I mostly agree with you… but: 1. You created a false dichotomy where budgeting excludes investing, then said you can’t ever make money with budgeting, because by definition anything that is in your budget cannot make money—but spending on a house instead of rent, for example, clearly violates that assumption. 2. Budgeting can include time, in addition to money, and among other things, that matters because income isn’t a fixed quantity over time. Things that people can do to use time to drastically change income include starting businesses, or taking night classes to get a more lucrative job. 3. The last point is conflating questions, because yes, inheriting or a trust fund is already being rich (but inheritances and trust funds are not the same thing!) However, most second and third generation nouveau riche folks do, in fact, spend down and waste the inherited fortune, once they are old enough to actually inherit instead of living on a managed trust fund.
I mostly agree with you… but:
1. You created a false dichotomy where budgeting excludes investing, then said you can’t ever make money with budgeting, because by definition anything that is in your budget cannot make money—but spending on a house instead of rent, for example, clearly violates that assumption.
2. Budgeting can include time, in addition to money, and among other things, that matters because income isn’t a fixed quantity over time. Things that people can do to use time to drastically change income include starting businesses, or taking night classes to get a more lucrative job.
3. The last point is conflating questions, because yes, inheriting or a trust fund is already being rich (but inheritances and trust funds are not the same thing!) However, most second and third generation nouveau riche folks do, in fact, spend down and waste the inherited fortune, once they are old enough to actually inherit instead of living on a managed trust fund.