A post on facebook about the Singaporean Socio-economic status went viral and drew huge reactions from the public. I shall let the pictures do its talking:
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| Apparently the text in an assessment book for secondary 3 Social Studies students. |
The Straits Times also similarly published an article "New study finds clear divide among social classes in Singapore, Dec 29, 17'" in which it listed certain points such as:
1. Singaporeans who live in public housing have fewer than one friend who lives in private housing.
(This implies that the rich and poor seldom mix together)
2. People who study in elite schools also tend to be less close to those in non-elite schools, and vice versa. (People tend to engage only "their own kind")
And the divide is growing.
There are many reasons why the two groups' gap are getting ever wider. This is because the predominant concerns, goals in life, experiences and several other factors like jobs tend to be very different. This inevitably causes them not to engage and interact much with one another.
And the divide is growing.
There are many reasons why the two groups' gap are getting ever wider. This is because the predominant concerns, goals in life, experiences and several other factors like jobs tend to be very different. This inevitably causes them not to engage and interact much with one another.
Rich Getting Richer, Poor Getting Poorer
Articles like these only serve to fuel and stir up emotions against the rich, but are they to blame for being rich?
Contrary to popular belief, the rich does not become richer because they exploited the poor. The poor also does not become poorer because the rich exploited them. The simple truth is that there are certain factors influencing why this is the trend although they don't correlate to one another.
Usually, the poor become poorer because of a lack of access to information, making poor decisions because they did not know the options available to them (including very bad financial decisions). The rich got richer not necessarily from exploiting the poor. They merely made better decisions because they had access to the right information, resources and networks. These made sure they made more right decisions that wrong decisions.
Can the poor(er) get rich(er)?
Articles like these only serve to fuel and stir up emotions against the rich, but are they to blame for being rich?
Contrary to popular belief, the rich does not become richer because they exploited the poor. The poor also does not become poorer because the rich exploited them. The simple truth is that there are certain factors influencing why this is the trend although they don't correlate to one another.
Usually, the poor become poorer because of a lack of access to information, making poor decisions because they did not know the options available to them (including very bad financial decisions). The rich got richer not necessarily from exploiting the poor. They merely made better decisions because they had access to the right information, resources and networks. These made sure they made more right decisions that wrong decisions.
Can the poor(er) get rich(er)?
Jack Ma was an English teacher in 1995 who got exposed to literally "new" technology that was non-existent in China at that point of time: The Internet. He took action and set up Alibaba into what it is today. Granted that it wasn't a guaranteed success, the fact that he got exposed to new knowledge changed the way he thought. He saw that there was a gap to be closed and that the internet would be where he could set up a business. He was never a programmer/technical geek but he knew how to access these information to his benefit.
What will our response be?
For the longest time, we have already known that there is indeed a divide. The question is what we could do to ensure that we at least to not lose out.
Take investments for example. It is true that the richer have greater access to platforms and tools that we as normal retail investors would never be able to access. However, in this age of information technology, the barrier to knowledge is not that far anymore. It is only whether we pay attention to the available information to us and act accordingly on them.
As Jack Ma himself puts it, "if you are still poor at 35, you (probably) deserve it."
Get rid of your excuses today.
Until next time,
K.C.
If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well.
Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first
What will our response be?
For the longest time, we have already known that there is indeed a divide. The question is what we could do to ensure that we at least to not lose out.
Take investments for example. It is true that the richer have greater access to platforms and tools that we as normal retail investors would never be able to access. However, in this age of information technology, the barrier to knowledge is not that far anymore. It is only whether we pay attention to the available information to us and act accordingly on them.
As Jack Ma himself puts it, "if you are still poor at 35, you (probably) deserve it."
Get rid of your excuses today.
Until next time,
K.C.
If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well.
Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first
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