Happiness

“The more dollars adult children receive, the fewer dollars they accumulate, while those who are given fewer dollars accumulate more.” - The Millionaire Next Door Whilst reading through The Millionaire Next Door , this quote is what stood out the most. People have been toting the phrase “the generational wealth gap” for decades. They say that wealth begets wealth and that the poor cannot compete. Why then does this book that was written over 30 years ago say that the opposite is true?...

Consolidating your expenses has long been a tradition in British culture. It stems back to the days where a father had to barter with other families to trade off his daughter as a bride in place of cattle or arable land. The daughter would then become the property of her new husband. Their finances then become one, “What’s mine is yours.” It was the wife’s duty to raise children; it was unimaginable for them to earn money, so the joining of the household finances had to happen....

I grew up happy. I went on lots of holidays… ate at restaurants on special occasions. My parents spent much more money on me than they ever did on themselves. They bought me up happy… but they’ve never earnt much. They’re both very hard working and have worked all of their lives, but they’ve never earnt more than minimum wage. A lot of people would say that this put me at a disadvantage in life, but that’s not true....

People think that earning a high salary means that they can afford to buy more things. They behave like rich people; going on multiple holidays, buying fancy cars, taking out huge mortgages. The truth is; if you have nothing invested… You’re poor. You should be eating beans and saving like hell as you’re losing tens of thousands every year and setting yourself up for an unhappy life. To put this into perspective, let’s imagine we have two guys:...