Financial independence is a destination for some, an idea, a journey, a place, or position in life that we're all hoping to attain one day. Why is it that in one of the richest country on earth that only 10 percent of the population holds 90 percent of its wealth? Is it our education system fault, our parents, or the government's fault? This question has been asked by various individuals and some societies as a whole for quite some time. In his book Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki addresses the question of why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
At the age of 9 Robert Kiyosaki began learning early life lessons about differences of the rich, poor and the middle class. Robert and his best friend Mike lived in a small sugar plantation town in Hawaii. Robert’s family was not considered rich but neither where they considered poor. Being a middle class family his father a school teacher and his mother a nurse were able to afford a decent house on the good side of town. In this town there were two schools; school # 1 is where the rich people sent their kids and school # 2 where the poor and middle class sent their kids. It just so happened that because Robert’s family house was zoned on a certain side of the street that he was able to attend school with the rich kids. This is where he met his best friend Michael. Being best friends Robert and Mike spent a lot of time together doing what boys do. They also did a lot of things that boys have no business doing, boys will be boys.
One day at Robert’s school Robert overheard his friends (or so he thought they were his friends) we're going to a trip to their beach house for the weekend. Robert and Michael express their desire to go with them also. But his “friends” told them tha...
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Number Five: The Rich invent Money. In Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant Robert says that you must develop the ability to create many different financial solutions. Rather than finding another job to solve financial problems the rich find solutions to problems while focusing on building assets. This is why the rich get richer.
Number Six: Work to Learn, Don’t Work for Money. Robert’s rich dad taught him that working primarily for money alone will not make a person rich. The author’s rich dad suggested to Robert as a young man that he should accept a job for the educational value that he could get out of it, not for the money. Many people know about the dedication and training that professional boxers go through. Prior to receiving any type of paycheck professional fighters are commitment to honing their craft.
Time and time again we hear politicians and office holders preach the need for a powerful middle-class. You may then be surprised to hear that “about 82% of America’s net worth belongs to the top 20%, the next 80% of people only own about 18% of America’s wealth” (UCSC). Some may argue that this disproportion is the beauty of capitalism, the chance to create an empire. I argue that the proportions are simply unfair. Why is it that “ the average CEO makes 350X as much as his/her employee” (UCSC)?
Carnegie opens his essay with the statement that there are three main ways most wealthy people use or distribute their money. First, some pass their money on to the next generation. Children...
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
The poverty that poor black Americans experience is often different from the poverty of poor whites. It is more isolating and esoteric. It fans out of family homes and inundates the entire neighborhood; the streets, the schools, the grocery stores, the community centers. A poor black family, in short, is much more likely than a poor white family to live in a neighborhood where many other families are poor. Creating what is called the "double standard" of poverty. “The sense of privilege that he [Marks], a multi-generation white class guy has to share his wisdom with all of those ‘poor black socially-orphaned children out there in the West Phillies of the world’ is astounding” (DNLee 256). Assuming that those children have no direction is a misconception that many white privileged Americans assume. And that assumption is why the life chances and opportunities of people of color in the United States are limited as compared to whites. Place continues to be a defining characteristics of the opportunity structure. Children growing up in more privileged neighborhoods often ponder what they will do when they grow up; as were poor children ponder on if they will even have the opportunity to grow up. The privileged are so blind that even they do not realize it, and they do not see that others are not privileged. As Cinderella’s privileges and opportunities were taken from her, her chance at the ‘good life’ was too. The element of the good life, however defined, is only accessible to those who are
The Millionaire Next Door gives us an eye opening view into the lives of millionaires and their life styles. Normally we have the impression that most millionaires are the ones who live the most visible wealthy lifestyle, drive the fastest cars and have the big houses on the lake. The Millionaire Next Door looked into these people's lives and we come to find that most of them live the same life we do. One of the main points of the book is how Millionaires live well below their means, they also believe that financial independence is more important then displaying high social status. The book also focuses on how most millionaires are self made and not wealthy from their prior generation.
The richest people who seem to keep getting richer have been walking into their wealth since the day they have been born. It has been proven by how the companies have been popping up around the world, how the companies are being bribed by governors trying to make their state seem more economically powerful. “Philips, Sony, and Toyota factories are popping up all over—to the self congratulatory applause of the nation’s governors and mayors, who have lured them with promises of tax abatements and new sewers, among other amenities.” (Paragraph 17) People are born into their jobs, and are doomed for their economic boats. IN other countries such as China, it has been proven that the families with the moneys are the ones with the money, are the ones with the economic power. “Many wealthy Chinese and western residents moved their money abroad and some actually left the colony. By 1971, the Cultural Revolution in China had ended in failure and conditions in Hong Kong calmed,” (Lannom) such as Gloria Lannom states, yet it took a while for Hong Kong to rebuild its economic standings because of this
Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not
Reich, Robert B. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas:
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment and the global recession which has left employers focusing on employees not only with specialists’ skills but also a “broader range of skills and knowledge” (page 6-7). The Hart Report clearly reflects what the needs of contemporary employers are, but the question is whether it is the universities or the students themselves who fail to cope with the requirements of the contemporary world which is filled with technological advancement and critical thinking. The Texas Work Source has also played an important role in examining what is actually missing in today’s generation and the reasons behind such a great decline in employment. The central
“Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” written by Robert Reich, describes as the title says, why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. In Reich’s essay he delves into numerous reasons and gives examples of each. It makes one wonder if the world will continue on the path of complete economic separation between the rich and the poor.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a non-fiction book written by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki takes us into his life to describe to us the difference between two separate households and how they manage money. When you first open up the book, you are immediately shown the confliction Robert has between choosing whose advice to follow. His biological father is known as his poor dad who is highly educated but doesn’t make the right choices when it comes to money. His rich dad isn’t his father but is a childhood friend’s father who is also trying to teach Robert how to manage money. Rich dad has very little education background but the way he deals with money is what made him successful. Robert’s poor dad views education as the main principle to success. As long as you do well in school, you will have a good steady job thought poor dad. Poor dad always stated “I’m not interested in money”, and “money doesn’t matter.” Rich dad on the other hand knew how to make money work for him not the other way around. He felt that in order to succeed and make a lot of money, you need to work for yourself and not others. Robert learned many lessons from both dads and he feels he is very fortunate to have had two father figures to teach him and give him examples on how to become rich and successful.
Poverty is still the biggest problem the world faces from day to day. Every country suffers from it to some degree, however certain places are greater effected than others. This is because the level of economic growth differs from country to country. The greater amount of growth the less room there is for poverty. This is simple reason why some countries are richer than others. If countries fail to move forward than it can present many problems. Mainly the needless suffering of many, and generally a lower level of living for all those caught in the trap. It is true that growth does create it own problems such as pollution and congestion, but these are acceptable compromises to reduce the level of poverty. The governments around the world have many policies to try and improve the workings of their economies. Governments will differ in the emphasis they give to particular objectives and the ways in which they try to achieve these. The circumstances around these change from time to time, focusing on certain objectives that need the most influence. Economic growth is an ongoing priority. Governments just have to make sure they manage what resources they have properly, in order to achieve this objective.
Wealth inequality is the uneven distribution of resources in a given state or population, which can also be called the wealth gap. The sum of one’s total assets excluding the liabilities equates the person’s wealth also known as the net worth. Investments, residents, cash, real estates and everything owned by an individual are their assets.In reality, the United States is among the richest countries in the world, though a few people creating a major gap between the richest, the middle class and the poor control most of its wealth. For more than a quarter of a century, only the rich American families have shown an increase to their net worth.Thisis a worrying fact for the less fortunate in the country and calls for assessment (Baranoff, 2015).
Money is an essential part of life where every people can satisfy whatever they need and every person in America has a chance to find a job. However, some of the people in the country wanted to go on with their life freely by being a part of a welfare. Furthermore, distribution of wealth is a huge demand of every citizen. Everyone today is trying to look down for every people in the lower class, as they did not give any benefit to the country, waiting for the benefits that they will receive from the government. For instance, when most lower class people have gone through a financial crisis due to overspending, insufficient fund or pay for their work to support themselves and/or their family. The example shows that lower class people made the economy of the country unstable, however, the middle class and the higher class is at fault as well. Furthermore, even though the benefit of that the lower class received is from the middle class, the middle class as well benefits from the higher class. To sum up, every class is at fault towards giving the country’s economy a positive
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a book that educates readers about financial literacy. Robert Kiyosaki, the author, has two dads – one rich and one poor, although the rich dad is not his, but his friend’s dad. Both dads have different views about earning money, and Robert had the choice of contrasting both views while growing up. His rich dad’s views were more powerful and useful to Robert. The author guides the reader through six main lessons his rich dad taught him on how to let money work for you, instead of working for money.