I Grew Up Poor Among Rich People, Here’s What I Learned

Like most of you reading this, I have a difficult time talking about anything money-related, but that says a lot about how we were raised and not how we learned about money in school. Money is the one topic that makes all of us uncomfortable, mainly because we don’t understand how it works, and we never have enough of it. We treat money the same way hunters treat gazelles “sssh….don’t say anything, it will escape”. The crazy thing about all of this is that we consider this normal behavior in society. No one seems to notice how weird all of this is, considering how money is the most important aspect of modern-day capitalist societies. Just because everyone is doing it, and that’s how we have all been raised to do it, doesn't make it right. I grew up in a lovely gated neighborhood with lawns, orchards, and all the things that would make a ten-year-old scream, “I love life.” Don’t get me wrong; we were not rich; we just happened to live around well-off people for a long time to realize that you can’t rub a wealthy mindset onto a poor person. It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I started realizing that living around rich people doesn’t make you one. Unlike me, all my friends came from well-off households that had several income streams, and this explains why they could get the latest Xbox in a heartbeat while I am yet to buy myself an Xbox even as I am approaching my mid-20s. You might feel sorry for me, but honestly, that would be wrong because I am actually happy that I grew up poor around rich people. I finally understood what being poor means, and trust me; it’s not related to money.

Close your eyes and picture a poor person. If the first person that came to your mind is someone from a developing country, congratulations on being yet another failed project of the archaic indoctrination system we call the modern education system. We often associate poverty with not having money. While that is correct, as this is another aspect of poverty, what being poor actually is has all to do with your mindset. How you think and what you think of money shapes how you handle money and if this is too confusing for you, then I guess it's time you closed this article and went back on Instagram to share memes.

Back in 2006, when I had just lost my father, my whole world came crashing down because I realized that my life had gone upside down in a flash and I was not yet prepared for what was to come. It turns out my fears were correct, and the next ten years would be the hardest of my life as I came face to face with the horrors of life with no one to guide me. I had not just lost a father; I had lost a breadwinner, and since we never had any plan whatsoever, this weighed heavily on my family and me as we struggled to make ends meet. It wasn’t until the age of 16, when I started an apprenticeship at a local tv repair shop, that I began learning about money and where its value comes from. Up until now, I had always thought my friends were rich because their parents were lucky life was unfair. While that may be true to some extent, the truth is, my friends had parents who worked in high-level positions at reputable companies. Because they were well paid, they managed to use their surplus income to invest in small businesses, which grew to supplement their household income; in other words, they earned a lot of money which they then used to generate even more money.

I was working for 8 hours daily, taking home a good $10 on a blessed day, and this was my first experience with money. I realized that people were not paying me for the time I spent at the repair shop, but for the value that I was offering because had we been paid according to the time we spent working, I would have had bought a jeep in my first year as a satellite dish installer. I began looking at life differently from this age, and this helped me to revisit my beliefs about money. Whenever I used to hang out with my friends, they would always be free to talk about money and what they planned to do with it, and this was even more evident when I used to visit them at home. Their parents didn’t seem bothered at all by the money problems I had even though we lived in such proximity, and this taught me the most important thing about money; money was not the goal; it was the tool to live a comfortable life. I eventually left my hometown for college, and although I live a way different life than the one I used to, I still remember the lessons I learned by growing up poor among the rich, which I am summarizing below.

10 Lessons I Learned From The Rich

1. The rich work for freedom, not money. Money is just a tool for them to live the life they want.
2. The rich talk about money freely with their children, and money is not a taboo topic for them.
3. The rich have multiple income streams and use their salaries to invest in their ideas.
4. You get paid not for how much you spend doing something but for how valuable your work is.
5. The rich believe in investing, and the poor in saving.
6. The rich are not stingy to greedy; they value and appreciate money.
7. The rich teach their children about money.
8. The rich have a rich mindset that helps them create more wealth.
9. The rich would rather give you advice, not money.
10. Working hard doesn’t translate to wealth.

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