If you do manage to break free from the hand-to-mouth cycle, you will have to internalise spending discipline in a way that is far from ordinary... and very misunderstood.
One of the tricks of the ability to hold shares of real businesses, is that wealth has to work. Instead of resources being hoarded, they get reinvested. In factories, in services, and various other forms of problem-solving.
A twist on the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. The Ant still works all summer to build up a supply of food for when she can’t work. During the winter, the food isn’t stored... it is still working somewhere else. The hard bit is that it is still not there to spend... beyond meeting the planned needs of the Ant not being able to earn and still having to eat. Every dollar that is consumed beyond that is a dollar fired.
When there is nothing there, you don’t need discipline not to spend it. If you live paycheck to paycheck... there is never “extra”. The Grasshopper may look at the paper pile (the actual pile has been reinvested), and say... but you have plenty!
Building breathing space in a world where most people don’t have it raises lots of existential questions. It is incredibly hard to build capital, partly because there are always profound needs and emergencies.
You have to genuinely believe that the capital is ALSO working on solving problems. Balancing immediate needs with a structural long-term path to deeper breathing. If we always consume everything we make, we will never reach collective freedom.
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