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How poverty changes your mindset

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Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#341

Post by didsomeonesay »

meanmrmustard92 wrote: post #8

Shafir and Mullainathan wrote a book called "Scarcity" that articulates an expanded version of this idea. Highly recommended.

I second the recommendation!

They are looking into several forms of scarcity (e.g. time scarcity of busy academics) and how this similarly affects the behaviour, creating a "focus" on the immediate scarcity that distracts from everything else, and prevents seeing the "big picture".

One interesting conclusion being that poverty is a "root" scarcity that begets other forms of scarcity.

Interesting was also the observation that scarcity-behaviour can have desirable outcomes and can be put to use (e.g. using budgeting as a form of artificial scarcity in personal finance).

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#342

Post by hellofunk »

analyst74 wrote: post #206
kraig911 wrote: post #69

I hate seeing people's comments on stories around this topic. I grew up in poverty and food stamps from time to time. My dad was a roughneck and when the oil bust happened in the 80's there was a time we lived out of our car -- my whole family. here was literally nothing to do in the oil patch during that bust. There was literally no work. But people don't understand true hopelessness. My dad did everything he could…

American poverty sounds so different from Chinese poverty. I grew up during the tail years of communism and everybody was dirt poor. The interesting thing is, nobody was financially stressed, starvation and homelessness was not a thing. I ended up developing an abundance mentality and terrible money management skills. Looking even further back, my parents experienced the height of policy stupidity and barely survived…

> I grew up during the tail years of communism

I'm a bit confused; is China not still communist?

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#343

Post by imtringued »

dvtv75 wrote: post #223
jjeaff wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there's a difference. That company wasting $50k is the equivalent of a poor person buying the brand name bread instead of store brand. Not a life altering decision. Make that a $5m purchase and the higher ups in the company will probably spend a great deal of time weighing the pros and cons. I have seen people in fire situations get a one time windfall of $8,000 dollars and spend all of it for a down payment on a…

Something to consider: On HN a few weeks back, I read someone's comment that some poor people are poor because they own cheap cars that cost a fortune in repairs because they're always breaking down, preventing them from saving up for a better one that won't need repaired so often, which would allow them to save and get ahead. Maybe that's not always the kind of decision-making that keeps you poor after all.

I don't think the problem is that they cost a fortune. Overall the money spent is probably the same.

The problem is that an unreliable car is far more likely to cause sudden "emergency" events that require a lot of liquid money upfront and if you don't have that money this might cause a chain reaction so you lose your job and then your home.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#344

Post by whiteraven96 »

I.could tell you a story about how my broken family made it all happen, how a family of 6 boys never made it better, a city or circumstance made the option to be wealthy almost impossible or how generations of economic destruction made me this way. But this all matters not, for what I think , I become.

The only 3 books you will ever need to break out of the cycle are these. ·THINK AND GROW RICH ·GRIT ·A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

They are all fundamentally written for you to find the answer on the first page, on the front cover, in every chapter, and of course within YOURSELF. Go now, Be rich.

"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn, http://www.bquot.es/s/1023

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#345

Post by KozmoNau7 »

hycaria wrote: post #319
norin wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spend most of my money on books. I rarely ever spend money on anything else. Living as a kid with my grandma had a huge impact on things I did in my later years. We were poor but always had access to books.

Don't you have access to libraries ?

One problem for me, living in Denmark, is that all the books at the library are in Danish. I prefer to read books in their original language, or at least in an English or German translation, which are usually markedly superior to the Danish translations.

If I want a book in English, I either have to special order it at the library and wait for a week to get it, or I have to buy it myself.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#346

Post by whiteraven96 »

Wanna change your mindset? Ill keep it simple to save us all time to START reading.

Read these 3 books, even if its just one chapter of each book in any order, but READ them!

They will change your mind more than any money ever can.

·THINK AND GROW RICH - Napoleon Hill · GRIT - Angela Duckworth · THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE - Rick Warren

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#347

Post by krisdol »

hellofunk wrote: post #342
analyst74 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American poverty sounds so different from Chinese poverty. I grew up during the tail years of communism and everybody was dirt poor. The interesting thing is, nobody was financially stressed, starvation and homelessness was not a thing. I ended up developing an abundance mentality and terrible money management skills. Looking even further back, my parents experienced the height of policy stupidity and barely survived…

> I grew up during the tail years of communism I'm a bit confused; is China not still communist?

I’m not sure how it would be considered communist today. It’s ruled by a “communist” party but its economic system is nowhere near communist.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#348

Post by [deleted] »

norin wrote: post #288
heurist wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy things that become more valuable over time. Investing has become a fun way for me to "spend" that cash I otherwise hoard. Spending money on anything else is very difficult for me.

I spend most of my money on books. I rarely ever spend money on anything else. Living as a kid with my grandma had a huge impact on things I did in my later years. We were poor but always had access to books.

[deleted]

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#349

Post by movedx »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #228
movedx wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am still quite poor. In fact, my bank account currently has zero in it and I don't get paid again until the 1st. Are you OK? Do you need some financial support? Can you afford to eat? I can offer to buy food and have it delivered to you, or a near by shop (or something) if need be.

This is the kind of comment I really hate seeing. It is almost always virtue signaling. People genuinely looking to help have zero problem finding my PayPal account or emailing me. The people who publicly offer assistance usually wind up really pissed off at me if I rudely try to take them up on it. It is gauche of me to take them seriously. They were just trying to look good in public for free. I am supposed to have…

> I find the entire thing annoying in the extreme because I have a Patreon account to help fund my blogging and I completely suck at promoting that.

> I sincerely appreciate it anytime anyone actually kicks a few bucks my way when I am in crisis. But I would much prefer that people take me seriously, fund my Patreon and/or hire me for paid writing so that bitching about my shit life on the internet can stop being one of my more lucrative skills.

I have no idea who you are. I've never heard of you. I've never seen your blog, YouTube channel, Twitch streaming account, or whatever else it is you have. I didn't read your profile or historical comments here in Hacker News to try and track you down or identify you because...

> People genuinely looking to help have zero problem finding my PayPal account or emailing me.

... I'm not going to run around the Internet looking for you.

I think I was well within my rights to offer you assistance using the most direct communication means that was available to me at the time of offering it: the comment box directly under your post. I made a safe assumption, in my opinion, that this would (and it did) reach you directly and now I'm being hosed down in public for trying to care about another human being.

I don't care about magical karma points. I'm 33 years old: I don't have the time, energy or the f--ks to give with regards to some magical Internet points that amount to sweet F/A.

I'm being sincere in my offer and it still stands. I'll email you to get further details from you about how you might want the money, if any, being sent.

Good luck.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#350

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #218
nicoburns wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from the UK and I'm currently travelling the world for a few months. I have been shocked by how different American attitudes to poverty are to European ones. We may not be very good at actually helping people in poverty, but most people accept that poor people are in need of help.

America was founded by people who fled Europe because they didn't fit in there. I have raised two special needs kids. If you have problems other people don't really understand, it is not uncommon for people to try to help you in ways that are incredibly counterproductive. This is why "Please stop helping me!" is (or was) a TV Tropes page. America has a political tradition of Don't tread on me. This influences our pol…

> America was founded by people who fled Europe because they didn't fit in there

I'm pretty sure most of that influx of people predates the European wealthfare states and modern democracies.

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