Finnish people are a strange grouping.
A recent study just came out and showed what those of us in Finland have known to be obvious since forever: Finnish people dream of getting rich, but think getting rich is a scam - except for winning the lottery.
Instead of saving and investing and working hard, Finnish people want to make it rich by winning the lottery, and the lottery is the only socially acceptable method of making lots of money.
Finnish people are so stupid that to them, such a highly complex concept as "Buy low, sell high" is simply way too out there and sounds like a scam, and people who make money that way are extremely suspicious.
Same goes for entrepreneurs who are just scamming their employees. And the otherwise hard working people are just stuck up and full of themselves and only work hard to make the lazy people look bad.
The lottery, on the other hand, is fair and equal to all. anyone can play the lottery, no matter how stupid and talentless you are, you can always buy a lottery ticket. I guess it's a thing here people consider the rules to be rigged in every other aspect of life and business, but the lottery is such a controlled environment that the same rules truly do apply to everyone, so when you win the lottery you don't take from anyone else, you just win the game by playing by the same rules as everyone else. I think?
In other venues, such as business, investing, etc. whenever you "win", it's considered to be someone else's loss, since life is viewed as a zero sum game, at least in Finland.
Obviously having an attitude like that is something that will always prevent you from making money, unless you happen to literally win the jackpot. Odds are you won't.
There was an article published by a Finnish bank on their Facebook page some few weeks back where a guy was explaining how he wants to retire young, and he's attempting to achieve it by saving and investing, while leading a very lean life otherwise. He spent no money on anything extra, and simply saved and invested most of his money.
Instead of listening to his tips, the people int he comment section called him a capitalist scam artist, greedy, this, that and the other thing. They also brought up the fact that he makes too much money from his dayjob to be inspirational, "there's no way I could do this because blah, blah and blah".
And sure, he was making good bucks from his dayjob. And yes, there's always luck involved in life. There just is. Things like looks and certain predispositions to working hard, etc. are a genetic accident, and some win the lottery while others don't.
However, if you deem every legitimate way of making money, from running a business to investing, a scam and only come up with excuses as to how the game is rigged and you can't win by playing it, then shock and awe you'll never win.
And I'm saying this as someone who could be classified as wealthy or rich, and I started from nothing. I've had the luck of being intelligent, but that's been balanced out by other unlucky traits that have caused me trouble throughout.
That's not to say I believe in any of the "Hi, I'm rich and this is how I did it, and by buying my book you can, too!" books or motivational speeches, those things are horseshit, and intelligent people realize this.
Instead of complaining that the rules are rigged, it's more productive to learn how to play by the rules. Sometimes the rules are rigged, there absolutely are rigged rules in the world. But sometimes you can also learn that they're not rigged, and that it actually takes time, effort and skill to get shit done, and to get it done better than the rest.
Still I'd say that learning an actual worthwhile talent is a better way of making money than wasting your time playing the lottery.
It's telling that of the Finnish people who most dream about making money, most of them dream about winning the lottery. So, most of the people who dream about getting rich actually do nothing about it other than play the lottery.
Spoiler: they will most likely not end up rich.
Actually, here's a business idea for someone: start a fortune telling business. It's so easy to tell the fortunes of these types of people that you'd hit it right way more often than hitting it wrong.
Much better odds than winning the lottery, by the way.
Yes, life is rigged, business is a scam, investors are charlatans, capitalists are greedy pigs.
But lotteries...controlled/regulated by the benevolent government that harasses, robs, arrests, imprisons, and even murders people, even when such people have violated nobody else's liberties...well, those are about as fair and righteous as can be.
BECAUSE IT'S FAIR!
*Theoretically.
So am I a charlatan for investing in cryptocurrency projects that possibly already created 250,000 jobs (just on Steemit alone) and other places? (Meanwhile the government with constant raise on taxes on small businesses destroys a job probably every second)
Meanwhile the lotteries are in most countries totally State owned, just another TAX SCAM to milk the gullible sheeps that buy those tickets?
And I am the evil Capitalist?
Totally evil! Every good statist/communist knows this. It's like, common knowledge and stuff. Coercive governments know best.
We have the same idiotic get rich on lottery thing in Norway too. Heavily propagated by the the State owned gambling ring Norsk tipping. The motto is: Just pay huge amount of tax, they rest of your savings you can gamble away to the State. Unless you use foreign gambling sites, then you are an enemy of the state so too speak. Lottery is kind of an extra tax for the poor and stupid imo.
Our national Hero is this guy:
Commercial for tricking people into playing Lottery.
He is from the little place Verdalen that has a lot of lottery winners compared to its small size, so obviously a lot of Norwegians also travel her to play to get 'lucky'. Obviously, this is due to randomness (many small places in Norway; poisson distribution). In Norway we also has a very strong Jante law: You should not be better than anybody else, and you should not earn more money working than anybody else. So the Lottery millionaire is then of course the hero.
Interesting. I wonder where the source of Scandinavian success-taboo lies.
But, this one person won the lottery, so why won't I win it??
@acidyo, hahaha... 😝😛
I second your opinion... Lol
This is basically event based thinking, or what The Fastlane Millionaire calls slowlane thinking.
I have a friend who thinks the same, he once said to me that 90% of rich people in the world had scammed or inherited their money. When I tried to point out the statistical unlikelihood of that he just couldn't accept it.
These are the same people who will see someone work hard for 10 years getting nothing, then call them an overnight success when they do hit it big on day 3651.
Oh well, as long as they stay out of our way, no harm done to anyone but themselves.
Cg
Amen to that. No reason the world can't support one small country who want to make success a taboo.
Finns want to increase taxes for those who are working, for those who are investing their money anywhere and those who are owning their own companies.
Finns want to increase taxation on heritage, as getting rich because of your rich parents is wrong.
However... the lottery. If anyone talks about taxes on lottery winnings, Finns flip out. "You shouldn't put taxes on it, as the winner has earned it!"
Seriously.. come on, folks.
Lottery taxes are a funny thing. They're like the rake at a casino, and nobody likes that.
Typically people do love taxes - as long as it's only everybody else who has to pay taxes.
I love this especially this part:
Boy ain't that truth? This truth is universal and doesn't apply to just Finns. Here from where I am from it's common to see well educated people with good career buying lottery. They take it so seriously to the point of being absurd. Like if there is a car accident people would flock to buy lottery of the totaled car's registration number. They sort of think that they could strike a fortune by someone else's misfortune.
Exactly.
As we say over here in the States (not that we invented it), "the lottery is tax on the stupid/math disinclined".
Interesting fact: In the US, you are more likely to die driving to get a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery. Nobody puts that into their EV calculations, I bet.
Hey @schattenjaeger.. Kudos to you for first of all having the courage to raise an issue like this one and speak about it, against a vast majority of your countryman. 👍👍
I never realized Finnish people only believed in fortune cookies, rather than making a fortune for themselves by working hard and smart. No wonder Nokia ended up the way it did... 😁😛
Although winning a lottery is something I would be interested in any day, but that to me isn't the only way to make money and become rich. There still are conventional ways to be rich.... ✌️✌️ Peace
This post is written really good - great job! :) I think it's kind of stupid to play the lottery... These people just end up losing money on tickets instead of making a fortune out of it! There are so many people out there who think that they're the lucky winners, but in real life they're just wasting their money. Of course, there are some really lucky people who won a huge amount of money, but as most people know: you have a better chance of being struck by a lightning than winning the lottery. For all the people who still want to try it: Good luck! :)
You are correct in technical terms. But despite the post, I sort of do defend playing the lottery a little bit, even though I don't do it myself.
I think for a lot of people it's just fun. It's a few bucks and you get something to look forward to. I think it's understandable, just some fun.
Though some people are desperate spend a shit ton of different kinds of lottery tickets, every week, and really end up losing money that they could find better use for.
I worked in Finnish company 2 years, and spent few months in Finland, and I never saw this type of thinking. I met Finns working really hard, often overtime to achieve their goals. But in the other hand it was curious to me, that in every supermarket, or shopping center there are slot machines, and people usually 50+ years old are playing.
The thing about Finland is that Finland has a long history of protestant work ethic, and the welfare in Finland was built on that. A lot of Finns worked extremely hard for a long time back in the day. It's recently that the culture has shifted, and millenials in particular have become lazy.
Def. not all, but it's been a clear shift.
Haha! Wow, you Fins are a skeptical bunch. I had no idea of this aspect of Finnish culture. Great read. Thanks
This way of thinking may be impractical, or even nonsensical, but I can't help finding it a little sympathetic.
I guess a lot of us do, in the end. That's why it's a popular line of thought. There's truth to the idea that it comes down to luck. That is, if we consider it luck that a person is not born with severe defects, is born to a good family and all that. And of course knowing the right people and whatnot.
But it's just that luck often comes to those who chase it. The more you do stuff, the more likely it is that you get lucky.
You're more likely to make a good investment if you invest, instead of never investing.
And yeah, the rules are rigged in a lot of cases, but that doesn't always mean you shouldn't attempt to play to win.
I'm it can't be true of all but it sounds like the Fins have been brainwashed to some degree.
Government education tends to do that to people. :)
...well I guess winning the lotto is still...well..erm..positive thinking? Here common thinking would prolly be something like work till your back is broken and your hands are bleeding. Work hard but not smart. Not saying it as judgement, since I willingly or not adopted that moto myself. :)
Just look at how hard this cute little minnow is trying to reach for an up vote.
Doesn't he deserve to get one?
Lol. Its that bad in finland too eh?
I don't if bad is the right word, but it's silly sometimes.
Don't we all want to get rich?
Of course. But there are ways other than winning the lottery.
True. Maybe there is more to this story than I can find here. For example it makes me feel like there are people not doing anything at all except for playing the lottery. That would be just silly. But if there are people who want to try their luck, then why not? Yes they might be better off actually investing but thats not for everyone...
That's hilarious, the only socially acceptable way of getting rich is by winning it gambling lol
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STOPThis way of "thinking" is not specific to only Finnish people.
Do you think this is a result of a more collectivist culture (assuming that even applies? I am no expert.) It would seem to me that lottery is one of the few ways that a strong collectivist culture would deem a fair way to get ahead, because everyone had an equal chance. Equality of outcome enforced by mathematical formula?
Homogeneity has pros and cons, I suppose.
That's exactly what it is.
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