Opinion of this article?

[timo2]

I ran across this financial article, by a younger person for younger people. I'm from different generation (2nd wave Boomer here), and the tone and phrasing of the article don't connect for me. Is it just the generational lingo and style difference or is it just one of many not-so-good financial articles? There are some good snippets in there, but it left me wondering my question stated above.
( On a side note, I have stopped seeing so many bad financial articles since I quit reading any of the current version of the motly fool.)

https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-hidden-sign-that-you-have-a-poor-persons-mindset-13203d676a4c
Title Is: You May Have A Poor Person’s Mindset And Not Know It

 

[Nightcap]

I'm boomer, and it definitely didn't resonate with me.

The primary reason anyone plays the lottery is innumeracy. Wealthier people can by just as innumerate as the poor (it's how they join them). Her correlation is false.

 

[Nemo2]

We buy our weekly lottery ticket because it amuses us to contemplate changing the lives of others, generally friends/relatives, (we rarely even think of what we might do with whatever portion of an imaginary win that we'd keep for ourselves); we don't drink/frequent restaurants, etc, and the minuscule amount we waste on tickets impacts our financial situation not at all.

 

[Midpack]

It sounds like a Millenial who has discovered The Millionaire Next Door, with some Your Money or Your Life, LBYM, etc. thrown in. And maybe written for a more entitlement minded generation than Boomers.

Kind of disjointed writing, but nothing wrong with the message, written for the newest generation of adults?

 

[Bamaman]

There's truth about the lotteries' highest sales coming from the poorest communities.

In Tennessee, it's South Memphis' little neighborhood groceries are selling the most lottery tickets in the state. Go 20 miles south to the casinos of Tunica, Mississippi, and you see that most people are also very poor in appearance and don't have the income to be there.

In some ways, state run lotteries are just another tax on the poor communities.

Memphis remains one of the poorest big cities in the U.S.--one devoid of citizens with cash. The other big personal expense to the poor is illegal drugs. And the murder rate is at a 23 year high. There's not much optimism in life to those in that economic climate.

 

[OldShooter]

In general,the lottery is a tax on the poor and the ignorant. Rare is the individual like @Nemo2 who plays for amusement.

When our state instituted a lottery the local public radio station interviewed a Berkley statistics professor. What he said was: "Your chances of winning the Powerball are about the same whether you buy a ticket or not."

 

[HillCountry]

Is this article about lottery? It is difficult for me to read past the first several paragraphs. 100 percent he will lose his intended audience.

 

[pb4uski]

Waste of bytes IMO.

 

[Fedup]

I buy scratch lottery tickets for my kid's Xmas stocking. They won two free tickets and I have not cashed in yet. I wonder if there is a time limit. Once a year event here. I worry if I win anything large.

 

[NW-Bound]

Lottery tickets usually expire after 6 months. So, you will have a few weeks left.

 

[Fedup]

No dates. But I will cash them in. I bought them in Dec.

 

[exnavynuke]

We buy our weekly lottery ticket because it amuses us to contemplate changing the lives of others, generally friends/relatives, (we rarely even think of what we might do with whatever portion of an imaginary win that we'd keep for ourselves); we don't drink/frequent restaurants, etc, and the minuscule amount we waste on tickets impacts our financial situation not at all.

I spend $312 each year on lottery tickets (1 powerball and 1 mega-millions ticket for each drawing throughout the year). It's fun to imagine winning and what I'd do.. plus I'm helping to fund scholarships. granted, it's not the most effective way to do something like fund scholarships as a large portion doesn't go to those ends, but I like to think that even when I'm "throwing away" my lottery money I'm still doing some good with it.

 

[DrRoy]

Another boomer here. There is some value in the article but for me much of the message is lost in the verbage. It winds around some good concepts but fails to clearly get to the point IMHO. I don't know if it is a generational thing or not. I'll try to have my kids read it and see what they think.

 

[Midpack]

It's not about the lottery...

 

[Nemo2]

It's not about the lottery...

Yabbut, I tried the "willing to (do is) sleep around until you nail a wealthy spouse" option also, and that didn't even work out as well as the lottery where I get the occasional 'free' ticket or $10 'win'.

 

[Texas Proud]

It was a long article that I did not read all the way....

And I BEAT that very few millennials would read through the whole thing.... heck, if they did they forgot the first part by the time they got to the end

 

[jollystomper]

The comments on the article are highly interesting... a lot lean towards criticizing the author along the lines of "you have never been really poor, stop with this 'it's your own fault mentality', there are real problems out there that poor people have to deal with."

 

[FlaGator]

I spend $312 each year on lottery tickets (1 powerball and 1 mega-millions ticket for each drawing throughout the year). It's fun to imagine winning and what I'd do.. plus I'm helping to fund scholarships. granted, it's not the most effective way to do something like fund scholarships as a large portion doesn't go to those ends, but I like to think that even when I'm "throwing away" my lottery money I'm still doing some good with it.

I love people like you, too bad you don't live in FL......

In FL, the lottery pays for "Bright Futures" Scholarships, covering tuition and fees at state colleges and universities for the highest academic performers. Based on who I have seen buying lottery tickets and the people I know who have gotten Bright Futures money, it's the greatest wealth transfer scheme ever devised, and incredibly regressive (for those who care about tax policy....)

 

[timo2]

The comments on the article are highly interesting... a lot lean towards criticizing the author along the lines of "you have never been really poor, stop with this 'it's your own fault mentality', there are real problems out there that poor people have to deal with."

Actually the comments were better than the article.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

Actually, I thought it was a good article, a bit long for my attention span (I'm not a millennial, I'm old), but couldn't find anything I really disagreed with. However it won't help those to whom it is directed. Mindsets are hard to change.

On the side issue of lottery tickets disproportionately bought by the poorer members of society, I have always thought that the real danger is that it gives a false hope of getting rich, and the false feeling that you are actually doing something that could make you money. And that this false feeling that you are doing something lessens you effort to actually do things that can lead to your advancement in society. Better to never buy a lottery ticket and never fantasize you could achieve your goals in this way, and start fantasizing and then actually doing the things you need to do to get there.

That is one of the reasons I never bought a lottery ticket, I didn't want this silly false hope to influence me, as I knew it would. I had other mistakes to make.

 

[rayinpenn]

"People say they want a financially successful life, but what they really mean is that they want the pleasure and ease of having it without the pain of creating it. It’s the most common goal ever."

************************************

This baby boomer thinks the writer believes she understands people and money - sadly she does not. She talks about the 'pain' of becoming financially successful. I've had some modest success with building a pile and I didn't experience any pain. In fact it has been rather a pleasure and here's why...

My investing and savings lifestyle have been on a kinda autopilot these past 35 years. I've saved First, LBYM, invested and didn't worry about it. Time and discipline did their magic and boom I'm retirement ready. Once there was a bit of a pile - the dentist, roof, tires for the jalopy all became minor bumps in the road. Simply put the lack of consumer debt and the pile eliminated stress.

The majority of the money 'pain' I've observed is when people succumb time and time again to 'toy fever': I need zoom zoom and they go out buy an expensive car, boat, house what ever. Generally it starts when they get out of school and they have to that set of wheels... it all goes downhill from there credit cards, consumer debt... yeah thats the real self inflicted pain.

My $30 weekender Timex watch is a good example. It is of a pretty simple design, works great and I can change the bands when it gets worn for a couple of bucks. I've got an expensive Movado that I received as part of a performance award at work. The face is fancy it doesn't even have indicators for the hours and is kinda hard to read. The battery is really expensive must be changed by an authorized Movado dealer and doesn't seem to last all that long. I'm inclined to not buy that battery again.

Seems to me the Timex life is 'pain' free - the Movado life not so much.

Edit: changed he to she and added quote...

 

[Maenad]

First of all, the author is a she.

I think she has some good points for the 20-something crowd, I could have seen that article back in the 90s and 00s when I was in that age bracket. She's basically saying that you don't get wealthy by living large or winning the lottery, you do it by working and saving. Like an earlier poster commented, it's like she just read YMOYL and MND and wants to share the wisdom with her peers.

That being said, I think the article needs a little tightening up. I'm not getting a good flow from point A to point B to point C to conclusion, it feels like it jumps around a bit. It also may suffer a little from the "using 5 words when you could use 2" issue. These are common issues with young writers. I think she's got some serious potential, but needs to hone her craft.

Kinda like the rest of us at that age.

 

[Midpack]

Actually, I thought it was a good article, a bit long for my attention span (I'm not a millennial, I'm old), but couldn't find anything I really disagreed with. However it won't help those to whom it is directed. Mindsets are hard to change.

Most posters didn't read much of the article.

Why would it be different than any generation? Most of our generation couldn't be "helped" either, thousands of threads and posts on ER.org to that effect since 2002...

 

[CaliforniaMan]

Most posters didn't read much of the article.

Why would it be different than any generation? Most of our generation couldn't be "helped" either, thousands of threads and posts on ER.org to that effect since 2002...

Agree with you 100% and thanks for pointing this out. I meant mindsets are hard to change, mindsets in general, of any generation or philosophy.

 

[Totoro]

This blog is dedicated to one of my favorite writers, Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck. He kinda says everything I say, but better.

Not knowing Mark Manson she's probably right. The message is quite simple: in contrast to what you are told and see around you, you still have to work if you want stuff that costs money. The fairy tales and outlier successes are just that: outliers and fairy tales. It's just more visible thanks to the internet.

Anywho, this story describes things much, much better:
Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy - Wait But Why