Poor / Rich

[Cohiba]

Never been poor, my grandparents and parents obtained higher educations and worked for their money.

Being or the thought of NOT being poor but homeless..Jesus House/Rescue Misson living was an excellent motivator. In my brain...without an education or a worthy skill, I was going to live under the nearest bridge. My folks were extremely conservative with their money.

My dad use to tell me two things about money: #1. The shortest quickest way to success is an education. #2. I better get a good education, I'm not getting a penny of his money until he dies. Even then, don't expect anything...he might have spent it.

When I was a kid, my barber use to say.." Its not how much you make, but how much you can save".

Taking this to heart, I bought 80 acres of land by the time I was 16 yrs.old. At 18, instead of buying a new fancy truck, I had bought another 80 acres and some cattle.

My wife is very conservative with money, she could show Dave Ramsey how to save money.


I guess when I realized that I wasn't going to make my millions being a rodeo cowboy, I took education seriously.

Being homeless,not poor was an excellent motivator for me.

Poor: I have a few family members who are classified poor, and they're just as happy as the relatives who live in Oak Tree. As long as the 3 basics are met...food, clothing, shelter..I'm good.

Cohiba

 

[peanut]

I can't really top any of you but when I had 2 kids and made $8000 a year, yeah, I was poor.
I haven't paid for a haircut in 20 years, I still eat PBJ most days for lunch, i mow my own yard, try to fix most things myself, been known to drive beater cars with 380,000+ miles on them.
I see no reason to live like I'm rich when I'm happy saving, being mostly out of debt and driving a beater.
That said, i have 1 son who doesn't mind not working, living on the street, giving away any money that he comes across, and he is just fine with having NOTHING AT ALL.
Rich/Poor is a state of mind, SOMETIMES.
they say that money isn't everything, well, I'd like to see you live without it! Great song!

 

[rings]

I have been poor, but it was for a short time therefore Id classify it as an extended broke period. I have had to ask for government assitance and been denied bc I made too much...11400 was my taxes that year, and only $17 in my account with NO job...super sucked!
I have since learned to do ANYTHING you can to legally make enough to survive and save as much as possible! Now, Im still broke but LOVE my job and the future of said job and brokeness!

 

[JB Books]

I was broke, put myself through law school with a part time job and student loans. Ended up owing $196,000. Got out, passed the bar exam the first try, and busted ass. Had a bad partner that caused me headaches and cost me money. Just worked through all of it and built a pretty successful practice. Had my loans paid off fully in less that ten years and am now fairly secure.

Having a lot of money sometimes brings its own set of problems, particularly when friends, family or employees feel they are entitled to your "help." It is really disappointing and disgusting when you see how people try to take advantage simply because you "have it." However, the flip side is that it feels good to be in a position to help someone you want to help.

The best you can do is the best you can do. I try to avoid people that judge others about money (some people are snobs and judge others for the lack of money, and some others are jealous jerks who judge others because they have money) and just treat everyone the same.

 

[Hawgman]

In the last half of the 80's and first half of the 90's I was a junior enlisted man with wife and kids and most of the time only my income. We were poor and knew it. But we had lots of company.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

I've never had a lot, but I have a roof over my head, carpet on the floor and food in the fridge, so I'm ok. It's funny, the highschool kids I work with at my church, pretty much all come from fairly well off families. These poor guys don't understand why I can't just stop at Qudoba on my way to church for dinner, and instead have to pack a PB&J. It's a real shock to them when I tell em how I can feed my whole family and have left overs for $2.16.

 

[pinkhamr]

Never rich but have been on that poor side a few times ......

 

[MLR]

I'm only 58 but do have memories of times not so long ago.When I was a kid we were poor. Never had a steak until I was in high school and that was on a school sports outing where a privets club treated us to dinner at a restaurant. My family did not have a car most of the time when I was young. We lived mostly on rice beans cornbread. Steak was a piece of tough flank meat that mom would pound relentlessly with a two by four wrapper in wax paper before marinating it to make it easier to chew. Remember my father giving me his portion of food not knowing at the time that he went without that meal so I could have an extra helping. Didn't have a TV that worked most of the time. Only made long distance calls late at night because it was to expensive to call during the day. It was common for neighbors to come over and borrow our phone because they did not have one. Driving to the big town thirty miles away happened maybe twice a year to see relatives. To expensive to make a regular trip.

The thing is, I enjoyed the hell out of those years. I did not know we were poor. We did not consider ourselves to be poor. We just accepted the fact that we could not afford certain items. Nowadays a person cannot escape the fact that they are poor. They are constantly being reminded of it by the government and special interest groups.
They are told that they are entitled to live just as good as the rich men. That anything less is unfair.

When I see a family with a big screen TV. Cell phones for each member of the family. A vehicle that they hop in and drive to town daily because they forgot to pick up a six pack of sodas the day before. That are eating high priced prepackaged meals complaining how poor they are it sickens me.

Sorry about the rant. But I would have considered myself rich growing up if I had the same items these folks who claim to be poor have now.

Michael

 

[Mos Eisley]

I was broke, put myself through law school with a part time job and student loans. Ended up owing $196,000. Got out, passed the bar exam the first try, and busted ass. Had a bad partner that caused me headaches and cost me money. Just worked through all of it and built a pretty successful practice. Had my loans paid off fully in less that ten years and am now fairly secure.

Having a lot of money sometimes brings its own set of problems, particularly when friends, family or employees feel they are entitled to your "help." It is really disappointing and disgusting when you see how people try to take advantage simply because you "have it." However, the flip side is that it feels good to be in a position to help someone you want to help.

The best you can do is the best you can do. I try to avoid people that judge others about money (some people are snobs and judge others for the lack of money, and some others are jealous jerks who judge others because they have money) and just treat everyone the same.

I think that's the most conservative thing I've ever read from you. I know you like to stir the pot here.

Congrats, by the way. Despite what Obama says, you're entitled to your success!

 

[berettaman]

I'm with Honeybee my 3 sisters and I didn' have everything we wanted, but we were provided with everything we needed.Looking back I can see we were what some would call poor but at the time we didnt know it.
I slaved away in the Cable Mines for 20yrs. I'm now dissabled but I was told Obama is gonna make it better with an obama-phone, gonna pay my mortgage,buy my gas by soaking the JB's and others of the wealthy 1%. So vote obama early and often(hep a brutha out mang)