SwCA Episode 152: Getting Rich is Easy. Staying Rich is Hard. Why that is and how to beat the odds.

SITE: http://www.courtneyanderson.com/swca-episode-152-financial-fierceness-series-getting-rich-is-easy-staying-rich-is-hard-why-that-is-and-how-to-beat-the-odds.html

SHOW NOTES: Our FINANCIAL FIERCENESS!™ series integrates our financial goals into our development plan for surpassing our goals. We deal with the specific issues we need to explore in order to achieve (and surpass) our financial goals. This specific episode is “Getting ‘Rich’ is Easy. Staying ‘Rich’ is Hard. Why that is and how to beat the odds.”

As we have previously discussed in other programs, wealth is relative. A person will determine if they feel wealthy (or “rich”) based on their upbringing, culture, ethics, religious, spiritual, education, philosophical and political frameworks. If a person has more resources (or appears to have more resources) than other peers, it tends to make them feel wealthy. If a person has less resources (or appears to have less resources) than peers, they feel poor. I have known people who made $2,000 USD a month and felt very wealthy (as their peers made much less on fixed incomes of around $1,000 USD a month). I also have known people who made $60,000 USD a month who felt poor (as their peers made $100,000 USD a month). 

Once we have our basic necessities met in life, there is a universal human tendency to judge our economic ‘success’ relative to peer groups. This leads many people to try to spend money to seemingly match their peer behavior (i.e., keeping up with the Joneses). This is a large part of why people who have resources (aka “rich”) do not keep them. 

Consider:  

- “On average, 90 percent of lottery winners go through their winnings in five years or less.” (http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/a-financial-plan-for-misbehaving-lottery-winners/?_php