Every Family Has Someone Who Broke The Chain Of Poverty. My Aunt Did That.

We learn from the people around us.

Context is everything. My aunt and mum were born in the 1950s. They belong to the baby-boomers’ generation, which is fast becoming the Retiree Generation in the 2020s. My Aunt passed away when she was 51, and Mum is 64 years old today.

This was a group of people born into hardship. Life is tough for us when we do not get iPhones and credit cards by employment age. Life IS tough for them because they had to put food on the table. My Aunt would repeatedly tell me that the next meal is never guaranteed.

But that generation found toughness in themselves. My mum and her siblings were dealt a lousy hand. They had to help out in the pig farm my granddad owned. There was no such thing as Me-Time. It was feeding the pigs at 5 in the morning, rushing to school at 630 am, come home by noon to feed the pigs, help prepare dinner, and clean the house after that.

There was no time to: -

• Do their homework.
• Side-Hustle for pocket money.
• Surf the internet for entertainment.
• Hang out with friends.

All those were unheard of in the 1950s and 1960s. My generation took this for granted and insisted that it was our right to do as we wish. For full disclosure, I was born in the 80s. I know those born in the 90s think as I do. The millennial generation is another thing altogether.

Tough times produce tough people. I agree, but not entirely.

Social problems were rampant then, and it spiraled into generational issues that the baby boomers carry with them till retirement. One of my uncles gambled his youth away and fell into the never-ending debt spiral. In simple terms, it meant his future earnings never exceeded the principal borrowed plus interest burden.

The promise of easy money broke this uncle of mine. He thought there was an instant solution to break the chain of poverty. He thought gambling would solve his problems. He believed strongly that the upside potential was worth taking the risk then.

He made the wrong bet, and he gambled a lifetime away. He is 58 years old today, is married, and has a 3-year old toddler. I don’t know how he can pull this off, and I wish him all the best.

My Mum is a different character. She is too simple to make big bets. Mum believes that it is her fate to be born into a poor family. She believes that it is okay to serve her lifetime in poverty while accumulating good deeds for the next life. My Mum prays her problems away. I mean, she tries. I just don’t know if it works.

My Aunt, born into a family of 11 siblings, was THE lotus in the pond. She knew she was dealt a bad hand. And, she took the bull by the horns.

She told me that she took her education very seriously. She correctly predicted that Singapore will transit from the 3rd World to the 1st. The concept of the poor and rich never bothered her. What she needed was an opportunity to prove herself. She believed in a society where social mobility is possible. She would do anything within legal means to ascent to the top.

She is a capitalist. She is a warrior.

She never performed her household duties because she wanted to practice her maths questions in the evening. There is always a test that she wanted to excel and she was never happy with a 90. In her mind, it was Top Student or nothing. The lower level goal was either A or nothing. She was one tough cookie.

And I took my learning lessons from her. Having something to fight for trumps a fake belief that being average is okay. Or above-average is brilliant, for that matter. It was easy for me to discern hocus-pocus fake advice with my Aunt around.

Hocus-pocus advice is often dressed up in palatable forms for easy consumption and mass adoption. My Aunt would caution me against such sweet nothings, especially when it comes to money matters.

My Aunt never failed to remind me that self-interests govern how we think about money. No one in their right minds would bankrupt their own families to save the others. No one in their right minds would donate their entire net worth to charities because of social pressure. We work hard for our keep. We gift some and keep some.

She is straightforward when it comes to money.

She reminded me not to be obsessed with the idea of taxing the rich. It does not benefit me even if it comes to fruition. It is simple math to her. This is her logic in storytelling form: -

• The richest in the family earns a monthly income of $100.00.
• The remaining 5 siblings generate a monthly income of $10.00.
• Total household income is $150.00.
• The goal is to achieve income equality and redistribution of wealth within the household.
• Therefore, every sibling earns an adjusted monthly income of $25.00 after “equal distribution” of wealth.
• The 5 siblings at the lowest monthly income bracket get a miraculous pay-bump of $15.00 every month, representing a 150% return on 0 additional effort.
• The one who works the hardest gets penalized as his earnings plunged from $100.00 to $25.00. It represents a -7,500% return on his effort to work.

It was a powerful lesson.

She asked me to think if the most productive one would want to continue to labor month after month, knowing that his wealth is never his?

I said no.

She said everyone in the family will suffer by the next month because the most productive person will look for a job that pays $10.00 a month because he gets to keep all of it. Or, he gets a side-hustle and does not declare his earnings. This is human nature.

How real is that for a change? It beats the narrative of investing for the long-term anytime.

People do not accept the blatantly obvious. They want quick money without working for it. I see this around me daily.

But we do not break the poverty chain in this manner. My gambler Uncle never did. My Mum, who believed in funding her retirement years with my monthly contribution, never did.

My Aunt was the only one in the family who broke the back of poverty. She left 2 profitable businesses to her children when she passed on. They learned so much about money from my Aunt that they never had to worry about money again.

You see, if we want to enjoy a higher standard of living, then we have to believe that the control in our hands. We have to work hard for our keep.

Of course, having a brilliant mentor accelerates that process.

I am eternally grateful to my Aunt for her lessons.

Aldric

About the Author:

As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.

Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.