| There's actually more to it than that. It's worth noting that there is a not insignificant number of people who are poor because they make (financially) poor decisions. I say this completely not in a way that's judgmental or dismissive of the issues poorer people have (in the US in particular). There are a number of reasons for this. Decision fatigue [1] is one of them. So when you have anything from a moderate amount of wealth, you probably know that time, patience and a little financial discipline is all that's required to preserve and even grow that wealth. Have you ever noticed that it's mostly poor people who buy lottery tickets [2]? Likewise it's the poor who disproportionately fall for "get rich quick" schemes. Some of this you can attribute to bad judgment but also desperation plays a part. I mean, if you have $1000, what does a 10% return net you? $100? Who cares? But what if it could turn into $100,000? Now that'd be something! I suspect this plays into the gullibility of many when it comes to scams. So in the Steadman case I imagine there was some of that but I also suspect many (or even most) investors were just trying to invest in their future without the promise of 1000x returns and just got duped. Don't discount the "get rich quick" mentality though. I've seen this first hand. My father and uncle spent their entire lives trying to get rich quick. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-fro... [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/lotteri... |