5 Lessons I Learned From Growing Up In The Ghetto
5 Lessons I Learned From Growing Up In The Ghetto
(And How They Helped Me On The Road To Financial Independence)
Post From Peerless Money Mentor
“Just like a rocket ship needs a lot of fuel (energy) to escape Earth’s gravitational pull before it can get into the freedom of space, to escape the ghetto we needed to expend a lot of energy in the form of hard work to gather enough money to escape the gravitational pull of the ghetto and into the freedom of a better life.” -Jack The Dreamer
Today’s post is written by Jack who blogs about fire, personal finance, and minimalism at Jack The Dreamer.
I first came across Jack’s blog when an article of his was featured on Rockstar finance. The article was titled What Living On A Farm For A Year Taught Me About Financial Independence And Life. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think you will, too! Check it out after reading this post. Instead of writing about the lessons he learned on the farm, today he will be sharing the lessons he learned while growing up in the ghetto.
The Inspiration
Peerless Money Mentor’s article “Growing Up In The Ghetto” inspired me to reach out to him because I also grew up in the ghetto and eventually my family made it out with money from starting our own business. Reading his article was very nice because I was like, “Ah! Someone who grew up in similar circumstances and understands!” His article made me re-assess how growing up in the ghetto during my formative years affected me. I say this because ever since we left, I never really took a good hard look at how the ghetto affected me, from how I walked and talked, to how I dressed, thought, and ultimately, how it affected my path to being financial independent.
Anyways…
Without further adieu, here are the 5 Lessons I learned from growing up in the ghetto and how they relate to striving for financial independence.
1) Being Different Can Make You Stronger (And Richer)
We moved to another ghetto outside of New York City. My parents each worked 3 jobs and saved up money for 3 years before opening a restaurant. They opened a restaurant because it didn’t require a college degree, their English wasn’t that good, and it allowed them to be their own bosses.
Also, they came from a small business background in Thailand, and according to Robert Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrant from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, once you’re in a certain quadrant, you tend to stay there.
The 4 quadrants are employee, small business employer, big business employer, and investor.
My family have been in the small business quadrant for close to a hundred years in Thailand, and I’m looking to grow myself beyond that and break the dynastic cycle of platitudes.
But that’s a post for another day. Back to the story.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here: