Do you think there is a Rich and Poor Mindset?

[Brogues]

I only came across this theory (Rich dad Poor dad) a couple of weeks ago and I’m not sure or maybe we’ll never be able to not think ‘poor’?

Me and DH were brought up ‘poor’ - comfortable but in council housing, with working parents but worried about unexpected bills. We both went to university are now professionals in our work and are high earners (not top 1% of Mumsnetters by any means admittedly) so ‘rich’ but we still buy stuff like TVs rather than focusing on investments. Can we get out of our ‘poor’ mindset or isn’t there one in the first place?

Nicked from google:

@Unfashionable

The line about ‘invests money vs spends money’ is definitely true. I know plenty of people who have high incomes but they will never be rich because they spend fortunes on new cars, designer clothes / shoes / bags, holidays, electronic gadgets, caravans, hot tubs etc etc rather than investing most of that money in assets, eg property, funds, gilts etc. Their money, their life, their choice, of course.

The problem is that investing effectively requires a certain amount of knowledge, financial literacy and willingness to accept risk, none of which are taught at schools. I include myself in this. If I had invested my savings in property & equities over the last 30 years instead of squirrelling them away in ISAs, I would now be wealthy and retired.

Yeah the spend vs invest. I have a friend who keeps moaning she can't afford one course to help her gain more clients, but she gets organic meat boxes, organoc cosmetoc subscriptions, drinks only in craft bars etc. But keeps moaning she has no money... I think we all know one person like that. Than we all probably know the other extreme too!

I'm still laughing at Fear's Change [sic]

Don't agree with it at all, and the person who wrote it doesn't know how to use an apostrophe, so I give it no credence at all.

I think it's a pile of bs. Wealthy people like to pretend they are wealth because of merit but in most cases it is due to the privilege they experience.

Me and dp are perfectly comfortable, but that is because we had middle class reasonably wealthy parents who supported our education, and because society isn't filled with subconscious messages that lead us to believe we shouldn't be on senior jobs.

Nope I don’t agree. It’s a nice way to “blame” people for being poor when actually it’s about 99% family wealth/luck which gets people rich.

pretty much.

It’s the sort of thing I’d expect to find at the start of a presentation from someone trying to get me to join their pyramid scheme

There is an element of truth to this but it isn't as cut and dry as the picture (the intention of which was clearly to be provocative) and hey it worked!

If you take out people born into wealth and people born into severe poverty, then focus on those in the middle and where they got to in terms of success, it makes more sense in this context.

There IS a difference with how working class people spend their money in comparison to middle/upper class whether people like it or not. Immediate gratification is more prevalent amongst the working class.

Another observation is based on the many wealthy friends I went to university with. There was much less fear of failure. If they didn't like their course they just decided to do another one. Failed a module... It was OK. They didn't seem to stress even though thousands had been spent on their education

Because they have safety nets. It's a lot easier to take risks & opportunity if you have a safety net.

If you earn 5k & outgoings are 2k then it's a lot easier to invest/save as opposed to earning 2k with outgoings of 1.9k.

@bananamushy

Nope I don’t agree. It’s a nice way to “blame” people for being poor when actually it’s about 99% family wealth/luck which gets people rich.

pretty much.

That really takes away from people who spent years at university studying difficult degrees and amassing ridiculous debt. Or those that pulled themselves up by the boot straps and started their own businesses. I know lots of working class lads who set up their own electric, plumbing and building companies after 15/20 years of hard graft as employees.

@bananamushy

Another observation is based on the many wealthy friends I went to university with. There was much less fear of failure. If they didn't like their course they just decided to do another one. Failed a module... It was OK. They didn't seem to stress even though thousands had been spent on their education

Because they have safety nets. It's a lot easier to take risks & opportunity if you have a safety net.

Yes exactly. They all ended up at home (big houses) for prolonged periods between employment as well and could afford to do unpaid internships. I didn't have a bedroom at my mums and it would have been a sign of failure to stay there after I left at 18. It was a totally different mindset

Oh great posters saying there is a different mindset in other countries.

The list is very American and I did wonder how much the American dream takes away social mobility issues in the UK or if there are the same barriers over there. Do Americans talk about the American dream in the same way we discuss that old chestnut working hard and ignore privilege and luck?

"Reads and studies" but not enough to learn to use apostrophes correctly...

Total nonsense mixed with cause and effect reverses. Hard to be "net worth driven" or invest money when you have none.

The list is offensive, the actual book isn't - I've actually read it along with other books on investment. I'd certainly recommend reading it and there's no 'poor blaming' - it sets out principles of what to spend money on.

@Unfashionable, investment does take some learning, but it's not really a problem - it's actually really simple. Warren Buffett - buy stocks in companies you believe in, hold them. That's pretty much it. Ironically it's easier with less money/starting out because there's less risk - I started out on Hargreaves Lansdown sticking £25 a month into a share fund (like a basket of companies to reduce risk) . As I learned more I bought different types of funds and individual shares to diversify. I'm also a fan of crypto.
Trading is a different kettle of fish (for me anyway) - simple principles but I'm too risk adverse and not into the hassle.
I'd highly recommend the book "How to own the World' for a simple way of explaining stock market investments. But please don't think it's just for clever financial people types - with small amounts of money - it really isn't.

Sorry for my temporary break I had to go and do my own ironing.

@Sparklesocks

It’s the sort of thing I’d expect to find at the start of a presentation from someone trying to get me to join their pyramid scheme

Ha ha, yes!

I'm just pleased the first comment nailed the misuse of apostrophes

@Sparklesocks

It’s the sort of thing I’d expect to find at the start of a presentation from someone trying to get me to join their pyramid scheme

Oh god yes, Sean Tully lives and breathes.

@Brogues the American dream is exactly that - a dream. Social mobility is terrible in the US. There are less societal safety nets and more trappings to stay in poorly paid jobs e.g heakth care and, fewer workers rights. American culture tends to be 'sort yourself out' rather than state help. The social problems as a result in affluent cities such as San Francisco speak for themselves e.g homeless tent 'cities', people with mental health issues uncared for and wandering the streets - I found it eye opening in a bad way.
NB Rich Dad Poor Dad isn't a woo manifestation book it's a book on investment and spending principles. That meme is awful but not in the book as far as I'm aware.

Was this written by the idiot who's own company went bankrupt?

Investing early is a good key to financial stability, unfortunately they don't teach it at school or college.

But steady low cost index investments, invested in small regular pace from early on...

If you're interested in financial literature I recommend The Slow Path to Wealth. Not selling anything (other than his book) and solid advice, and the reddit ukpersonalfinance.

I think there is a rich and poor mindset but it's not what's set out above. The rich are able to take more risks, outsource more, invest not save and focus on earning more rather than scrimping. But saying poor people don't want to learn is . I've read the book and I don't think how it reads is his intent but laid out like that it looks pretty disgusting. Think his bio dad was the 'poor dad' in his autobiography but he's still from a comfortable background and probably doesn't understand true struggling.

It's very much based on stereotypes and pretty offensive to the millions of people who do work hard to maintain a pretty basic standard of living, IMO.

'Scuse my language, but that chart is an utter crock of shit.

There. I feel better for saying that.

Gross