The Poverty Mindset: Two Opposing Views

Not being someone who is recklessly extravagant with my own personal spending, I have heard the charge directed at me in the past that I had a "poverty mindset".  The rationale supporting this notion is that people who think of themselves with low self-esteem tend to also see themselves as being poor and unworthy of the "good" things in life.  The remedy for this, according to those who think they know better, is to avoid selling yourself short in life and instead live it to its fullest, with gusto...because after all, you only go around once in life!  Sounds a bit like a beer commercial, doesn't it?

Well, it's true that for many years when I was single, I lived by myself on a modest income and was rather frugal about how I managed my money.  I chose to live well enough not to suffer...I had my home, transportation adequate for my purposes, and no want of food, clothing, or entertainment.  However, within each of these areas I made economic choices with my money, realizing that it all came out of the pool of funds that I had amassed from my paychecks.  During this time I never went into debt and actually managed to save a tidy sum of money.  Now I have a much better-paying job and, by most people's standards have a reasonable standard of living in this world of today.  Yet I still believe in making wise spending choices, and I respectfully disagree with anyone saying that this is symptomatic of a poverty mindset.  But I'll gladly let anyone know exactly what I consider to be a poverty mindset...

People who, in my opinion, have a true poverty mindset are those whose attitudes and behaviors ensure a chronic condition of debt while any windfall of money that does come their way is quickly spent away on "good living"...which they inevitably see as an important necessity of life.  You know the stories of the lottery winners or young superstar professional athletes and entertainers who spend away their riches and wind up impoverished, if not deeply in debt.  But you don't have to be one of them...if you are constantly dreaming of many things you'd like to experience in life...things that ultimately cost a lot of money...you may find those extra funds you might come across disappearing quickly.  Also, folks living on the financial edge who are susceptible to substance abuse may find, upon getting better-paying employment or a favorable break in their housing situation, that those old addictions have returned, sucking away the extra money that they could have been saving for a better life...

I'm not criticizing anyone for dreaming...I do, too.  But you can't have everything, and simple economics dictates that.  It is normal to have to make choices about money based on what you have and how much things cost.  That is reality, not a "poverty mindset"...

I believe that those with true poverty mindsets are essentially unhappy people who lack a capacity for contentment and appreciation for what they already have in life.  They tend to compare themselves with others...especially with those who seem to have more education, a more prestigious job, a bigger house, a snazzier car, lots of world-hopping travel experiences, and so on...with the conclusion that their own lives are comparatively lacking in meaning.  You cannot satisfy people like this and I doubt that they would ever be content even were they to achieve all of their material and worldly dreams...