The three most important cash flow patterns

Financial literacy

Lately, I have read several articles on the topic “why the rich are getting richer” and “the poor are getting poorer”. I do highly agree that poverty is a life-threatening condition. Studies show that the life expectancy of poor people is much lower than the rich ones. That’s why financial literacy should be part of every education.

Reading this article reminded me of my own youth. Growing up in the countryside in the last Millenium, I had a great chance to observe the differences between poor people and well-off people. Well, not to sound too arrogant. Growing up in poverty in Austria still means living amongst the richest 1% of the world in 2020.

Poverty in our region meant to have shelter, little food, and few belongings. For kids, it is relatively difficult to understand, why the rich kids go on holiday, whilst resources are limited for the poor ones. Also being bullied at school for wearing the same cheap clothes day in day out — isn´t much fun for some kids. People in the poor social circles in the countryside mainly were thriving on unemployment, smoking cigarettes and getting wasted every day.

In those days I learned one of the most valuable lessons in my life about cash flow patterns. One summer I came home. It was close to my 16th birthday. It was the…