STORIES, STORIES

Here’s what it’s like to be poor:  It’s embarrassing. It’s mentally exhausting. You’re constantly thinking about money and how to acquire it in the shortest time possible. And because you’re embarrassed and so mentally exhausted, you never make the smartest decisions and almost always end up doing the wrong thing. I think that’s why the rich get richer and why banks will only give credit cards and loans to people who don’t actually need it – because they know this is the vicious cycle of being poor.  I used to think there was a difference between being poor and being broke, but now I think it’s pretty much the same thing. Being poor means that you have no choice, you were born into it, and the world is not helping you out of it; in fact it pushes you deeper into poverty with its politics and socio-economics. Being broke means you’re just stupid with your finances and you have a steady (if sometimes unreliable or inconsistent in amount) source of cash, and you end up ...

Of course money can buy happiness. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar, in denial, bad at English, and/or can't argue semantics ("Money CAN buy happiness" does not mean "ONLY money can buy happiness", nor does it mean "Money CAN buy happiness even when you don't know what makes you happy", etc). My own financial state is as follows: I burnz that cheddar as soon as I makez it. I've perfected this skill; as soon as I get my hands on any form of currency, I methodically and systematically (as is my wont) plan all the ways I can burn it and get it out of my hands, and then I execute these plans perfectly and efficiently in the shortest of periods. My exceedingly mainstream brain works for me at a maximum in this situation as it panders to consumerism and validation-seeking.  Lifehacker says my "money memories" play a role in my relationship with money, because everything in our childhood plays roles in everything etc psyc...