Part 1: YOU TOO CAN BE RICHCopyright © Captain Adiari, MD.
http://www.OnlineGain.netPoverty knows no boundary, land or territory. In every society there are the poor and the rich; poverty here referring to the inability to meet life's demands. Generally, from socioeconomic indices, 3 strata of income powers emerge:
>low income earner
>middle class
>high income earner.
A poor man, the low income earner, is one that struggles to meet his basic life requirements of food, clothes, and shelter. The 2007 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program stated that:
"There are still around 1 billion people living at the margins of survival on less than US one dollar a day, with 2.6 billion - 40 percent of the world's population - living on less than US two dollars a day"In other words, about half the population of the world lives in excruciating poverty. Koffi Anan, former UN Secretary General, in a speech on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17th October 2000, said
"Almost half the world's population lives on less than two dollars a day, yet even this statistic fails to capture the humiliation, powerlessness and brutal hardship that is the daily lot of the world's poor."The middle class is the group of income earners that have managed to secure means of meeting their basic needs. They are usually those in regular paid jobs; employees, civil servants. At first value, life as a middle income earner may seem to be much better, but at the long run it is quite difficult to maintain the middle class status. As you aged, you either deteriorate to low income status or move up to the rich class. In socioeconomic term, this is usually refers to as Class Mobility.
The poor and the middle class generally constitute the
the masses, which form about 75 percent of any society. The main socioeconomic difference between the developed and the developing nations is that the developed countries have more people in the middle income class while in the developing countries there are more low income earners with virtually the absence of the middle class.
For instance, in Nigeria 71 percent of the population live on less than US one dollar per day with virtually no middle class (Earth Trends, 2003, World Resources Institute). In the same year in United States, the distribution of U.S. household income shows that the poorest households were 3.4 per cent while the richest households constitute 21.4 percent (based on the amount all the household income in U.S.). That is, the remaining 75.2 percent occupies the middle income class (U.S. Census Bureau - Distribution of U.S. Household Income, 2003).
A good government is one that can create enabling environments for its citizens to move from the low income group to the middle class.
The Rich ClassInterestingly, the percentage of the high income earners, the rich class, is fairly the same for both the developed and the developing nations of the world. In each society, roughly 20 to 25 percent constitute this economic elite group.
Though the smallest numerically, yet the rich class accounts for about 75 percent of world income. In other words, 25 percent of the world population (the rich class) accounts for 75 percent of world income while 75 percent of the world population (the low income earners and the middle class) accounts for 25 percent of world income. In fact, the low income earners, the poor class, accounts for a mere 5 percent of global income! What an irony!
"The poorest 40 percent of the world's population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters (75 percent) of world income." (Global Issues, 2008)
The meaning of this statistical data is very glaring:
(1). Wealth acquisition is independent of where you live.
Wherever you live, you can choose to move up the economic ladder. Even in war-torn regions of the world, people have been known to still amass wealth.
(2). Your economic status is never static.
Inflation rate catches up on an income that remains static. If your income does not grow faster than the inflation rate, it will soon be surpassed and you move down the economic ladder. You either move upwards or downwards; you are never financially static. The rich has learnt to multiply his earning ability by causing his "money to work hard for him." The contrast is the case with the middle class and the low income earners, who usually "work hard for money."
(3). To be rich is totally dependent on your Financial IQ.
The more financially intelligent you become, the more you amass wealth. Financial intelligence refers to how much you know about money. How much do you know about wealth creation, which consists of wealth generation, wealth distribution and wealth perpetuation?
Sadly, financial intelligence is usually not part of our present school system curriculum. Most rich people acquire their financial knowledge from people who are already rich. For most poor people, their financial knowledge usually comes from what they learn from their poor parents. Who you relate with financially matters a lot. Who and where do you get financial advise from?
INVESTING IN FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE IS WHAT YOU MUST
DO IF YOU WANT TO CREATE WEALTH.
The Middle Class versus The RichRiches refer to enough wealth that not only meets your socioeconomic demands, but also having extra financial capability to be able to influence your environment. This is what the middle class cannot do. Life as a rich man is better than as a poor man! Never doubt this.
A middle income earner barely meets his needs. He is at life comfortable economic zone. He has enough to be able to provide food for himself and family, live in a decent house, trains his wards in school, and can afford to transport himself around. But he does not have enough to influence his socioeconomic environments.
The middle class individual is limited though not as severe as the poor class. He feels frustrated since his limited financial resources don't allow him to achieve his dreams. Sadness, anguish, anger, resentment and, in severe cases, bitterness set in as he advances in age and seeing his dreams and plans in life unfulfilled. But it is not so with the rich. Life is different for a man of wealth with purpose.
The Power of Money(a)Freedom of expression
"Money is a defense," says the Bible (Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 12, King James Version). Note, defense refers to power or force that maintains security. Money is a force. Wealth is power. A man with wealth has a very powerful force that can influence his society. He can express himself without hindrance. But it is not so with a man of small substance.
Life as a rich man is better and freer than as a poor man if such wealth is not abused. An abuse of riches occurs when their purpose is not known. Large money in the hands of a purposeless man can only bring him misery and, in extreme cases, untimely death. Thus, like every other aspect of success, financial success bestows a high sense of responsibility. Negligence of such responsibilities destroys the success and can even ruin one's life.
(b)Perpetuation of life
Money gives you the ability to replicate and perpetuate your dreams, ideas and purpose. Microsoft Corporation, Walt Disney World, and John Hopkins University are all institutions. The truth about them is that they are all expressions of their founders. For instance, though dead since 1966, yet Walt Disney still perpetuates his ideas and ideals through his Disney products. Who doesn't want to be remembered even after he is dead? The desire to be remembered is an intrinsic nature of humanity. Money allows you to achieve this. What will you be remembered for?
As we have the positive influence of riches, so there is the negative influence. If the rich is crooked, he can use his wealth to subvert justice, enslave the mind, and even destroy life. Many countries in Africa are victims of this. The very few rich have used their wealth to subvert good governance and entrench, in the long run, anarchy.
Wealth Is Now Very AccessibleOne of the benefits of our modern democracy is that it gives everyone opportunity to become rich. There has been no time in recorded human history in which wealth has been more accessible than our time. Since the beginning of industrial revolution in 1750, there has been an exponential growth in global economy. Anyone can now aspire to acquire wealth.
"Using conventional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates over a long historical period, the total amount of goods and services produced in the 20th century is estimated to have exceeded the cumulative total output over the preceding recorded human history. Between the years 1900 and 2000 world GDP at constant prices has increased about 19-fold, corresponding to an average annual rate of growth of 3 percent" (Braford DeLong, "Estimating World GDP, One Million B.C. - Present").
Technology has made wealth very accessible, actualisable, portable and transferable. Solid wealth like gold and houses can easily be converted to neat bundles of dollars, and dispatch from Colorado in United States to Calcutta in India just by clicks of your computer mouse. You can sit in the oil-rich creeks of Niger Delta of Nigeria and negotiate business in the wealthy shops of Paris, France. From the comfort of your home, you can sell and buy any products from anywhere in the world. You can as well program your products to sell 24 hours a day, even while you are sleeping. That is the power of the internet.
You Too Can Be Rich
Though opportunities to be rich abound now much more than ever in human history, yet the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening especially in developing countries.
"More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening" (2007 Human Development Report, United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25).
"The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation" (The Corporate Planet, Corporate Watch, 1997).
But you can choose to be rich and not poor. Riches and poverty are functions of choices. Wealth is a product of ideas; ideas in the mind of an individual produce for him the wealth he desires. Wealth creation begins with an idea. The rich and the poor have one major difference - the mindset. Though the stature and the physical looks may resemble, yet the rich man is world apart from a poor man in his mindset. They think quite differently. They have different perception, different ideas about money. Hence, their language and actions - choices - are totally in contrast.
For instance, the rich usually thinks of his house as an asset (some thing that puts money into his pocket) and acts accordingly but the poor man does not know how to do this. How much do you know about money? Do you know you can make money from the comfort of your home? Is your house an asset or a liability?
P.S.: Watch out for the Part 2 that teaches on how to convert your home to an asset.
About the Author:-----------------------------------------------------------------
Adiari Captain, MD., is an authority on Proven Home Business. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work from the comfort of your home visit:
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