http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/20-things-the-rich-do-every-day
I love lists! I especially love those that involve both a selection bias AND a confirmation bias!
I especially love the paragraph immediately after the list talking about how the Christian bible discusses how we should "live on less than we make" and instructs us that we should be "saving money and thereby building wealth". What?! God wants me to not be poor?! God should provide me with better health insurance options, a higher minimum wage, more inclusive workers' rights, and better, cheaper access to healthy food options.
- 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.
The wealthy have better and more convenient access (through wealth and physical location) to large grocery stores.
- 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.
The poor to not have the luxury of devoting their time and attention to a single task since many work more than one job and most must deal with the stress of paying bills, buying food, providing shelter.
- 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically four days a week. 23% of poor do this.
The poor do not have access to gyms, which are very much a luxury, nor live in communities safe enough to exercise outdoors during their off-hours.
- 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% of poor people.
The poor do not have access to portable electronics or cars.
- 81% of wealthy maintain a to-do list vs. 19% of poor.
The poor have a priority to-do list etched into their brains: "1. Try to Eat; 2. Try to Work; 3. Try to Survive"
- 63% of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% of poor.
The children of the poor hardly have textbooks because of how underfunded local schools are in impoverished urban areas.
- 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% of poor.
Some of the children of the poor have to work. It's rather involuntary.
- 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.
When you don't have the internet or reliably phone service or enough money to have anything other than a pre-paid phone and when there are less and less payphones... how does one keep track of the changing phone numbers of family, their birthdays, and then call them? That said, the priority of the poor is generally to the family they have right in front of them. A responsibility that is very much a more than full time task.
- 67% of wealthy write down their goals vs. 17% of poor.
The goal is very well-known to the poor: Survive. When I needed to collect enough cans to exchange for a loaf of bread, hmm, you know... I never thought to write it down as motivation.
- 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs. 2% of poor.
The poor generally spend most of their day working. They spend long hours in commute using poorly funded public transportation. Since they tend to work for too little due to a stale minimum wage, are exploited by being coerced to take jobs for 39 hours a week, etc... and given that libraries remain underfunded in poor areas, how do they have 30 minutes a day to read let alone for career reasons or education?
- 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% of poor.
The poor have a lot more on their mind to say.
- 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month vs. 16% of poor.
One might only network if their career had any semblance of advancement opportunity. Many of the poor work jobs that are seasonal or migratory. Those that work very labor intensive jobs or clerical work... what kind of networking is there?!
- 67% of wealthy watch one hour or less of TV every day vs. 23% of poor.
Television... oddly enough... is somehow free.
- 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% of poor.
Reality television... oddly enough... is generally on the channels offered for free.
- 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.
The poor generally have to work odd, and early, hours and cannot afford to be late or have their pay docked for the time lost.
- 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% of poor.
It would be oddly hypocritical for the poor to tell their children that to be "successful" is to be silent, hence the 1% there.
- 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% of poor.
HAHAHAHAHA
- 76% of wealthy believe bad habits create detrimental luck vs. 9% of poor.
The poor know better than to believe superstitions can explain oppression.
- 86% of wealthy believe in lifelong educational self-improvement vs. 5% of poor.
The poor understand that you have to survive before you can improve.
- 86% of wealthy love to read vs. 26% of poor.
Reading (fiction or non-fiction) is just not comparable between the wealthy and the poor... ugh. look, all of these suggestions implying the wealthy are made happy and advance their wealth through reading is an interesting notion about how the wealthy have the ability to be escapist with their lives. Their own reality is so comfortable that they can enjoy a good book; they had the opportunity for the education necessary to understand a textbook to advance their knowledge. The environment in which the poor sit down to read is just not the same! How can the poor, with underfunded schools, with forgotten infrastructure, a lack of quality libraries... expect to enjoy a book? What book speaks from their point of view? Does any popular fiction strive to speak for the poor? How can a book be nothing more than a reminder of the knowledge that is held so much out of their grasp?