into is the class one will die in as well.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0606-27.htm


Published on Monday, June 6, 2005 by the New York Times
The Mobility Myth
by Bob Herbert

The war that nobody talks about - the overwhelmingly one-sided class war - is being waged all across America. Guess who's winning.

snip

Consider, for example, two separate eras in the lifetime of the baby-boom generation. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent of the population between 1950 and 1970, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162. That gap has since skyrocketed. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent between 1990 and 2002, Mr. Johnston wrote, each taxpayer in that top bracket brought in an extra $18,000.

snip

Economic mobility in the United States - the extent to which individuals and families move from one social class to another - is no higher than in Britain or France, and lower than in some Scandinavian countries. Maybe we should be studying the Scandinavian dream.

[Lorien]

38. Wow. That's one of the most insulting articles I've ever read

I was once well on my way to becoming a millionaire 10+ years ago. A six figure income had a lot to do with that. Then I developed some health care issues that my insurance company (later profiled on PBS' NOW as one of the worst) at first said they would cover, then refused. Later, my tax accountant royally screwed up my taxes three years in a row, costing me heavy penalties. Then some of my investments went south. After that, the huge corporation I had been subcontracting for for 15 years started outsourcing overseas. In order to keep my contracts with them, I've had to drop my fees by 60%. Long story short: in 1996 I made $150,000 a year and had 80k in retirement savings, and still more in investments. Today I make less than 50k and am 31k in debt. I don't have a credit card, I have no bad habits, I have a business plan, I don't give a damn what the neighbor's think (ask them, lol)! I wasn't financially afraid; I made what I thought were safe, conservative investments in "solid" companies that later lost most of their value, I guess I AM guilty of #7 to some degree: "You Rely on Others to Take Care of Your Money" yeah, I trusted my accountant and my investment adviser. Big mistake. Now I do my own taxes, and I no longer invest in the stock market.

I suspect that most hard working Americans who find themselves struggling face many of the same issues; dropping salary, no salary due to downsizing/ outsourcing, and health care expenses (which can wipe out every penny of savings in a shockingly short amount of time). There is no such thing as "job security" today, even if you are self employed. It's tough to make goals and meet them when you are perpetually concerned about losing it all.

[MistressOverdone]

40. I'm not rich

because I don't CARE to be rich. End of story.

[Nikia]

42. I'm not willing to live poor today so I can be rich in a couple decades

Actually I am to some extent but my husband isn't , and I am the one with the job. Go figure.
My grandfather lived poor so he could have financial security. Perhaps he could have been rich but he considered the stock market and such gambling and only put his money into cds. Would it be wrong to say that it did not do him a lot of good?
People who are not extremely poor have the option of amassing wealth by following the article's advice, but it doesn't always do them much good. Sure, it might be good to save enough so that you are not destitute poor when you retire, but otherwise living poor for the sake of accumulating money doesn't make sense from a quality of life standpoint.

[Midlodemocrat]

46. Same here.

My husband, especially since his surgery, believes in living each day to the fullest. If that includes a stop at a leather goods store, so be it.

Me, I like purses, so every couple of months or so, I'll buy one. Other than that, I don't really go anywhere to spend anything besides the grocery store.

[treestar]

44. I don't think # 3 is that signficant in amount

there is still some idea you need to live for today. not entirely but to some extent.

#4 is very 80s, but now the world is so unpredictable, that your goals of today can be wiped out any time by later happenings in the world. Today, we need to be flexible, we can't sit there at age 20 and determine that we are going to build a business in some particular field that will make us rich by the time we are 40 - by the time we are 28 that business could be obsolete.

[ghostsofgiants]

45. "The Protestant Ethic" by Max Weber.

Capitalism is fueled by the mindset of putting off gratification for the sake of future profit.

This is hardly anything new.

[Connonym]

49. The American dream is dead

We need to dream another dream because that one is over

[Arugula Latte]

50. Forty years ago, you had a radio and a hi-fi and a TV and you were set.

Now it's 'puters (we've got three of 'em), DVDs, cell phones, iPods, PDAs, multiple TVs (many people have more than one or two ... we don't), etc. etc. etc.