Originally posted by @Omar Khan:
Originally posted by @Thomas S.:
@Omar Khan
"This is a case of not understanding"
I do not believe it can be demised as not understanding. I believe the pay check to pay check life style is the result of a materialistic society that has everything at their finger tips sitting on a couch at home. Life is too easy. They do not make decisions to spend based on what they can afford it is based entirely on what they can afford to make payments on. It is a epidemic in the US grown out of greed that in many ways is unique to the US. Life is too easy for too many making the acquiring of material items and a leisurely life style all that they care about.
Take a look at the reason many state they want to get into real estate investing with no money and poor credit. To get out of the rat race. It is not a desire to get ahead it is a desire to escape working and at the same time have more money to spend. They will fail to start due to having the wrong motivation.
This mentality is not shared to the same extent by citizens of other countries.
I do believe a good portion of this is personal responsibility. I am not an American but every time something like this comes up on the forums everyone chimes in and says "American society is materialistic" or something to that extent. Which is completely not true!
Whereas there is a chunk of American society that is materialistic, this forum has a ton of Americans (and international investors) who are not spending every last dime from their paychecks. Folks are diligently saving and investing their hard-earned money.
Like others, I, too, have a ton of options at my fingertips. But just because I have an option doesn't mean I need to exercise it. We need to help and encourage others to move up in life especially because we, too, could be in their situation one day. But there is a high degree of personal responsibility that plays into this. If an individual doe snot want to accept responsibility for their actions, why blame the most prosperous society in the history of mankind?
I agree about people needing to meet financial freedom in the middle.
While I also agree that any broad stroke of "X society is Z" is generally not true, materialism in America certainly has its place. There is a good amount of time, energy, and creativity spent with the intention of separating Americans from their money and the less they realize it the better. This endeavor isn't inherently wrong (when achieved within the rule of law), but it is something that is perhaps so effective that some do not realize it is happening; like being in the matrix.
I think the education piece stems not from teaching people to win the chess game of financial freedom but rather showing them the board and the pieces and how they work. What each individual chooses to do with that information is then up to personal responsibility.
BP is a fantastic conduit for this education as it pertains to real estate. It is unsurprising to see the names on this thread that are able to speak from a perspective outside of the matrix.
