Hood Rich

via Abstruse Goose

One of the things that my Product Development and Branding professor said to my class, on the last day of classes, that really stuck out to me was "If you want to be a millionaire, don't live like one." This philosophy is, of course, nothing new. Proverbs 13:7 reads, "One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Regardless, what my professor said made me think pretty deeply about the financial situation we're in and more specifically, the friends I know who contributed to and still continue to contribute to it.

I grew up in a neighborhood in Boston that had some of the most affluent people in the city and others living off welfare checks within a 1-mile radius of each other (I kid you not, look up 02116 on Claritas if you don't believe me). What I saw, and what I still continue to see each time I go home to Boston is a really sad sight: people with 10 credit cards maxed out, driving in expensive cars in $80 t-shirts through the ghetto, living "LA lifestyles" they can't afford. These people aren't rich. They're hood rich. They've dedicated their entire lives chasing after money and have convinced themselves that in order to be happy, they need all of these material things to show off their (false sense of) wealth. It's really sad. What these people need isn't more money. What they need is Jesus (just kidding... but not really). Some advice from Warren Buffet and this book could help too.

[I'll finish this post later]