Well, that was my point. Many things that people have no choice in have a huge effect on whether or not they succeed.
I disagree. A few people genuinely cannot succeed for reasons beyond their control, but the vast, vast majority can manage to graduate from high school (kids in need get soooo much special help these days; really, everyone should graduate), avoid pregnancy before marriage, etc.
I'll give an example: A few nights ago my husband and I went to the grocery store, and the check-out girl was one of my former students. I asked how long it'd been since she graduated, noted that she'd been at that grocery store for years now, and she said she's an assistant manager now. I told her I was proud of her, which was very true. Back in the car, my husband said he could tell that the girl had been one of my favorites. She was. She has four brothers who have been hanging around high school for years and years and aren't close to graduate at all. Their mother has literally never worked a day in her life, nor was she ever married. The four boys cause trouble constantly at school and receive all sorts of special services. The girl also had some special services at school, yet she also worked from the time she was old enough, and she's making something of herself. No one advocates for her at home. No one values education or work at her house. For her to become an assistant manager three years out of high school is like a middle-class kid becoming a surgeon; it's a huge accomplishment -- she really worked hard for this. Looking at this family, she's the kid who
shouldn't have made it. Where'd she go right?
In contrast, I just taught a kid last year who has two doctors for parents. He's one of a slew of kids -- I want to say five, but I might be wrong. He's the third child. All his siblings have done okay in school. Not great, but okay. They all started in private school and moved to public for high school. They have everything going for them: Two educated parents who are moderately involved with school, opportunities for educational enrichment, travel, money. Yet he's lazy, lazy, lazy and probably won't graduate with his class this year. He's the kid who should have made it -- with honors. And his siblings all should've done more than graduate with average grades. Where'd he go wrong?
I know LOTS of kids who defy the odds (for good or for bad). In fact, I was one of them.
I'd like to add a 4th tip: Spend less than you earn (this works for people no matter how much or little you make)
I agree, and I'll add two more: Don't divorce. Divorce is one of the most expensive choices you can make.
And avoid debt. If you can't pay it today, why do you think you can pay for it AND INTEREST tomorrow?
Think of a child who experiences any one of these risk factors: growing up in poverty, being prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs, growing up with a mother always passed out from substances, experiencing abuse or neglect, not receiving (for one reason or another) an education, being raped/sexually abused, having cognitive limitations due to prenatal exposure or neglect, etc... There is no way to say which one of these horrible things will lead to poverty, but they are ALL, among other variables, risk factors for poverty (and other things, such as mental illness... hey, another risk factor for poverty that hard work can't easily overcome!)
Was that six factors that you listed? I had two of them. And my parents actually threw roadblocks in my way to try to prevent me from going to college. Yet I have two college degrees and have been working in a professional job for two decades.
My husband had a supportive family, but he experienced one of these negatives growing up (plus he lost a parent at a young age), yet today he also has two college degrees and has been in a professional job for more than 25 years.
I don't believe we both beat the odds randomly. We're both intelligent and were born with good health, but we don't have any special skills or abilities that helped us out of tough situations. Neither of us inherited great wealth, won a lottery, developed an invention that made millions, or anything else outrageous. I think we just recognized that we wanted to make something of ourselves, so we worked hard. Day after day.
I totally agree that people who are born with low cognitive ability, serious mental illnesses, or serious physical handicaps are much less likely to "make it" in the world -- but that's a small percentage of Americans. People with average intelligence and healthy bodies might not have as many opportunities as those who
also have supportive families (and money, and educational help), but too many of us "make it" to say that it's unlikely.
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43108205&postcount=274
She makes high 6 to 7 figures a year.
Doesnt 7 figures mean $1 million dollars?
So a Millionaire is hanging on the Budget Board.
I have no idea about the poster whom you're criticizing, but you're operating under the mistaken idea that a person with a big salary doesn't need to pay attention to how he or she spends it. EVERYONE who wants to do well financially needs a budget; some of those budgets are higher than others. Free-spenders are likely to end up broke no matter how much money they earn.
Personally, I can tell you that my husband and I don't earn all that much money. We're in a part of the country where the cost of living (and salaries as well) is low. We are very healthy financially not because we bring in big bucks, but because we started saving young, because we avoid debt like the plague, and because we spend very carefully.
To me if you're making 7 figures a $130 textbook wouldnt set you off
So people who have money shouldn't complain when they pay a huge price for something that's clearly a rip-off? No textbook should cost $130. It's completely outrageous. Colleges shouldn't be able to get away with it.
Here's an analogy: Right now I have about 12K in my checking account (and payday's next week), and my kids asked if we could go to the movies tonight. I told them
no because tickets are $10.50 on Saturday nights; I told them we can go tomorrow afternoon when tickets are $6.00 -- how much money I have has no impact on what I'm willing to spend. I expect to get the best value for every dollar.
Being budget-minded doesn't mean you're poor.
Rather, being budget-minded means you watch your pennies.
They say there are a lot of secret millionaires out there who die in their budget homes leaving behind previously unknown about wealth. I agree wtih you IN THEORY. However, I really doubt people who make a million dollars a year (or in the high hundred thousands) generally fuss over the kinds of things this poster is fussing about, have to take out school loans, or spend much time on the budget board trying to figure out how to save a few nickels. My thought is that someone got mixed up and meant to say they had a high FIVE figure or low SIX figure income and isn't making the millions we're assuming.
People who make that kind of money don't do so at a "job."
I know more than a few "secret millionaires", but I grew up in an unusual area: It was VERY rural, and most people in my parents' generation inherited land yet chose to live in the small two-bedroom houses that their grandparents had built (often adding on a family room, another bathroom, or whatever). Few of them had college educations, and most of them worked very hard at blue collar jobs. Our county had the highest per-capita savings rate in the state, yet to drive through the area you'd NEVER have known it.
Things have changed a good bit for my age group, but I know that I personally am very much like that older generation.
A rich person budgets but does not complain about buying what a candy bar costs to us.
I wouldn't complain about the cost of a candy bar . . . but a candy bar is a luxury purchase; as such, I only buy them when they're buy-one-get-one-free. Or after holidays, when bags of candy are marked down. As I said a moment ago, it's not about how much money I have -- it's about getting the most for every dollar. Frugal doesn't mean poor. Frugal doesn't mean you don't have money.
I don't usually post but I thought it would be interesting to give my point of view. I'm a 27 year old african american woman. I was raised in an upper middle class household. Dad was an engineer for GE, mom was stay at home. Wonderful school district. But at 17 I became pregnant, had my daughter right after I turned 18. My parents offered to support me and my daughter while I finished school. I declined moved out on my own with the help of public assistance and food stamps. And by the time I was 23 I had graduated and went to college and became a nurse. And in Nov. of 2010 I moved into a brand new built from the ground up house, and I have also never been married, and had a child way before 21. So when you see people with food stamps, or on public assistance do not judge, because you do not know where they are going or where they came from. And there are no rules for staying out of poverty. God gives it to you and he can take it away. I'm also a left winger waaaaaay left.
Good for you! You're proof that a person who is willing to work hard can make it, even when the road isn't laid out nice and neat for you.
However, I'm sure that you know plenty of other girls in similar situations who
didn't do as well. Thinking of the people I knew from high school, and thinking of the kids I've taught in my 20 years in high school, the statistics are true: Most of the ones who become pregnant as teens will suffer for it financially. How do the few successful girls manage to "do it right"? They're more mature, and they realize that they're going to have to work harder than the other kids. But most won't step up to the plate and do what has to be done.
!
You must realize that you are not the norm. Not by a long shot. There is definitely something, a driving force, inside some people that is clearly missing in others that allows and pushes one to succeed. Statistics absolutely support that young, single mothers are much less likely to reach "middle class".
