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[NT] Why does so many people fail to get rich?

yenom

Alexander the Terrible
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Explain

If capitalism favor self interest and equal opportunity for all, why does so many people fail to get rich?
 

BlueScreen

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Does this really belong in the NT forum?

Maybe he thought you guys were most likely to have an answer.

After reading the books, they actually agree well with the ENFP philosophy of calculated risks, and people understanding. Unfortunately work is normally included also.

I'd say most people fail because they are too conservative, too uncreative, or else they just didn't try enough or believe it. Most people who make it a life mission get there. It is just a lot of people fall and stay down, or approach it as the impossible dream.
 

durentu

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(I'm writing this for myself too, because I loose my way sometimes)


Assuming that being rich is the goal of everyone, I think it's the fear of mistakes and risks that holds people back. In the following video, Ken talks about how mistakes are stigmatized and that people learn to fear mistakes. Having the wrong answer and failing tests, saying the wrong thing and being outcasted, things like this.

schools kill creativity.


In the capitalistic society, it's the creation and delivery of value that gets money. And when you do it in service of others, the money pours in. But, to determine that value requires trials and errors, experiments and failures.

8 secrets of success

For self-interest, is really depends on what the person is interested in. These days in the US, it's about consumption. As George Carlin puts it, our last civic duty: consumption. If you had a credit card, would you buy a tv, or buy things to make a business, or further your career?

Here's a personal example. A friend of mine asked me for my objective analysis of 2 business prospects. As an INTP, this is my natural talent so I loved to help.

On one hand, there was a laundromat business, turnkey, low over head and is the only spot in the area without a septic tank. So people would arrange to do their washing at this laundromat. The cost of this was $50,000 down payment.

The other prospect is an average laundromat in the next town over. It was part of the public sewage system, just like the neighborhood. Equipment was a little old and needed minor repair and the down payment was $20,000.

After talking about it with her husband, the husband wanted to go with the cheaper one. Less financial risk as he saw it. She knew instinctually that the $50k one was the better bet (ESFP). I told her, trust your instincts, my money is on the pricier one due to the value. She agreed, thanked me and said ttyl.

About a few months later she called me asking if I knew anything about business law. Curious, I had found out that they really did go for the cheaper one, and it turns out that it was a scam, with 4 other victims. It was unfortunate as now her down payment just went down the drain. Litigation would cost even more and so she had to let it go. I tried to up lift her spirits, and asked her, "what's the moral of this story?". She was still emotional and I reminded her that you always go with what you feel deep down is right. She agreed, thanked me and said ttyl.


The mistake here is that she allowed her husband's fear rule the business thinking, in clear opposition of the evidence of where the value really was. It was unfortunate that she lost that money, but it's a blessing in disguise because she didn't waste time and slipped into despair of a poor biz prospect being stagnant. But she learned something, had the courage and sign papers anyway. I don't have a doubt in my mind that she will become well off later on. I worry about her husband's judgment over her, but that's another story.

She and her husband were both recent graduates of mechanical engineering. Nothing special about their situation as they both has mountains of student loans to worry about, let alone risking their financial security to go for the big bucks of a speculative investment.

This is basically how riches are made. Was this stupid risk taking? no, they did their due diligence. And in spite of that, they let fear of making a mistake cloud their judgement. The greatest life lessons are found in failure and mistakes. Life punishes us for the mistake first, then tells us to go figure out the lesson.


Feel the fear and do it anyway. Go for the shot because situations will not be perfect.

Everyone has their own talents. MBTI and enneagram are both systems to shine light on what they are and leap you ahead decades ahead those who do not know. Instead of knowing your type and cheering, ask, how do I leverage this knowledge? Deep down, I really do applaud everyone here who have taken the time to discover who they are. By knowing this, you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing this is spirituality.

SWOT analysis Also helps in this regard and you have half the chart already if you know your type. Everyone has some kind of fear that they must master. Dream and dream some more, gain a vision and a standard. Go forth in spite of fear and take a risk. This is how you make money and not become rich, but wealthy.

Mastering your deepest fear is extremely difficult when compared to tv and ice cream. But this is really the only way toward the life that everyone dream of. Just gotta take the next step and keep going. The secrets and lessons toward riches aren't secret. They in fact very well known, but many discard them looking for easier ways in this instant gratification world.

It doesn't matter what you think, everyone has the ability to become enormously successful. Business books, MBTI and enneagram hold tons of jump start info on the path to riches.

For more real life financially successful people, check this book out the millionaire next door. Even a school teacher and her fireman husband made it out as millionaires earning modest wages.

Fear is the price of imagination
The solution to fear is action (courage)

Fear is inevitable, act on imagination, not fear. This is the embodiment of your vision.


To be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me everybody else means, to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. - EE Cummings
 

onemoretime

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Information discrepancies lead to business failure.

Ideas may not be right for the context. Demand drives the economy.

Management may be unsuccessful.

Capitalism does not indicate equal opportunity for all - it's in a company's best interest to put as many barriers to entry as possible for potential competitors. The ideal state as far as profitability is a monopoly.

There is such a thing as luck - sometimes, you can't help that tornado wrecking your shop and not being able to afford the increased insurance.

It is often in the best interest of entrenched interests that you stay in a position where your labor is as cheap as possible. Consequently, they will not pay you enough to invest in your own business.

Economies of scale. It is much more expensive to start a business than it is to run a currently-existing, large business.
 

violet_crown

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I think it has a lot to do with bootstraps and the failure of the plebes to pull themselves up by them.
 

INTJ123

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Because those in power don't wan't to give up their power. If all our needs are met, then we can't be enslaved and manipulated into doing their bidding.
 

FDG

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The answer is only one: because resources are not unlimited.
 

Fluffywolf

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The answer is only one: because resources are not unlimited.

This, and to further explain it. Supply and demand. Demand most definatly being the most important factor in getting rich. Or rather said, the breaking point and how you work it in terms of competition.
 
P

Phantonym

Guest
Poor grammar is part of it...

Nitpicking might actually make you "rich" :laugh: Just because people might not be highly educated doesn't mean that they're not able to become wealthy. Maybe book-smarts isn't that big of a deal? It's the experience that matters more. People who have a "vision" for the future an they're determined to achieve things. Others who lack ambition might or might not get "rich". Who knows, there are so many variables.
 

FDG

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This, and to further explain it. Supply and demand. Demand most definatly being the most important factor in getting rich. Or rather said, the breaking point and how you work it in terms of competition.

Yeah. Given that there is a constraint in resources, people cannot demand every type of good (something they would probably do without scarcity - hard to say anyway, since we have evolved in a situation of scarcity, thus we are hard-wired to think in that context). The next question would be: how do people fail to produce something that other people demand? First of all, there might be economies of scale (i.e. unless you are born rich, some ideas are extremely hard to develop); secondly, if everybody actually produces something that people demand (a good which is easy to reproduce), then on the whole the chosen industry will get less rich, since competition will lower the net profit.

Again, I think that cloud totally lacks a basic understanding of economics. Read a book and you (cloud, not fluffy) hopefully will stop engaging in such silly reasoning.

it's in a company's best interest to put as many barriers to entry as possible for potential competitors.

Well, if your "as possible" entails something akin to "as long as leads to a rise in profits", then I agree with you. However, in most practical situations barriers to entry actually lower profits, since a lot of effort is needed in order to implement them.
 

Fluffywolf

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The Raw Story | Intelligence not linked to wealth, according to US study

But I bet being a selfish piece of shit with no integrity is!

Lol, yeah. I've had many situations in which I could've thoroughly abused system in order to get better. I try to keep things ethical as much as possible however. And I do sometimes find that honesty does not pay, at all. Not in currency that is. But as long as I'm staying in on the positive side of the scale, this is how I prefer to do business.

You still need to be extremely sharp and tough though. When doing business, people will try to abuse you from all directions. And you need to keep taking them head on. This is the most stressing and tiring part of the work I do. But sometimes, when it gets turned around onto the oppressors. Oh god, it feels so good.
 

Alwar

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And I do sometimes find that honesty does not pay, at all.

When I used to do consulting work I learned that the real money was made by people who prolonged the problem as long as they could. You can see it in many types of work. Take a car salesman, which makes more--the one who honestly wants to get you a good deal or the right vehicle for your particular needs? Or the one willing to manipulate you in order to sell you the car with the highest profit margin? You could probably think of endless examples.

Edit: Well looky here, guess which grad students are most likely to cheat?
 

durentu

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When I used to do consulting work I learned that the real money was made by people who prolonged the problem as long as they could. You can see it in many types of work. Take a car salesman, which makes more--the one who honestly wants to get you a good deal or the right vehicle for your particular needs? Or the one willing to manipulate you in order to sell you the car with the highest profit margin? You could probably think of endless examples.

Edit: Well looky here, guess which grad students are most likely to cheat?

I usually find that self interested entities do that. But entities that are for the benefit of others are more efficient. Not sure if I explained it well.
 

onemoretime

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Well, if your "as possible" entails something akin to "as long as leads to a rise in profits", then I agree with you. However, in most practical situations barriers to entry actually lower profits, since a lot of effort is needed in order to implement them.

In the short term, yes. However, this usually leads to even greater profits in the long term; this was Sam Walton's entire business model (cut margins to where others couldn't compete - barrier #1, sign price exclusivity agreements - barrier #2). Once he got by on razor-thin margins enough to assemble a bit of working capital, he plunged all of that into establishing economies of scale (shipping, store size) in order to crush the competition, whose models were all short-term oriented.
 

miked277

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a lot of people want to become sports stars, but few have the physical gifts and the willingness to push themselves hard enough.

a lot of people want to be smart, but few have the drive or curiosity to compel themsevles to study.

a lot of people want to be rich, but few are disciplined enough to build wealth.

opportunities abound; most people are simply not trained, don't have the will to work for it or even don't truly want to become rich. some people are, whether they admit it or not, completely happy not being wealthy.

to sum up, it's a combination of motivation, natural ability and culture.
 

Kra

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a lot of people want to become sports stars, but few have the physical gifts and the willingness to push themselves hard enough.

a lot of people want to be smart, but few have the drive or curiosity to compel themsevles to study.

a lot of people want to be rich, but few are disciplined enough to build wealth.

opportunities abound; most people are simply not trained, don't have the will to work for it or even don't truly want to become rich. some people are, whether they admit it or not, completely happy not being wealthy.

to sum up, it's a combination of motivation, natural ability and culture.

This.

I also find that many people don't realize that you don't usually achieve wealth through one venue. Most wealthy individuals have spread their assets into several markets with promising outlooks.

However, no matter how intelligent or good at investing you may be, there will always be some element of chance involved. The trick is, don't be afraid of taking those chances I suppose.
 
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