Many people automatically attribute wealth and success to a special talent, competence, and intelligence. However, in reality, luck plays a significant role in most achievements.
Confidence can make people convinced of their own abilities, but it can also make them careless. When they fail, they not only lose their money but often lose faith in themselves as well. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the United States.
From Rich Manager to Poor RetireeAntonio shares the story of his impoverished uncle. In his forties, Antonio's 68-year-old uncle lost his job as a top manager at a British company and couldn't find employment ever since. When he was fired, he had amassed quite a fortune.
Due to medical emergencies, depression, bad friendships, and poor decisions, he squandered his wealth in less than 20 years and is now completely penniless, living a frugal life as a retiree.
No More Than One or Two FriendsWhen he was rich, Antonio's uncle was surrounded by friends. He fondly remembers the fantastic adventures, dinners, and anecdotes he shared with them. But when his money ran out and he fell into depression, some of these friends passed away or faced family problems, causing the group to disband. Now, he has no more than one or two friends.
Antonio's uncle still remembers the names of all the top Italian restaurants. Every time Antonio tells him about visiting a new city, his uncle tells him where to eat and what to order.
From VIP to Public PatientHis once wealthy uncle can no longer afford to visit a dentist when a tooth hurts. He had to wait 16 months to get treatment for a hernia because he couldn't afford a private doctor.
As his funds dwindled, he had to sell all his wonderful Persian carpets—one by one—that adorned his home in Venice. When only the last two carpets remained, he gave one to Antonio and one to Antonio's parents as gifts.
Unexpected LessonsGeorge from the USA tells us about the years he lived in poverty. What helped him was having a goal in mind—a goal that motivated him to get up every day and work on his comeback.
Nobody enjoys working just to earn money for food and rent. George had a North Star, a future goal. That gave him the strength to accomplish even mundane tasks every day.
400 HeirsHave you ever heard of Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad (Indian royalty)? Once the richest man in the world, his descendants now possess only a minuscule fraction of his wealth.
He had an insatiable appetite for women and fathered children with 86 mistresses in his harem. In total, he had more than 100 illegitimate children. As a result, by the 1990s, the eligible beneficiaries of his wealth had swelled to 400 legal heirs.
Another Indian aristocrat who saw his dynasty fade was the Mahapatra of Tigiria. He had a fleet of 25 luxury cars and lived in a palace with 30 servants. However, his wealth vanished after India gained independence when he lost the tax revenues of his state.
In 1960, he had to sell his palace and shortly after, he also separated from his wife. In 1975, the government revoked his remaining royal privileges, and he lost his annual income. Today, he lives in a dilapidated mud hut covered in cobwebs, relying on villagers to bring him rice and lentils for lunch.
She Must Support Her Six ChildrenLet's not forget Sultana Begum, the wife of Bahadur Shah Zafar's great-grandson. After her husband's death, her life was reduced to a meager pension, which she must use to support her six children.
The heiress is forced to live in a tiny two-room hut in a slum area of Kolkata. She shares a kitchen with her neighbors and washes herself on the street using water from public taps.
I Left Everything BehindTeodora Motateanu was born into a wealthy family. She left her childhood home when she was still a minor. With nothing. She started from scratch. At 23, she had a house, an old car, and a good job. Then a better house and a better car.
Due to a toxic relationship, she lost all her wealth along with two years of her life. Once again, she worked her way up from nothing. Today, she is doing well again. She lives in a beautiful house once more.
It's the Survival of the FittestTeodora Motateanu is certain that many people mistakenly feel secure just because they currently have a good job and money in their bank account. But all of that can change in an instant.
We are nothing more than a spider building and rebuilding its web on a universal level. Sure, you can choose to resist it. In the end, it's the survival of the fittest.
Suddenly, I Was HomelessCromwest has also experienced a great deal. He went from being in the middle class to being poor and eventually back to the upper middle class. His brother was hit by a car as a child and spent several months in a coma.
His family slowly went bankrupt, and his parents tried to counteract it by opening a business that failed because they were cut off from access to credit during the stock market crash.
Fall and RiseCromwest became a traveling salesman. However, he wasn't a good salesperson and barely made ends meet for a while. At the age of 22, he decided to join the army.
He spent three years there and was able to pay off all his debts. Upon leaving the army, he had a degree in civil engineering. Now he has a highly-paid job and is likely to do well for the foreseeable future.
An anonymous author wrote about how their career had been destroyed three times, each time by a sociopath. Yet each time, they hit rock bottom and managed to climb their way back up.
But they were fortunate to have an inner spark that kept them from giving up. They had long-term dreams of how they could contribute to humanity with certain things, and that kept them going. Because they had to fulfill these things - not for themselves, but for a higher purpose.
Important LessonsJonathan Natera explains that while he didn't lose a fortune, he experienced wild income fluctuations due to the trickle-down effects of the banking crisis. What he felt was a shock to his deep belief in his responsibility to provide for his family.
Going from the possibility of buying a luxury vehicle in cash to the looming threat of losing their home within less than a year was like a gut punch.
Fortune in MisfortuneJonathan now shares how he and his wife learned some very powerful lessons that they want to share with the rest of the world. No material possession is everlasting. Instead, we should cultivate solid, loving relationships.
In good times and bad, we should be guided by humility. True humility can actually have a stabilizing influence on your thoughts and goals. And once again, we hear about the positive effects of having a North Star.
A New UnderstandingJonathan Natera sums up his experiences: "When we lost all our money, we realized that there is an asset that is truly more important at the end of the day. Ultimately, we may all have different fortunes, but we all have an equal amount of something else: time."
What if your life goal was something else? Zero debt. Less financial burden. Fewer possessions. What if your goal was not to make more money than before, but to have more time?
From Living in Beverly Hills to a Taxi DriverJonathan Chen shared the story of a family member who went from a net worth of over $5 million and a life in Beverly Hills to becoming a taxi driver.
From an outside perspective, it's hard to comprehend how one can lose such a large sum of money. The common reaction is, "You should have just put it in the bank!"
Letting GoChen continues to say that the relative can't fully let go of their glorious past. In fact, they tell all their taxi passengers about the mansion they used to live in.
Unfortunately, this relative seemed to prefer blaming everyone else for their problems rather than coming to terms with their situation. The lesson for Jonathan was to always stay conservative in his investments, live below his means, and above all, not get divorced.
An anonymous author described feeling physically ill when they lost their wealth. However, once they adjusted, they realized that the human soul is a spiritual unity.
They knew they wouldn't starve. They had always had great empathy for people who have to worry daily about whether they will eat or where they will stay.
Parents Discuss Financial Situation OpenlyAn anonymous writer shares that their family was never wealthy, but when they were young, their parents were employed and able to provide for their autistic brother and them. Then their father lost his job.
Their mother managed to support the family on her own for almost ten years. However, in the last four months, everything fell apart. They had to move out of their childhood home because it was foreclosed.
From $350 Million to ZeroRichard McCargar shares his story of going from a net worth of $350 million to zero in less than a year. Over the course of a decade, he built an international company with 35,000 employees.
His partner was imprisoned in Europe for defrauding one of the countries of $14 million in tax subsidies. Then many of their biggest customers switched to other manufacturers.
A Downward SpiralEverything started to crumble, and it was impossible to stop the rush on their production facilities as more and more customers grew concerned. Their company lost $350 million in revenue in less than a year.
He had been flying over 200,000 miles per year for business and working 80-hour weeks. Tremendous stress. When it was all over, he had fewer friends and overwhelming debt. But he gained a lot of time to spend with his family.
Downward Path through MarriageKawaii reveals working with a woman who "married down" from her family lineage, rejected their money, and moved away to have children and live in a townhouse in a normal part of town.
Her parents tried to convince her that she wasn't capable of tasks like cleaning her own house or being the primary caregiver for her children. Seeing that she could do it gave her a lot of self-worth.
I Can't Have Everything I Want AnymoreScrappy_Larue shared that their income is currently only about 15% of what it was many years ago. They are still doing well, and their current expenses are only a fraction of what they used to be.
For them, the biggest adjustment was stopping the use of credit. With credit, everything feels within reach. Only later, often too late, do we realize how difficult it is to repay those debts.
Peter writes about his uncle-in-law who was a wealthy businessman and made a fortune with a very simple business. He bought western boots and cowboy hats in downtown LA from wholesalers and sold them in other states.
Then the recession hit. He sold his house, cars, and boat. He moved into a small apartment and started working for another relative who handled shipping and receiving in his warehouse. Essentially, his wealth disappeared from one season to the next.
It's really sadtsim12345 shares a story about their aunt. She married a millionaire right after high school. Let me just say that she has always been crazy. Very beautiful, but very crazy.
Then she found out he was cheating on her, and she burned all her clothes, jewelry, and belongings in a huge fire but refused to take a single cent from him in the divorce. I was a baby at the time.
Avoiding DebtMostly, the hardest part was not having "extra" or "play" money. I used to buy expensive clothes and eat out all the time. Now, I mostly eat at home and tend to alter old clothes instead of buying new ones. I'm also very conscious of prices and haven't taken a vacation in over three years.
I avoid debt like the plague. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. Items are only purchased on my credit card if I know I can pay them off immediately. Honestly, it's exhausting. I don't feel deprived, but I do feel constrained and trapped in a way I never did before.
He Lost Everything in the EndMy father was quite wealthy and earned a lot of money. He lost his job (working in finance) a few years before the financial crisis. He took two years off to deal with a lawsuit that didn't go as he hoped. In the end, he lost a ton during the crash, and the house went into foreclosure.
But aside from that, it really taught me the value of a dollar and hard work. I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today if that hadn't happened because I worked damn hard to earn a lot of money and regain a form of life I used to have and wanted for the future.
We Were BrokeDiarrhea_Mouth writes: My father sold a lot of weed in the 90s, worth millions of dollars per year. When he got busted, we were broke. I would say the hardest things were.
And when you got hurt in the end, don't even think about going to the doctor. The Rite Aid's first aid department became my friend. Where we would sleep that night and whether we could sleep there the next day.
How People Treat You Differentlymejetertresloin writes: I went from upper middle class to working class, and the hardest part was how differently people treat you when you have side jobs to make ends meet.
That's America, but you're definitely not a hero for busting your butt to get by — you're just a loser who deserves what they get. My situation has improved in that I no longer have to have side jobs and somehow magically don't get treated like a loser anymore.
Patrick Carey shares a story: Around 2009, my family went on vacation in the Palm Beaches and we decided to have lunch at a local restaurant. The only available seating for three people was at the bar, so we sat there to place our order.
Next to me sat an older, sophisticated, and visibly distressed gentleman, and we struck up a conversation. I quickly learned that the recent financial crisis had taken its toll on him and many of his friends. He said something that I will never forget. I asked him what the main reason for their financial problems was, and he replied.
M&MCrackerSentry writes: My mother came from an affluent family. They were government officials, lawyers, and had vast estates in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era. My mother was given everything; they had chauffeurs, maids, cooks, and cleaners who took care of everything for them.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the introduction of the new currency, they lost all their money as they had never invested and the banks collapsed.
Currently, the hardest thing for my mother is having to become a maid in a wealthy family. And she cries herself to sleep. She struggles to provide for us, take care of us, and take care of herself. But she does a great job, and I am blessed and grateful to have her.
Tim Lee shares his storyGrowing up, my family was doing well. My father owned a multimillion-dollar alterations company that had contracts with MGM for their Cirque du Soleil shows. We had a 4-bedroom house in California and went on vacations and cruises every year.
On his second try, he managed to open a relatively successful retail store in Vegas. It did well enough to support us, pay for the apartment I lived in, and another bedroom in Vegas where my parents stayed to oversee the business. I was around 12 at that time.
Continuation by Tim LeeAfter my father believed his business was stable, he moved me and my sister to Vegas. He was able to buy a 3-bedroom house, and things were looking good again. Then the 2008 crisis hit, and my father lost his business again, went bankrupt, and our house was foreclosed.
Overall, it was a gradual change over about 13 years. I just fought through the setbacks, but as I grew up and went to college, I realized how many doors were actually closed to me because of financial issues. I became conscious of money and how much it affects me today. I started thinking about everything that had a monetary value and became more frugal overall.
I was broke for a monthI was broke for a month. Well, my parents had a lot of money, but I didn't want to ask them for more support. When my research funding got delayed, I had to apply to every restaurant I came across.
I ate on a budget of $3 a day, which got me food worth 800 calories. I lost around 50 pounds. I managed to get a job as a construction supervisor. And literally on the Friday before my first week, I received an email from my program informing me that my funding had come through.
I still cook from scratchMy wife and I were a successful couple. Two brand-new cars paid off. Six-figure savings. We restored a stone farmhouse on seven acres. We indulged – a lot.
Now, I live off my social security. I buy 2 bottles of wine a month instead of 20. I clip coupons. I've traded in my three-piece suits for jeans. But I still cook from scratch, and when the budget allows, I make a great Manhattan.