Reply #48: Morning Marketeers.....

[AnneD]

:donut: and lurkers. Welcome back Ozy. What did you bring us??????:rofl: We'll settle for some news.

I saw a story about this very thing on the overnight news this morning and thought about some of the things we had discussed on this thread. Some real estate person(that should have know better)- and her WTD hubby were getting their ARM adjusted from 1K+ per month to 8K. They were able to get in touch with the bank and get them to reduce it to 4K but in their situation-that was still more than a stretch. The sad thing was -she had used her grandmother's inheritance for the down.

If there is one good thing that comes out of these awful times-I hope it is a change of heart about wealth, poverty, and money. Many of the wealthy, esp. those born into wealth (unless raised right), think that they deserve it or worse yet, blame the poor for being poor. They treat poverty like it is a character flaw.

After years of observation of the wealthy and poor, and reading about it and real life experiences-I have decided there are several factors that determine your financial well being. These basic factors include: the ability to make money either by receiving a wage or producing goods or services, a basic understanding of how money works, discipline of long term thinking (to see beyond Friday or Saturday night), good health, and above all-luck (or God, Karma, whatever you choose to call it).

I have known folks that have not had one or more of these things and made it because they had luck (won the lottery, married well, born into money) just as I have know folks that had all the other factors, but no luck (illness at a critical juncture, accident, legal judgment, etc). You can survive to a degree with any of these skills but luck makes the difference.

There are some that say they make their own luck, and they game the system...and while that might work for a while...it doesn't last forever. The bottom of the ocean floor, the ancient tombs, and even modern day prisons, are littered with those that thought it was their divine right to own wealth. I have come to the belief that you don't own it, you merely borrow it. And if you are lucky, you get to use it for a while.

I think some folks are about to lose their turns.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears