Wealth is a Snowball, not a Progress Bar

Everyone knows the loading bar whether it be from video games, a video buffering or a loading screen on a website. They help to manage expectations while giving a visual update for the person waiting to help with patience. Along with the progress bar there is the ETA (estimate time of arrival) or how long the expected wait is to be. Now loading bars and ETAs don't move at a constant rate and they can be quite erratic, but we each have a progress bar in our lives whether we track it or not. Our wealth.  

Are Billionaires Charitable, or Do We Just Like to Complain?

Everyone likes to be charitable from time to time, especially around Christmas, but billionaires tend to get a lot of attention and scrutiny about their donations. Is it fair? Jeff Bezos in 2019 donated 98.5 million dollars to help the homeless. His net worth as of writing this is 241.1 billion USD which equates to 0.041% (0.00041) of his net worth. For an apples to apples comparison the average Canadian's net worth is $519,700 which would be like donating $213.08 to the homeless. A bit of money but not extremely charitable at all. If you look at the picture below yes, if you compare to income of $50,000 that would equant to $20.5 (he is worth a lot more now (ratios))     

  

Would you Rather?

Starting Young

When I was in high school, my friends and I had a knack for making dumb bets. It’s probably pretty standard behavior for teenage boys, but for us, it was a mix of amusement and opportunism. We’d bet a dollar on dares like licking a railing or eating a bug. To us, it was cheap entertainment, but for the person taking the dare, it was a quick way to earn a dollar—enough to help pay for a pop or lunch.

Back then, in 2005, the minimum wage was $7.45 per hour, which breaks down to about 12.4 cents per minute. Completing one of these silly dares in seconds could earn the equivalent of eight minutes of work. If you were to scale that up, you’d be earning $60 per hour—a pretty decent rate by anyone’s standards.

This led me to think more deeply about trade-offs, which are at the heart of every decision we make, especially when it comes to money.

Cell Phone Plan Optional?

Cell phones are everywhere. You cannot find anyone over the age of 12 that doesn't have one constantly on their person day and night. Most people don't actually use their phone as a phone. Cell phones are just an overloaded computer in a nice slimmed down format. Calling a cell phone a phone is a bit of a misnomer and really diminishes the full potential of the device. Here is a small list of things they are capable of.