My idea of luxury is a 750+ acre place on a nice creek with a one room shack on it. And I mean shack. Hydro power an epic deep freeze and just fill it full of wild game, have a sweet garden, stack firewood deep, hit my book of hours, then play guitar on the porch or fly fish the rest of the day.
About 3/4's of the reggie's got mad at me on jazz guitar forum for saying as much yet several of them are well to do, traveled, with nice instruments, yet still playing the race card like it's something that held them back. Yet most of them are old white dudes. Same crew crying over potential 20 percent tariffs on chinese gear while shopping for 10 and 15k archtops. Money can def insulate people from reality. I can't take any of them seriously.
I'm not sure if you're aware of what a cognitive bias is, but it's not something you can yourself see.
There is some truth here but for the most part people I see hustling do alright for themselves short of injury, illness, or bad market conditions Life and lifestyle choices have a massive impact on one's ability to be successful.
Sorry, missed this. So what was your previous hard work?
I see a lot of people struggling and stressed. I see less opportunity than previous generations had. I see housing less affordable, along with higher food prices, education costs and healthcare costs. I see people having less of a say in the direction our society goes. I see two family income households as a basic requirement for raising kids, unless your prepared to live very simply (which is fine and great but also limits opportunity). I see half the country with a $500 dollar emergency fund. I see a minority of people hitting retirement targets. I see multinational corporations increasingly controlling our lives, what you say and what you inject. I see a future of slaves ruled by oligarchs.
Plenty of truth there but I also hear people who say "I neeeeeed money" driving nice new cars, living in nice houses, having cable, netflix, and special sports channel subs, eating the best food or eating and drinking out,, and buying their children (and themselves) too many expensive toys. Living at the edge of means and expecting that the market will always be in expansion lest they default is also about how half the country lives.
I have no doubt that is the intention of the overlords. Even so, we have a new generation of youths who want subsidies and handouts outside of work. Free college and free medical care. One thing I like and also don't like about TX is everyone works, constantly.
And they were leveraged by a comfortable lifestyle that they are addicted to. If you aren't willing to walk away from money and lifestyle on account something against your principles then you have no real principles at all. And it is in those sorts of things, principles/morals, that true wealth can be accumulated, and never taken away.
As a band mate of mine said: you have to prove you don't need the money before a bank will loan you any, lol. I find that to be mostly true.
That's encouraging.
This is key. Apart from broader existential questions about life, spirituality and so on, wealth (And health) = independence and security.
That's the secularist view though. The worldly view. Freedom and true wealth are found only in Christ. Everything else is temporal.
So it sounds like you made some good investments that panned out. No offense but there is a degree of luck in that. And furthermore, the stock market as a whole is artificially inflated by the federal reserve, stock buybacks and media pimping. The whole thing is a pyramid scheme, including the US dollar itself, and it's gonna unravel eventually.
I never understood why anyone should have a say or give a fuck about what someone else pays in taxes. We're all way overtaxed. Anyone who can get one over on the IRS I say power to 'em. And frankly anyone who says the rich need to pay their fair share doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about.
Exactly. I grew up working class. Never had anything handed to me. I have no real "Higher education". I worked my entire life since I was 17 years old. I paid more in taxes last year than a lot of mother fuckers made last year. Know how ? I worked on average 130 hours every two weeks.