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Originally Posted by Xist
Perhaps a poor person with a billion-dollar idea might be less inclined to keep the newfound riches to him or herself.
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Probably so, which is likely part of the reason they are poor in the first place. My cousin is extremely generous, and back when he was awarded a $60k settlement would always offer to buy me lunch. I'd never take him up on the offer because I didn't want to have any part in his wealth squandering. He was broke inside of 3 months.
Same cousin's father passed away and he inherited $100k. 5 months later he's penniless again. People who make poor investments, such as gambling, usually never develop the habits necessary to make wise investments, and this is evidenced by the abysmal outcomes for lottery winners. People who are inclined to "invest" in the lottery are unlikely to spend their winnings wisely.
2 economists that studied the spending habits of the poor and observed these generalities:
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So why are the poor, the world over, making these seemingly bad decisions?
The answer, according to economists who have studied this question (Banerjee & Dufflo, Poor Economics, 2011), is that things that taste good, or things that make life less boring are a priority for the poor...
In America, a poor man in in his early 20’s, with numerous debts to other people, spent his paycheck on personal pleasures. He purchased new tattoos, new clothes, a weekend vacation, and some upgraded accessories for his car, instead of making payments to his creditors.
“The poor are skeptical about their supposed opportunities, and the possibility of any radical change in their lives…Therefore, they focus on the here and now, on living their lives as pleasantly as possible, and on celebrating when the occasion demands it.”
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Not all giving is beneficial. If it enables bad habits, it works against the wellbeing of the person with bad habits. They key to success isn't just opportunity, but also the character to delay immediate pleasure to better prepare for the future.
This isn't to say that there aren't poor people who only lack opportunity, only that the perpetually poor often maintain poor life habits. Making character and habit changes is among the most difficult challenges a person faces. It's literally re-wiring the neural circuitry in the mind, which requires making a deliberate effort to deny established paths of thinking, and creating new paths of thinking.