Comments | ebenbrooks: Why “The Rich” make me sick, part 6 (of 21)

ebenbrooks

Why “The Rich” make me sick, part 6 (of 21)

Sep 12, 2012 14:12

Continuing the analysis of the Yahoo! Finance article 21 Ways Rich People Think Differenly, a condensed “interview” with Steve Siebold, author of How Rich People Think.

6. Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.“An ordinarily smart, well-educated and otherwise successful person can be ( Read more... )

acoustic philosophy, mental health, rationality, money, emotional hoo-hah

Comments 4

"Average people" niall_shapero September 12 2012, 22:58:32 UTC

If "not having enough money" means "I go hungry" or "I don't get the medical care I need to survive" or "I become homeless", then it is perfectly reasonable to be a bit frightened if one does not have enough money.

Re: "Average people" ebenbrooks September 12 2012, 23:16:10 UTC

Yeah, it is! And these are things that well-off people never have to think about. That right there is a luxury in and of itself.

And the rich... niall_shapero September 12 2012, 23:03:31 UTC

And if they're really rich, then they don't really CARE if they waste a few hundred thousand dollars - there's more where that came from. The only problem then becomes a matter of pride (and point scores).

If you are independently wealthy, losing several thousand dollars (or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, depending upon one's level of wealth) is about as important to you as losing a rubber of bridge (where there's no money riding on the outcome) to someone like me (or you). We might be "mildly annoyed" at being beaten - but "it's just a game".

If "win or lose", the result is (at worst) a small waste of time, you're not going to care. But if "win or lose" means the difference between being ABLE to eat or not (or survive or not) it becomes an entirely different matter.

Being fearless isn't an indication that one is brave - merely that one is either ignorant, stupid, or the outcome of the situation is not going to change one's situation in life "significantly".

Re: And the rich... ebenbrooks September 12 2012, 23:17:42 UTC

Exactly. When you're not in survival mode, you can afford to take more risks. But when one mistake means you lose your house, it's a lot harder to justify any risk taking.