"I mean you so often hear about those that took a big risk and it paid off, but never about those that took that same chance but lost it all."
This is the difference between the US culture and the Finnish culture. In Finland all you hear is how people never succeed at anything and success is the outlier. Our news paper titles go like "Bob put 1000€ into a very promising business. He lost it all". Whereas in the USA newspaper articles go like "Bob put half a penny into Amazon when it was worth nothing, now he changed his name and we know him as Jeff Bezos" So basically talking bullshit to make it sound more appealing.
I think the best would be to be somewhere in the middle, where you could hear the good and the bad about wealth management. However, those who write about the stuff in the mass media, rarely know anything about it.
Ouch. I just imagine those poor people who mortgaged a house to buy in December...
It's tricky though, what you say is 100% true, yet disposable income is becoming an increasingly rare commodity these days. You can only cut back on your lifestyle so much before you hit an impassable floor, below which lies a nasty bunch of options like "losing the house".
Just because there is a limit to how much you can save doesn't mean to ignore it. I find that people should start by cutting back as much as they can as it might make them uncomfortable. When you are uncomfortable you want to change your situation, and that makes you eager to bring in more money so you can feel less bad about spending some on life's little luxuries.
This is so true. One's expenses always grow in accordance with one's income.
It is a pity that wisdom comes with age. By starting young: putting away regular savings and learning good financial discipline, you could set yourself up so much better for the future.
I took my first house loan out when I was in my early 20s. Before that, I didn't care at all about expenses, I was wild and reckless with my money. That taught me a lot about financial planning in a very short space of time, but it would have been great to know it sooner.
What really taught me how to deal with money was when my relationship ended and I lost half my stuff! Then you learn how to save and plan at a whole new level! 😂
Wow, way to go negative. I think if the only options were extreme optimism or extreme pessimism I would go with the optimism. But yeah, when you read either of these ways you need to know that it is not the only outcome.
Oh, and those guys writing the article are just working for a buck like the rest of us. And based on the average financial knowledge in America, I doubt they know too much like you said.