The blog we chose is titled Get Rich Slowly. It is a blog created by J.D. Roth, an “accidental finance expert” who studied his way out of his own debt, but features blog posts from other contributors. Get Rich Slowly was created in 2006 to inform people in debt on how to successfully escape it, from Roth’s own personal experiences. The blog was intended to give people tips to accomplish goals that can take decades to achieve. The mascot of the website is a turtle, signifying the slow growth and time something’s like saving for retirement or college, buying a home, or creating a rainy day fund can take. Most recent posts to the blog range in topics from Halloween spending to international debt. The targeted audience of the blog is middle and working class America, specifically trying to find liberation in these tough economic times.
We chose this blog because it addresses the lingering class issues in America. It clarifies myths of the middle and working class and addresses issues they face. The title of the blog was also a deciding factor in why we chose it. The middle and working classes typically accumulate their wealth slowly, as the blog’s title insists. The title also references how the middle and working classes are always trying to climb the social ladder through wealth, but this is not an overnight process. The blog provides inspiration to a group of people who need it, seeing that in these tough times they seem to be suffering most.
• Do you believe that people can “get rich quick” or do you think that wealth is accumulated over periods of time?
• Do you believe that one person’s way of escaping debt can work for everyone?
• Is the turtle mascot a good representation of the middle and working class?
• Are saving for home buying, retirement, or college goals that people in the middle class can actually achieve?
After reading the blog and looking at the questions asked I was interested in the question, can people get rich quick or do you acquire wealth over time? I believe that being rich and being wealthy are two entirely different things. I feel that being wealthy does take time because one must acquire wealth. Wealth can be many things, it can be ones house, ones car, while being rich refers directly to ones money. On the other hand I believe one can get rich quick by winning the lottery or even successfully robbing a bank. You can’t get ‘wealthy quick.’ In regard to another question I think everyone has his or her own way of escaping debt. Some literally try to escape it by illegal means such as fleeing the country or stealing items while others simply work hard to get out of debt. I think the turtle is a great symbol of the working class because the working class is constantly in a slow struggle to get ahead. I really liked this blog because the man who wrote it has first hand experience with debt. Knowing many people in debt I was interested in other people’s coping mechanisms.
ReplyDelete-miranda granche
I think that people can get rich by working hard. The American Dream is still alive. The capitalistic idea of getting rich by hard work existed since many centuries. But I don't think that there is one way which works for everyone. You need to have a work which is better and more creative than others. The turtle mascot is not the best choice in my opinion. No one wants to identify with a slow animal. Saving and knowledge about expenses and finance always helps to live your life more successful. In general that blog is really interesting in terms of our course theme because it is a good reflection of class warfare.
ReplyDeleteMaximilian Mogg
I believe the ability to become wealthy depends on the individual, both for the means by which somebody obtains wealth and how quickly they do so. I think that the means of "getting rich slowly" that the blog presents could be applicable to many people, however, the advice given to the blog may not be relevant to everyone.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I am not sure that the blog means to use the turtle as a symbol of the working and middle classes, but rather as merely a reminder that sometimes obtaining money is a slow and difficult process. Therefore, I feel that the means, ability, and rate at which somebody obtains wealth depends on the individual.
In our society,every one dreams to be rich.But it is not always come true. I think some people can get the good chance to be richer quickly. But it is not randomly for everyone, the good opportunity is for prepare people.People can not get everything they want without devoting whatever time,money or labor. People of middle class or work class will work hard to pay the bill for children’s tuition,house, retirement and cars and so on. They hope they can live better and need to struggle. May be it is hard to have saving every month but we still try on it.Do the best we can do.
ReplyDeleteIt is very rare that someone can get rich quick. Only if they have a groundbreaking idea and the means to implement it, such as Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook. For most people it takes years of education followed by years of hard work. I don't think the turtle symbolizes the working class, its just a symbol for getting rich slowly. I do think saving for home buying, retirement, and college goals are realistic for middle class people, they just have to plan their strategies for doing so wisely.
ReplyDeleteI think for the majority people wealth is accumulated over periods of time.Everyone wants to get rich quickly but only some can earn a lot of money in a short period of time.It takes time and opportunity to make a fortune in a proper way.Many talented people fail to become rich because they can get enough chance to show their talent.Of course,there are some easy way to get a lot of money fast like winning the lottery or get great legacy from relatives.But it also does not happen to every one since it requires amazing luck or wealthy family relatives.Other way like selling drugs or robber the bank is dangerous and illegal ,which would cause us a lot of trouble. The best way to become a rich man is do your current job well and and get prepared for the upcoming opportunity.You would find success more meaningful when you earn it with great effort.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is interesting and probably contains some quite helpful information. While I agree that the most sure way to accumulate wealth is slowly over time by making smart investments and saving more than spending, I still think it’s possible to get rich quick. After all, that is basically the American Dream. I think that everyone, no matter what class they’re in, desires to come up with that one brilliant idea that will allow them to never have to work again. But like everything in life, you should plan for the worst and hope for the best. By this I mean that people should save their money and spend intelligently but at the same time, never give up that hope and drive to make it big.
ReplyDeleteAs Echo said, everyone dreams to be rich. However, there is a definite limit of that people in working class and middle class overcome their their difficulties and become rich. I agree that if people, especially people in working or middle class, work hard, they can accumulate 'some' savings or wealth. Nevertheless, the amount of money they've saved can't be utilized to make them in working class and middle class to be rich. Although American Dream is still exists, its for people who have possessed enough amount of money, not just 200 or 300 dollars but 10million to 20million dollars, to invest themselves to be more opulent. By the way, I think the motto of the website is really good, "don't rush to become rich, but take a time in gathering money."
ReplyDeleteI believe that a turtle is a good symbol for the lower and middle class. This is because there are no “get rich quick” schemes that actually work. Of course there will always be a handful of people that create a great idea or win the lottery, but for most people, this will not be the case. Therefore, the way to get rich is to slowly trudge toward the goal of financial wealth. If you slowly accumulate wealth, you have a better chance of becoming rich as opposed to trying to hit the lottery and become rich in a matter of seconds. Yet it is not guaranteed everyone will get rich. Some people must accept the fact they will never be rich, but they can still hope to advance to a higher position in their own class.
ReplyDeleteI think nowadays people have little opportunities in terms of accumulating material goods. Particularly, during this time it is excessively tough to double annual incomes in short periods of time. Since true wealth is accumulated over a long periods of time, some people may find demanding and competitive to become rich quickly. Because, wealth requires hard work at what people do in work. They also have to find a way to make money on that side. Once again, I believe that wealth requires unique cognitive work, smartness and honesty in everyday life. Besides that I think people can get saving money and get rich slowly by cutting costs on buying home, retirement and college plans because it important to notice that how little things can make a big difference. People do not start with big but little. Everyone wants to get rich quickly, but the truth is that most people who get rich do it slowly. On the other hand, if people get lucky (i.e. winning lottery tickets) along the line and make a million quick, that is a grand outcome for them.
ReplyDeleteJake Johnson
ReplyDeleteI think in some cases, it is actually possible to get rich quickly. For example, if you win the lottery, you can be rich immediately. Obviously this isn’t exactly what the question is asking about though. In a lot of ways, it’s not possible to get rich quick. Even if you have a million dollar idea, you still need to try to come up with a way to sell it, and then even if it starts making money right away, it will take you spending money to become prepared to launch your idea to a bigger scale, to accommodate for the high demand for your product.
Debt is a tricky issue. One person’s plan to escape debt will not work for another person. When cutting debt, one of the things you need to do is cut spending. Each person will then choose to cut certain things out of their spending, but for each person, wants and needs are different. Therefore, for each person to cut spending, they will end up cutting different things out of their spending.
On the topic of saving money, I think everyone can do it. Some people, sure, will have problems if they try to save money, and can’t afford to live their lives if they put any money aside, but this is on the low end of a lower class. For a middle class, they can afford to live their lives, and still be saving money on the side for certain things such as college, retirement, home buying, etc. They may have to cut certain things out of their spending, but realistically, they can put money aside for saving while still having enough to live life.
I think this topic is very interesting. Because China is in this situation that GDP develops rapidly. It looks like a good thing for our country’s economy, however, under such a beautiful and prosperous increasing rate; there is a big hidden danger for national economic crisis. The economic bubble is established by many crazy speculative activities. The greedy businessmen utilize the huge rice difference of selling and buying real estate to become rich one night. This situation is popular in China recent decade that causes middle class and lower class who really demand house for live cannot afford such a virtual high housing price. Once the balance of supply-demand relations are broken seriously, more and more people have living problems, the government will face a big challenge to micro control the speculated market. So that Get Rich Slowly is an appeal for not only individual rich people but also for the whole nation.
ReplyDeleteI think only a little people can get rich quickly. They may win the lottery or get rich from stock. Most people must accumulate their wealth before they get rich. We study hard to have a good job in the future. Because if we have a good job, we can earn more money.But we can not get rich at the very beginning of the job. We need to work hard all the time. Then we can get promotion and get more money from our work. I do not believe one can get what he wants if he does not keep working hard.However, as I grow up, I see some facts that there are so many unequal things in the world. In my country, the relationships between people are so complex. One who does not know anything can get a good job just because his family have strong social position. Although I feel so sad, I still work hard. Because if we do not try, we will not have any chance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cindyqian. people get rich by many reasons like working hard on their school get satisfying job or by winning lottery. The other way that helps people get rich is to know the business and working on it to attract people to their market. Athletics or sport industry is other thing that can make people rich. The Team of sport owner plus the athletes themselves get good many in this situation. The other thing help people to be rich is creating new technology that can attract world this in turn increase their market. Politician are also rich peoples. Because the small group who lead the country earn much money than regular worker.
ReplyDeleteGetting yourself out of debt can be tricky if you buy into debt relief. Do they really work? My personal belief is that anyone can get out of debt themselves by simply trying and having the will and motivation to do so. Getting rich quick is basically being lucky or ingenious, using others to buy into a triangle type sales program is one of the oldest tricks in the book(the old book of tricks). Using common sense and learning the tools of business and finance anyone can get out of debt and/or acquire wealth.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it's up to the person on how to "get rich quicky" and also on what it is they do. I feel that there are only a few way to get rich just like what everyone else has been saying with winning the lottery and everything else. I believe it all has to do with luck cause i heard of someone who came up with an invention and dropped out of college and is set for life. It all depends on how you plan on becoming rich quickly.
ReplyDeleteI think personal experience can not be suitable for everybody because there can't be an absolutely same situation. But I think some solution and suggestion can be considered to deal with problems we are facing with. Cause we know that most of the investors in the financial market lose money. And only few people can make money which take most of the money from normal people. And if we do the same thing, it can be taken advantage of by the rich people and the bankers. This might cause us to lose more money rather than gain wealth.
ReplyDelete