Since I started this blog a few weeks ago, I’ve been asking friends and family to share their perspectives on wealth, personal finance, and money. When you were younger, what did you learn about what it meant to be rich or poor?
How do you feel about money?
It’s just a thing that’s needed to live within the current society. It’s neither evil nor good; it’s just a tool, and people use it for their own devices.
Should billionaires (or millionaires) exist? Is it right to aspire to be a billionaire (i.e. rich)?
I don’t see any moral or ethical issues with billionaires/millionaires existing because they are not all inherently bad or good. It’s their actions that reflect who they are as people. We have people like Bill Gates who donate a lot of money to many good causes, and then we have people like Trump who are just in it for the money/power.
We can’t even blame it on our capitalistic society because even economically socialist countries like Sweden have Ikea and Spotify, whose leaders make millions of dollars. That said though, there shouldn’t be preferable treatment towards these individuals, but there is, and we have to change that norm.
I think the proper idea to have is to be financially free.
How do you feel about wealth?
Same as money, it’s just another tool for current and future generations to help them live their lives.
Should STEM graduates earn more than non-STEM graduates?
Yes, because it’s a simple answer of supply and demand. There is a high demand for people with that skill set, but the supply is low. That causes the salary of STEM graduates to rise. It’s also the reason why a lot of businesses even look for overseas talent to fill in the gap.
What does it mean to be self-made?
It means that an individual had no external assistance with their business endeavors.
To what extent should fame, popularity, or status determine our economic opportunities or financial success?
They shouldn’t, to be perfectly honest, but the reality is that they do. Unless we are able to change our current social structure with a stroke of a wand, we just have to be creative and adapt to it. Also, people who are in that position should use their situation to bring awareness to social causes that might not have gotten exposure on their own.
From an economic standpoint, should the sex industry exist?
This is a hard question to answer.
Personally, I do find it morally wrong and an industry that tends to easily exploit people.
However, if done correctly, I do see some of the social benefits– such as giving lonely people physical comfort or giving disabled people a way to satisfy their sexual urges.
Speaking of which, I actually saw a documentary where there is a health service, White Hands, that aids physically impaired individuals to climax in Japan. It was very interesting to hear the perspective of one of the clients and how it actually brightens up his difficult life.
However, I did see a Netflix documentary called “Hot Girls Wanted” that discussed the male-centric focus of the industry. They viewed this as a “get rich” quick plan, but they also realized how cut-throat the industry is, especially given how easily accessible internet porn is.
I really can’t answer from an economic standpoint, but I personally don’t find it a great industry to begin with and feel that it mostly preys on the weak, either intentionally or unintentionally.
How do you feel about money?
