3 Myths That Rob Millions
Of Financial Success
When it comes to achieving personal success or accumulating wealth in America, there is no one "set-in-stone" path. But the most accepted formula still seems to be: make excellent grades, earn a college degree, and climb the corporate ladder by outworking everyone around you.
In an ever-changing business world, however, some entrepreneurs say that traditional thinking is misguided and outdated – and that it can be self-limiting to those who buy into it and fall short of those standards.
“There’s a lot of poisonous conventional wisdom we’ve heard all of our life, things that hold many great people back,” says Daniel Ameduri (www.futuremoneytrends.com), co-founder of the Future Money Trends newsletter. “Much of what we’re led to believe leads to success is really a collection of myths. And they become obstacles in our path when we feel we can’t measure up.
“But if you start to believe in yourself, you can overcome the many negative roadblocks that can be deeply embedded in our subconscious minds.”
Ameduri goes over three common myths that interfere with people’s potential:
Get great grades and degrees. Many successful and wealthy people never graduated from college, and recently some of America’s biggest brands removed college diplomas from their job requirements. “High grades and a degree can certainly help you,” Ameduri says, “but this very thought has held back millions. Study after study of millionaires has proven that GPAs and college play a very limited role. This belief actually has the biggest negative effect on people who were straight-A students, but later went on to face rejection in business and in life. This belief has also held back millions who think they aren’t smart enough to achieve greatness due to poor or average grades in school.”
Work harder than everybody. “Let’s change it to, ‘Work smarter,’ ” Ameduri says. “I would encourage anyone who has any influence on a child to replace this with ‘work smarter.’ Success does come with sacrifice, but working 12-to-16-hour days is not mandatory. However, maximizing your time and covering details, like researching your investments, is required. I know many people who want to get rich, but then spend their entire Saturday mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, and doing other $10-an-hour jobs. Is that really the best use of their time? And how about time spent in meetings? My honest conclusion is that meetings are where productivity goes to die. If you want something done, use email, make written offers and proposals, and then get it done.”
‘Jobs are safe; business is risky.’ “Jobs are just as risky, not only because you can be fired or laid off, but because you cap your income,” Ameduri says. “If you’re a school teacher and you over-deliver, it probably won’t change your income. Own a tutoring company and over-deliver, and you’ll receive tips, bonuses, gifts, and can raise your rates. The income equation is simple: deliver value.”
“Belief in one’s self, discipline, and perception of risk,” Ameduri says, “have a lot more to do with becoming successful or even a multi-millionaire and living your own dream life.”
About Daniel Ameduri
Daniel Ameduri (www.FutureMoneyTrends.com) is co-founder of the Future Money Trends newsletter, an authority for financial freedom and economic research in commodities, cryptocurrencies, personal finance and income ideas. A self-made multi-millionaire, Ameduri also has a YouTube channel, VisionVictory, that has received 10 million video views. He’s also been featured in The Wall Street Journal and ABC World News.
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A weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else — from the nation’s leading voice on education innovation and opportunity.
KIDS LOSE THE KENTUCKY DERBY. It was déjà-vu all over again, but not in the humorous sense Yogi Berra meant, as Kentucky once again failed to fund any charter schools. The state has authorized charter schools, but has failed to appropriate any funds for the program. A whiff of hypocrisy hovers over those actions. Blue Grass legislators need to take to heart the advice of Yoda, “Either do or do not – there is no try.”
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE APPALACHIAN WATER? On the heels of the failure of freedom in Kentucky, West Virginia joined the shame parade by turning its back on the necessity of meaningful options to save children’s futures. While we cue the music to “Deliverance”, enjoy this spot-on editorial describing the bullying and cravenness in the Mountaineer State. Support for opportunity and innovation in education is bipartisan, but sadly Kentucky and West Virginia prove that so is cowardice.
SOME SOUTHERNERS GET IT. You don’t have to travel far from Kentucky or West Virginia to find good news. Legislatures in both Florida and Georgia are advancing innovative initiatives to strengthen choice for all of their states’ students. Leaders of both parties in these states know the truth - that when parents have power, students have success.
PATRONIZE THE PAPA! Pizza maker Papa John’s has announced an even more ambitious program. It is partnering with Purdue University Global to provide free tuition for 20,000 Papa John’s employees, in which they can enroll in any of Purdue Global's online associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at no cost to them. This is what true 21st century education innovation and opportunity look like – the opportunity to learn whatever your age, wherever you are, with no need for a multi-billion dollar brick and mortar campus. We have the perfect song for a future Papa John’s commercial, Eddie Fisher singing “Oh my papa, to me he was so wonderful” - although it probably needs a little hip hop touch for the modern day !
BULLIES WIN – MOST VULNERABLE STUDENTS LOSE. A special education assistant for the Los Angeles school district pens a column pointing out the obvious – that when teachers walk out on their students, it is the most disadvantaged and vulnerable among them who suffer the most damage. A pity more teachers didn’t realize this before striking against the kids.
WE’RE BUSTING OUR BUTTONS WITH PRIDE. Not one but two of our summer interns, Chelsey Williams and Winter Grant (pictured) and Chelsey Williams , won the $5,000 first prize in the Clafin University Business Competition. Founded in 1869, Clafin is the oldest historically black college or university in South Carolina. We are so proud of Chelsey and Winter, living proof that good things happen when students are free to pursue their own education path to shape their futures. God speed to both of them!
ONLINE LEARNING FLOURISHES IN INDIANA. A huge ripple effect of the charter school movement is the development of online and blended learning approaches. Helping deliver education in varied ways is prevalent in all sectors in states whose leaders are strongly supportive of opportunity and innovation. It’s no surprise that Indiana, #2 on the Parent Power Index has a bold advocate leading its state’s work in this area. This EdWeek profile of the director of virtual and blended learning shows the good things that can happen when good ideas get adopted by teachers and administrators of any school interested in results. She is “all in” on the idea of online and blended instruction, especially personalized learning, and students having “a voice and choice” in their learning. PL experts agree!
SPEAKING OF PL…. Three leaders in delivering personalized, student-centered learning visited Washington last week to share what they have learned from their respective schooling efforts. Tom Rooney, Superintendent of the Lindsay Unified School District; Grace Losada Head of School of Fusion Academy in West Los Angeles, and Mickey Revenaugh a board member of Brooklyn Lab public charter school and co-founder of Connections Academy shared their respective schooling efforts in the traditional, private and public charter sectors. This briefing was the first of many that will be held in conjunction with the newly named Congressional Caucus on Education Innovation and Opportunity, chaired by Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI 10th).
As always, we value your input, suggestions, and criticism (of the constructive type, please). Don’t hesitate to reach out anytime!
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.
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Although family life in America has become less stable over the last several decades, the majority of the American population still agrees that marriage provides value to individuals and society. Yet based on results from the 2018 American Family Survey, marriage and parenting fall low on the list of what respondents considered essential to a fulfilling life. And while Americans overall seem to think that childbearing should take place within marriage, marriage does not seem to be as important a prerequisite to becoming a parent as are other factors. While college-educated adults are often achieving their own preferred ideal—gaining a good education, earning a good living, building a rewarding career, and also marrying and having children within marriage—many in the rest of the population (particularly the non-college educated) are not.
Most Americans agree that marriage benefits individuals and society. The survey, conducted by the Deseret News and Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy in collaboration with YouGov, examines a variety of issues pertaining to relationships, family, and cultural and political issues.1 Although marriage in the United States might be weaker than it was in the past—indeed, family life has changed dramatically, with fewer people married than ever before and many children born outside of marriage2—the results of this study indicate that the majority of Americans have a positive view of marriage.
For example, 64 percent of respondents agreed that marriage makes people better off financially; 59 percent agreed that marriage is necessary to create strong families; 53 percent agreed that society is better off when more people are married; and only 14 percent agreed that marriage is more of a burden than a benefit or that it is old-fashioned.3 Those figures represent little change from previous years of the survey.
Furthermore, when asked about the ideal sequence of relationships and childbearing, respondents overall said that childbearing should take place after marriage. Participants were asked to rank their ideal relationship sequence (including marriage, cohabitation, sex, and childbearing), as well as their actual relationship sequence. Although there were some differences among subgroups regarding the ideal ordering of sex, cohabitation, and marriage, all subgroups placed childbearing as ideally taking place after marriage.4
Despite generally positive views of the benefits of marriage, however, marriage did not rank highly in terms of what is essential to a fulfilling life when respondents were presented with a list of seven items.5 In fact, it ranked second to last, with only “having children” ranking below it. When asked what is essential to a fulfilling life, the top three ranked items overall were “making a good living” (77 percent), “gaining a good education” (71 percent), and “having a rewarding career or job” (65 percent). Thus, while the majority of the population agrees that marriage is beneficial, they do not necessarily view it as a priority for a fulfilling life. However, most Americans are married or say they would like to get married.6 And when respondents who were in a relationship or had a child were asked about what their most important identities are, they were most likely to name “parent” and “spouse” as “extremely important” or “very important.”
It may be that this finding regarding marriage’s place among life priorities is more reflective of how marriage has come to be seen as a “capstone” of adulthood, rather than a “cornerstone” as it used to be; whereas marriage used to be a part of the path to achieving a stable life, today marriage is viewed as something that should happen only after people have established their careers and are financially secure.7 Still, when respondents were specifically asked whether “getting married is more important to me than having a successful career,” only 19 percent agreed, while over half, 52 percent, disagreed (29 percent were ambivalent).
When it comes to having children, the American Family Survey shows that marriage did not top the list of “extremely important” prerequisites, despite respondents indicating that childbearing would ideally take place in marriage when asked about ideal relationship sequence. Out of eight potential “extremely important” prerequisites to becoming a parent, marriage ranked fourth among women and fifth among men. Once again, “financial stability” was high on the list—first for men and second for women. Among women, “being in a committed relationship” (not necessarily married) was the number one extremely important prerequisite to becoming a parent, and it was second among men. Also, among 18-29-year-old childless adults, “the cost of raising a child” was ranked as the top consideration in deciding to have a child, followed by relationship status.8 Relatedly, a 2013 Gallup poll found that fewer Americans consider marriage important “when an unmarried man and woman have a child together,” with the percentage agreeing marriage was very or somewhat important in this case declining from 76 percent to 64 percent between 2006 and 2013.9
That marriage was not as important a prerequisite to having children compared to other factors is not too surprising, considering nearly 40 percent of children in the United States are born outside of marriage.10 However, among highly-educated adults being married before becoming a parent is by far the general rule, considering that about 90 percent of births to highly-educated women are within marriage.11 On the other hand, among women with less education, over half of all births occur outside of marriage.12 Highly-educated adults, overall, are more likely to marry and to have stable marriages, compared to their peers with less education.13
Americans overall still appear to place value on marriage and recognize its benefits. While the results of this study seem to indicate that the desire for marriage has declined relative to other, more individualistic wants and needs, other research suggests Americans still prioritize it.14 Indeed, most Americans still marry or hope to marry. However, marriage ranks relatively low on the list of necessary prerequisites for childbearing, and the nation’s high rate of unwed births is an indication of the disconnection between marriage and children. Nonetheless, as noted, there is a stark economic divide when it comes to unwed childbearing, with the college educated rarely having children outside of marriage, while it is the norm among those with less education for children to be born to unmarried parents. Thus, it seems that many, the most vulnerable American oftentimes, are failing to reap the benefits that many recognize marriage can provide.
