mp67 said:
Amen. And by looking at his last post I can see part of the problem. Anyone who thinks 100k is not a lot of money, just write that check to me and I'll show you what I can do with it. We have a guy at work that says if you clear a million in the lottery, it is not a lot of money, even though it would take him ten years to gross a million.
Acutally, the guy at work is partly right.
In canada, there is a twice-weekly lottery called 649. Jackpots are typically in the 2 to 3 million range and if no one wins, it carries over and the jackpots go up, sometimes as high as 15-20 million. Unlike lotteries in the US, the jackpot is paid in one lump sum and there is no tax taken off. There was a study done a few years ago that determined something like 80% of the jackpot winners were flat broke 2 to 3 years after winning the prize!
They generally quit their jobs, go on a spending spree, buy a ton of stuff for them and their family and friends, etc, etc. Next thing you know: all gone.
As for the immigrant thing and multiple families living under one roof:
My father came over from europe in the mid 60's. He had nothing and could barely speak english. He went where he could find work and busted his ass for over 30 years. By the time I was born, We were living in a remote mining town of abot 15,000 people where, after driving a cab and fixing cars for 3 years, he managed to build his own auto body business and worked it 7 days a week. The only cars he drove were write-offs he fixed himself. Keeping up with the Joneses was never a consideration.
At the same time we had relatives (2 brothers, their wives and kids) who lived in the same house together for a number of years. They worked in the mine until they could start start a restaurant and, like my father, they worked that place 7 days a week and, like me, their kids were part of the business as well.
By the time my father was in his mid 50's, he sold the shop picked up some apartment blocks. The same goes for the 2 brothers. They sleep a bit later every day and they work, maybe, 20 hrs a week. Their houses are paid off, they have/are putting all their kids through college. One of them even has a PHD in bio-chemistry (not me though).
These are people who never concerned themselves with what other people were doing or what kind of money other people were making. They just set their minds to going out and getting it themselves. They also didn't fret about having all the toys people feel they need these days. What the Jonses do is their business, not ours. Let me deal with my stuff and they can deal with theirs. They just got a new car/the latest TV/cottage at the lake? So what. Mr and Mrs Jones will sending checks to the bank once a month till they day they die.
