Escaping the Rat Race: What School Failed to Teach You About Money
By James Jani
Escaping the rat race isn’t about quitting a 9-5 job. It’s about avoiding the “Money Trap”. A race to the next paycheck, or material possession. In this video we take a look at what the rat race truly is, ways in which personal finance can help, as well as understanding the relationship between consumption and production. A relationship that can help you save money, but also scale your income.
The Rat Race seems to be conflated with working a 9-5 job. It’s often used to guilt those who have a disliking towards their jobs into purchasing a course, program, or something of that nature.
A real rat race isn’t about working a 9-5 job, it’s about living on a financial edge. Such that your greater life goals and ambitions are placed in the background as you continue chasing the next paycheck, or material possession.
Our relationship seems with money is often as follows: it enters our life, and it leaves. Sometimes this is expressed as your income and expenses, but I think a better way of framing this is your production vs your consumption.
For most of us, we have an issue with consumption. And when fixing this, it may be best to first draw an awareness to yourself as a consumer. Using a budget and tracking your expense is the best way of starting. A common strategy in personal finance is building an “emergency fund”, a fund that holds 3 – 6 months’ worth of expenses – enough so that if an emergency were to ever occur, you wouldn’t have a problem financially supporting yourself through such an occasion.
Production is then about increasing the amount of value you can bring to a society. In my video the Untold Truth About Money I mentioned that people are paid in proportion to their perceived value in the marketplace, and one of the best ways of increasing your perceived value is by solving a problem in the market, then selling this solution through a business at scale. This is the entrepreneurial route. And whilst most of us will be able to produce value into the market by selling our labour in the form of a 9-5 job, this doesn’t mean our ability to produce stops there.
Here’s what others had to say:
@Pathocracy
You will never escape a rat race by doing your daily jobs.
@KiyosakiSays
“Often, the more money you make the more money you spend; That’s why more money doesn’t make you rich – assets make you rich.” – Robert Kiyosaki
@MargaretSchwerdtmann
This is very amazing, I hope this inspires someone that it doesn’t matter if you don’t have any of them right now; you can start TODAY regardless of your age to invest and change your future! I wasn’t financially free until my 40s and I’m still in my 40s, have already purchased my third house, earn on a monthly basis through passive income, and achieved 4 out of 5 goals. I made a wise decision when I decided to invest in the financial market.
@chikumbutsosakala5262
“PRODUCTION MEANS NOTHING WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH CONSUPTION” This is gold! Keep it up.
@hansk6166
In my high school there was only one single class that taught about money. It was called “financial math”. It was looked down upon from students who received higher grades because they thought it was a pointless one because it was an elective. This class taught me more than any of the other ones. I even went to college and earned an associate’s degree in applied sciences but I hated working for other people. It is so humiliating being told what to do, having someone ride your ass over simple tasks. Now, I’m just about to open my own business in a couple months. I can run it through my cell phone.
@kaw8473
I graduated high-school in 2010. The closest they got to teaching us finances was filling out a check, what a savings account was and the theory of the stock market. Even when I went to college, I attended econ 101 and still didn’t learn to properly manage money. I’m 31 years old and just figured out how not to lose money through my fingers. I am slightly less worried for my son because I can at least teach him financial hygiene, a luxury I was never afforded.
@JaynaEckert
THANKS. The perfect thing for me to watch. Administrators of our farming company, our own properties, as well as tiny pensions, are my wife and I. My wife is 52, and I am approaching 56. I would really appreciate it if you could make a video on how to get passive income online and retire comfortably, let’s say with $1 million dollars. We have started saving for retirement from the farm and may live off rental income.
@brandocalrisian6870
They should seriously show this video in schools, it would seriously go a long way towards helping those kids understand their relationship with money and how best to manage it. Great work!
@onyinyeelota
Making money is not the same as keeping it there is a reason why investments aren’t well taught in schools, the examples you gave are well stationed, the market crisis gave me my first millions, people shy away from hard times, I embrace them.. well at least my advisor does lol
@brandonmcdonald6272
You know what I love about this channel is that it acknowledges its motivation to make money. That’s it. People that try to hide it behind the guise of “Oh I’m here to help y’all out and just that” are so much more predatory.
@lindseyetheldalioan9909
This made me realize that the pressure I was feeling that’s been making me so down is social pressure and thanks for helping me recognize that. Lots of realization throughout the video.
@mariusss95
Oh man, this video is exactly what I need to show it to my coworkers.
They make fun of me for being very frugal, if I quit tomorrow I have money saved for more than 2 years of expenses.
@CharlotteMark12
OOD CONTENT !!! Very engaging right from the beginning These are tough times and frankly I appreciate how you discuss global finances in such a delicate way . Business and investment are the best way to make money even under the nose of the pandemic.
@scottmcfadden3148
I have seen times where people who could have had better results but simply didn’t spend enough making their investment of money and time pointless. Spend wisely but don’t expect frugality to always be the best solution. Crazy how good your documentary is and I loved how well you covered money theories.
@marcveebee1434
This is excellent. I have teenage daughters who I can see could easily fall into the trap of bad debt and living beyond their means. The pressure on this already impressionable, impulsive generation is enormous. The current economic conditions in the UK and outdated impotent education system pretty much secures the fate of an entire generation who will be utterly dependent on state assistance in one form or another.
