Did anyone else watch the ESPN mini film on pro athletes that go broke? The film "Broke" talked about famous athletes who either thought they were rich and weren't, or thought they were going to be rich forever. For professional athletes, if they came into money, every single person around them represented negative dollars. It is almost like that scene in "Oceans 13" when they rig the casino and put up each persons earnings floating above their head. Tyson had it the worst because the people that were making him money were stealing it from him. He also owned 4 bengal tigers, and a thief tried to steal one, got mauled, AND THEN SUED TYSON!!!! I think the only way a professional athlete can retain their money, is by dumping every bill into a rocket and shooting it up to space.
American's and especially kids who have grown up from the suburbs have many fears implanted in their head. Getting diarrhea while riding a bicycle and going broke are the top 2 that come to mind. Everyone has their own personal fears, but I think the above are widely accepted.
Why is going broke such a huge fear? To picture ourselves going broke all we have to do is look at the random homeless people holding up signs at the on ramps to highways, or the people living under a bridge on 93 south. I don't think this is true though, I don't think this is how we are when we go broke. I think the people who are at that stage in their lives are there because they let something take over their lives. Maybe they had early childhood trauma and that has led to a serious drug addiction, or maybe they are just drug addicts. Either way, if I could pick out one of my friends to go broke, I don't think there are any that wouldn't bounce back quickly.
The whole American system is based on not going broke. I'm not saying its based on getting rich, I think that's much different. America has social security and welfare and medicaid etc…all these programs prevent people from having nothing and take away from people having everything. Yes people pay into them their whole lives, but they never get out nearly as much as they put in. While America was growing it was the land of opportunity, I don't think we have that same mentality any more.
For poker players, going broke is about the worst possible thing they can do. Their whole leverage on making money is solely dependent on their bankroll. The more money they have, the higher stakes they can play. The ROI at higher stakes is much lower, but it is still much more profitable. They can also endure a downswing so long as they don't degen or live too comfortably.
I'll try to wrap this up with a conclusion that makes sense. The way we were raised, the life that our parents brought us into, we need money. People say that their are kids in African tribes who have 5 pennies to their name and are happier then us. Guess what, we aren't in Africa, and I don't care about them. It is all relative to what your standard for living is. For myself, I need to have a certain amount of money in my savings account, otherwise I will be on edge in my day to day life, and ultimately unhappy. To an extent my bank account does dictate how my life will be, but only in a negative way if I don't have enough. I don't think if I had 50k more in my bank account it would really change my happiness, or what I do.
The fear of going broke is real, its real for everyone, and having a comfortable amount of money is much more important than having all the money in the world.
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